This time last year Sarah Fisher hadn’t run more than a few miles in one go.

But in a few weeks time she will be completing 26.2 of them in the London Marathon.

Sarah was inspired to enter after a friend took part in 2018. As she watched the race on TV at her Hempstead home, she decided she wanted to be among those pounding the streets of the capital this year.

Sarah, who turned 40 in November, applied for a much sought-after ballot place and, to her surprise, was accepted.

She said: “When I got the letter in October, I was stunned. At that point I had only ever ran 5k.”

She is raising funds for Mind, in memory of her friend Paul Greenfield who took his own life in 2009, after a long struggle with mental illness.

She said: “This year would have been Paul’s 40th birthday. Before I even got my place, I knew if I got accepted I wanted to raise money for Mind in his memory.

"The recent death of Prodigy’s Keith Flint was a sad reminder mental health issues can affect anyone.

"There is still a lot of stigma attached which makes it hard for people to talk about it, especially men. That needs to change.”

Sarah has been preparing for the marathon with the help of her friend Matthew Simmonds who is a personal trainer and runs his own business, Fitness Health Life. They have been going running together as he prepares to take on the Brighton Marathon, two weeks ahead of the London race.

As part of her training she has been taking part in parkrun at Great Lines in Gillingham, sometimes with her husband Tony and their pet cockapoo Kezi.

Sarah initially hoped to raise £1,000 but has now collected £2,200 so she has more than doubled her target to £2,500.

She has been raising funds through cake and book sales with the help of her colleagues at Bareska Creative, based at Chatham Historic Dockyard, where she works part time, and Archbishop’s Palace in Maidstone, where she also works.

She said: “I have been overwhelmed by people’s generosity and so grateful for their support.”

Sponsor her at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SarahFisher28