At the age of 15 I had my first cigarette on top of the 247 bus from Harold Wood to Romford. For the next 25 years I puffed away like a maniac until at age 41 I was persuaded to go and try hypnotherapy.

During my session with the hypnotherapist, I mentioned that in the past I had run two marathons (Stockholm 2003, Rome 2004) and she was shocked that I could drag myself through all of that training and yet struggled to give up the fags.

Before the actual hypnotherapy I vowed to Jula the Hypnotherapist that not only would I quit smoking, but that I would run two marathons in the following year. That was in April 2013.

Six months later in October, and having not smoked for 23 weeks, I shuffled up and down the promenade for 26.2miles to complete the Bournemouth Marathon in a "Personal Worst" time of five hours and seventeen minutes - almost an hour slower than the times I clocked in Stockholm and Rome.

That same month I found out from the British Heart Foundation that I had been offered a charity place for the Heart Runners in the 2014 London Marathon. I chose BHF because it seemed like an appropriate cause for my anti-smoking campaigning!

Now that I know that I can complete the marathon distance again, I am determined to do it in a better time than Bournemouth and hopefully a better time than my 30-year-old self, but I need YOUR help!

I need to raise £2,500 to secure my place on the start line in London, so please, please, please dig deep in your pockets and help me on my way.

Any donation of any size would be amazing.

Like many people I am using JustGiving to collect the money as it is simple, fast and totally secure.