Well, I have arrived home from spending a day collecting donations at Morrisons in Haverfordwest and just finished counting the pile of coins so how much did I raise? More about that later!

By this time next week I'll be in London, probably back at the hotel resting and nervously checking my gear after a wander around the Mall and a pasta near Trafalgar Square.

Over the last week I've decreased my mileage with the 14 mile run last Sunday, 6 miles on Tuesday and 5.5 on Thursday evening. This weekend there isn't time for a long run with Morrisons today and a drive to Manchester and back tomorrow to take my son (and his pile of clean washing)back to university, about nine hours driving. In fact it prevents me doing something silly like running too far on the last Sunday before the marathon. There's no need at this stage. The final week is about building up my reserves, no partying, plenty of carbohydrates and as much rest as possible. I may have a gentle jog on Tuesday but I need to be straining to be unleashed on the unsuspecting world come next Sunday morning!

I've just got this time tonight to write a quick update after an enjoyable day care of Morrisons. Oh yes, so how much did I raise? Well I set up a display at 9.45 this morning and colleagues Liz, Cherylee, Karen, Tina and daughters kindly came along to help through the day. In fact Liz stayed the whole day until after 3pm, you can see a picture of us collecting donations with this blog. I wore my London vest and the ladies wore t shirts specially printed by Phill. All except Tina who opted for the Miss ' Action for Children' sash!

I must say that the shoppers were very supportive and interested in the marathon and 'Action for Children'. So much that they actively sought to donate money saying 'rather you than me next week', although one shopper referred to me as 'your father' when talking to Liz- cheek! I think the nice weather helped to make it very relaxed and everyone had time to chat.

I had hoped to collect around £100-£150 but when I got home with the heavy buckets and counted the donations I was astonished to find that we had collected a total of £582.88, a tribute to the generosity of the public and the support of Morrisons in allowing us to collect at the store today.

This takes me thrusting through the £2,000 mark at £2,492 to date, a fantastic total. I have still to collect some sponsor forms and money so it looks like I will have well over £2,500 by next week. But if you can please still donate by going to my justgiving page using the link to the right of this blog.

A final pre marathon update on Thursday and then next week a blow by blow account of how it feels to run a marathon and the whole London experience.