I thought they changed the name to Snickers.

So, I've signed up for a marathon.  Specifically, the Brighton Marathon 2014, which takes place on Sunday, 6th April.

I've been running for a few years, and I love it.  I do it at least three times a week.  However, I am a total running hippie and have never really 'trained' or done an official event before.  I've been to my local Parkrun a few times, but that's it - I cannot recommend Parkrun highly enough, but it's more of a fun Saturday morning hang-out involving kids and dogs (other people's) and a fat breakfast afterwards.

The longest distance I have ever run prior to this is about half marathon length.  Unofficially, and just for fun on a Sunday morning or whatever.  My usual routine is to do three or four short runs of around 5K during the week, on my lunch hour at work.  Then, only if I feel like it, I do the odd long run at the weekend.  Mostly I just like being outdoors and moving around.  Sometimes.  When I'm not watching films, drinking wine or eating cheese.

So, this is going to be a shock to the system.  The opportunity to run for the perfect charity came up (more on that later, I expect) and it turned out that the idea of challenging myself didn't totally appall me.  I decided to have a go.  Now that I've committed, I'm determined to do it.  Therefore, the worst that can happen is that I don't like it and I never do it again - right?

A bit of background for anyone who doesn't know...  I'm a 32-year-old female.  I am a writer and editor.  I live in Brighton - so this is going to be a hometown marathon.

I didn't want to flood my regular blog with too much marathon talk (as it's usually about writing, books and general cultural silliness).  But I must admit that I am a bit obsessed with this new idea of me as marathon runner and all that goes with it - training plans, kit, food, etc.  Plus, I am someone who likes to record things; the prospect of running the full 26.2 miles is quite a complicated and emotional one, and I make sense of things by writing them down.  I am quite a slow person, both in running (my nickname is Pony - due both to my Shetland pony-like proportions and my slow trot of a running style; plus, my shaman tells me that my spirit animal is a horse, so...) and in figuring things out.

I would also love any input from people who have run a marathon before.  Or those who haven't but might have some good ideas on the subject.  Basically, at the moment I would love to chat about running non-stop and don't want to inflict it too much upon the mostly uninterested people in my life!

So, I thought a little marathon diary might be a good idea.