I have been going to watch the marathon every year for the eight years that I have lived in London and initially it seemed like something that I would never ever do but after my epiphany on our first snowboarding holiday and gradually getting healthier, fitter and stronger and building up my running distances from 1 mile, to 5k, 10k and eventually half marathons (which always make me cry), this year I thought I was probably ready to give it a go.

I didn’t get a ballot place for London so I signed up for the first Milton Keynes half marathon and duly started a training plan. I also decided that 2012 was going to be the year of the squat which were a big weakness and unfortunately injured myself doing these (I knew there was a reason my body didn’t like them) which meant 3 weeks of total rest and that I now forever have a knee that crinkles every time it moves. That said I also put the wrong date into my training plan so I realised on the 17 mile long run that actually we weren’t 3 weeks behind after all we were on target.

I wanted to run for a small charity that didn’t get a lot of press and wasn’t able to ‘buy’ a London marathon place, one that was either local to where we lived or where we’re originally from and which meant something to me. I wasn’t sure how I would go about finding this until I read an article in the Evening Standard about a little girl called Mia.

Mia was born at 27 weeks and given only 3 weeks to live but she is the very definition of a fighter: she has constantly surpassed all medical expectations and, after a heart operation at 6 weeks old, she went home when she was 8 MONTHS old!!

She is now five. She has Cerebral Palsy, is profoundly deaf and can’t walk unaided but an operation which is available in Missouri could change the latter.

I am so thankful to be able to experience the joy (and pain) of running, training, completing assault courses, climbing mountains and snowboarding down them and I do often wonder how I would cope if I wasn’t able to walk so it breaks my heart to think that this courageous little girl is not able to do these things and not being able to fully join her friends at play.  So I wanted to help her family to raise the £50,000 they need to send her to America for the op that could make this possible and which will improve her quality of life immeasurably.

Mia's FULL story is available on www.justgiving.com/mias-missouri-mission. My page is http://www.justgiving.com/Nicky-Running-For-Mia but I don’t really mind which one you use.

Every step of the 26.2 miles (around 41,280 steps) I will be thinking of Mia and hoping to help her to take her first.

Queen park located in the North west of London provides 30 acres of  a welcome splash of green in one of the most densely populated parts of London, name a green flag park for more than 10years other facilities include six all-weather tennis courts, a pitch-and-putt course, a pétanque pitch, an ornamental garden, a children's playground with paddling pool, and a cafe. So lots to keep you busy all year round. 

This 45-acre park in Southend-on-Sea offers plenty of space for sports and leisure, with amenities including formal gardens, children’s playground, tennis courts, basketball courts and 4 bowling greens. Priory Park is also home to the Prittlewell Priory Museum, which was originally part of a Cluniac Monastery that dates back to 1180; and the Southend Bandstand which regularly has music concerts performed by local artists during the summer months.   

Extending to 109 acres, Purley Way Playing Fields is a vast outdoor space that is popular with people in the area for walking and playing sports. Located in Waddon, besides Purley Way, the playing fields include football pitches, cricket facilities, toilets and changing rooms. The ground was formally agricultural land that was levelled for sports pitches, and the park is now the largest recreational space in the Borough of Croydon.