I came to work ill prepared for running yesterday.

What happened? Well, I fell into the one-day-of-sunshine-doesn't-make-a-spring and left my running jacket at home.

So when I stepped - be-t-shirted and barelegged - out of Echo Towers last night into a howling gale and horizontal winds I wasn't entirely sure how many of my 14 200m sprints I was going to get in.

The answer was two. I was freezing, soaking and not stupid enough to carry on. So I'm saving them for Saturday.

Instead, today's blog is a guest post from Gary Clive, from Ferndown:

My name is Gary Clive, I am a 40 year old Medical Field Service Engineer from Ferndown.

I am currently training to compete in this years Flora London Marathon on Sunday 26th April.

I am running on behalf of The Macmillan Cancer Trust at Christchurch Hospital and hope to raise in excess of £1000.

I wanted to landmark my 40th year with a rewarding and worthwhile challenge and what could be better than a marathon to challenge both my mental and physical endurance?

Training during the week is proving a little difficult as my job involves 12 hour days traveling between various hospitals in West London and the Home Counties repairing medical devices.

I also have a young family and dividing my time three ways can be awkward. I tend to run my longer training run early on a Sunday morning so it does not impact too much on my time with the family.

That said they have all been very understanding and accompany and support me to various training races that i have entered in preparation for the big one!

Bournemouth Echo: GARY CLIVE: he's running the marathon too

I feel it is a privilege to represent The Macmillan Cancer Trust at the Christchurch Hospital.

The Trust Secretary, Neal Williams has been very supportive and helpful. I am running on their behalf after responding to a request placed by the Trust through the Bournemouth Echo for runners to represent them.

Representing a charity is a powerful motivator, especially when you have those tough times during your training and preparations.

To compete in the London Marathon and to represent a local charity, serving the local community will just make the whole experience a bit more rewarding and extremely special.

To sponsor me please visit www.justgiving.com/garyclive

For more information on The Macmillan Cancer Trust please visit www.macmillancancertrust.co.uk. Thank you.

No problem, Gary, it's my pleasure. Any other runners out there who'd like to tell their story? Email me at sam.shepherd@bournemouthecho.co.uk...