Karen Saunders can’t wait for this year’s London Marathon. She’s run it before, knows what to expect and wants some more. “It’s such a fantastic event,” she enthuses.

She ran it in 2015 and when the Stroud and District Athletic Club runner goes to the start line on Sunday 22nd April, it will be the second time that she has taken part in one of the most iconic sporting events in the world.

Mind you, that still leaves her two shy of her dad, Fred, who ran the London Marathon four times after taking up running only in his 40s.

Fred moved to Stroud in 2005 and though he’s too old to run these days – he’ll be 80 this year – Karen says: “He’s my inspiration. He still says he wishes he could put on his trainers and go out for a run.”

Karen, who lives in Rodborough and will be 50 later this year, took up running in 1994 when she was living in Wales.

“My friend said, ‘Let’s enter the London Marathon’,” chuckled Karen, “but it turned out we were too late to enter.”

It would be another 20 years before she took part in the most famous marathon on the planet, but for Karen, who moved to this part of the world in the late 90s, the wait was certainly worthwhile.

“It was great, I really enjoyed it,” she said. “The best thing about the London Marathon is that it’s a party for 26 miles.

“You are never on your own and every inch of the way there are people cheering you on. The roar on Tower Bridge is something else.

“We have our names on our shirts and people are calling out, ‘C’mon Karen’, it’s a great feeling. I’m originally from London and it makes me proud to be a Londoner.

“Last time I had people offering me bottles of beer and glasses of champagne… I said ‘no’ because I thought it might go to my legs!

“There was even one woman who was offering the runners half a banana as they ran by. She’d got a big bucket full of them and had left the skin on every one of them so they didn’t go soggy!”

Karen completed the race three years ago in four hours, 48 minutes, and admitted that she had to walk a bit of the way.

“I got this pain in my chest,” she said. “It was like trapped wind. When I ran it hurt but when I walked it didn’t. It had never happened before and it’s never happened since.

“I don’t know if I ate something different or it was just the excitement of the day, but I remember finding this man from St John Ambulance and asking him if he could help.

“He bent me over and started stroking my back, he was burping me like a baby!”

So did it work?

“No,” laughed Karen, “I had to walk, run, walk the closing stages. My legs didn’t feel too bad when I finished and I reckon I could have run four hours, 20 if I’d been okay.”

And although that was her first London Marathon, Karen, who first became a member of Stroud AC 17 years ago, has had previous experience of running 26.2 miles.

“I ran the Cardiff Marathon in 2003,” she said. “That was completely different from the London because there were long stretches where there were no supporters at all. And there were long stretches when you were just running on your own.

“I was quite slow, I finished in just under five hours which I suppose wasn’t too bad. It would have been quicker, but I had to stop for a toilet break after 17 miles and I couldn’t get my legs moving properly again after that.”

Mum-of three Karen believes a time of four hours, 30 minutes in London is realistic this time around.

“I did try to speed up my training and aim for a sub-four hours,” she said, “but that was too tough. And the big thing for me is that I want to enjoy it.”

This time around she was lucky enough to get the one club place in the race – “I was chuffed with that,” she said – after running for charity Phab Kids three years ago.

This time she’s raising money for Maggie’s Centre in Cheltenham, who offer support to people with cancer and their families.

“My dad has been dealing with prostate cancer this last year and Maggie’s have been great,” said Karen, who is also running for Longfield Hospice in Minchinhampton.

“My mum Eileen spent her last days before she died in a hospice in London in 2004 when she had lung cancer. Since then I’ve been in awe of the work of hospices.

“People can donate through my just giving page https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KarenSaunders6 and my mobile number for those who don’t have online access is 07773 215870.”

Karen is a busy lady. She is a part-time teaching assistant and part-time Forest Schools Learning teacher at Gastrells in Stroud as well as being a yoga teacher. She also does massage therapy.

It does make it tough having to fit in the training as well, but fortunately Karen has a very supportive family who will all be in London on the big day.

As well as her dad, her partner Seb Buckton – even with a name like Seb he’s not a runner! – will be there along with children Eddie, 17, Theo 13, and Nell, 9.

Theo and Nell have both caught the running bug from mum.

“They both do parkruns,” she said. “They play football so the running is good for them.”

Mum, meanwhile, says she may run the Stroud Trail Marathon in May and may well run the London again in years to come.

The smart money must be on her running in the capital again. After all, she’ll still have run two fewer than dad after the 2018 race!