After all, tomorrow is another marathon day

One more day to go! This is it, now. Third marathon in three consecutive years. All the hard work in training has been done, and it's up to me to put in a good performance tomorrow.

I attended the London Marathon Expo at ExCeL in the Docklands yesterday (as I did in previous years) and got my name printed onto my running vest, although the letters of "MARTIN" have come out slightly smaller than I would have liked. I spent most of the morning wandering around the Expo, looking at the various stalls and listening to people advertising marathons in other parts of the country or in other countries, and trying to sell me running equipment, energy food, etcetera that I didn't really want or need.

More and more people have sponsored me with the marathon getting closer and I should make my target now, and hopefully even exceed it. I set up another sweepstake at work, asking people to guess my finishing time in the marathon, for £1 per guess. Nearly 200 employees at the corporation took part, so a lot of money was raised! I have my quiz evening in two weeks' time and I expect to raise even more money then.

£200 in the money mug!

People have been asking me "are you going to beat your finishing time last year, Martin? Are you? Are you?" I don't know. I wasn't setting out to finish in a faster time. I just wanted to raise more money and take part again. Now I feel under pressure to be better than last year, and it's a pressure that I don't really want or need. The fundraising is more important to me, so if I perform better than last year, then great, but if not, I won't be too bothered about it. With the death of a 23-year-old runner in the Brighton Marathon last week, and the death of a young lady in last year's London Marathon, as well as the horrible events of last Monday's terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon, I think there are more important things to be worrying about than how quickly I finish, so it's good to have a sense of perspective.

One thing is for sure, I will endeavour to do my very best. So I would like to end by thanking all of my supporters and sponsors for their kind donations and good wishes. I would also like to wish my fellow runners (including my cousin Darren, my uncle Mark and his uncle Paul, who is again the oldest runner in this year's race at the age of 88) all the best for tomorrow, and hope that the event is a safe and enjoyable one for all participants and spectators.

My running number - 49914.
I am not a number, I am a free man!

You can follow my progress (or lack of) as my running number is 49914 and if you wish to sponsor me, my JustGiving page is here: http://www.justgiving.com/martinpampel