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"One day, I'll run a marathon" said the 44 year old, size 18, tired out mother of four, with her own thriving childminding business, which she had run since her children were very young. " Yeah, yeah, yeah - in your dreams, you old bird", replied her fit, sport-loving husband, and her now grown-up children, who were at the time aged 21, 20, 18 and 16, nodded and smirked in agreement, as they turned to resume watching the television / messing around with facebook......

Well, the last time those words were said, was about 18 months ago, just before the end of 2010. In January 2011, enough was enough! I needed to prove I could do it, for me as much as anyone else.(Although it was quite motivating to think that I would prove my family wrong! It was also on my mind that my eldest daughter Hollie, had embarked on a career as a personal trainer, my second eldest daughter Maria, was training to be a physiotherapist, my son Joe, was keeping fit at the gym and my youngest daughter Annie, kept herself fit through riding and playing hockey - I guess I felt, 'the odd one out' - like I was letting the side down and more importantly, myself! ) It was time to get my life back in order and so off I began on a journey of recovering my fitness, shape, confidence and self-esteem, which had been gradually eroded away over the years of handling the madness involved with raising a family and being married to Phil (the whirlwind) Pinnington, for what seems like an eternity!

During 2011, I managed to lose quite a bit of weight and improve my fitness and I started to run about a year ago, at first doing very short distances - a couple of minutes at a time and walking inbetween!(Believe me, running does not come naturally to me - even now!)

The highlights of 2011, were the completion of the Bristol and Cardiff half-marathons in the Autumn and also joining my daughter Hollie, plus Phil (husband) and his running partners Jonathan and Mike, plus Phil's brother Tom on their annual Boxing day run to Crook Peak which is a six mile hill run including about 800ft of climb and has been a 'boys only' event up until now!

By the end of January 2012, it was time to search out a proper challenge and during the dark winter evenings, often spent at the gym, doing a variety of activities including spinning, pump, yoga, circuits and bootcamp, the thought of doing a marathon became irresistable. Having checked around, London was full but Edinburgh still had some charity places left and so if I was to take on this personal challenge, it made sense to also try and make it benefit others.

Having lived with the knowledge that lung cancer had taken the lives of my Dad when I was just 18, and also my half-sister, together with more recent news at the end of 2010, that a very dear and young member of our family, with a young family of his own, who has never smoked and has lived a model life to date, also has the disease, I registered a place with the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and have committed to raise £750 towards their work.

Hollie has also entered the race with a place on the Cancer Research Team. It is also her first marathon, although she has done some half marathons, over the last few years.

Phil (who vowed he would never run another marathon again after London 2000) could not stand the idea of being a spectator, whilst two girls did the run, so he has also entered with the MacMillan Cancer Care team.

Between us we are hoping to raise £2,250 with the support of freinds and family through sponsorships and a few small local events.

If you would like to make a donation to support us, we have sponsorship forms or you can donate through JustGiving which is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please, if you feel you would like to support me, Hollie or Phil we would be very grateful if you could dig deep and donate now.

Many thanks, Trina