“I’m definitely doing the London Marathon, even if I have to walk it!”

Those are the words of Meg Brown, who is ready to go through the pain barrier on Sunday 23^rd April to complete the 26.2 miles.

Every runner in the 40,000-plus field will have to go through the pain barrier at some stage, of course, but for 33-year-old Meg that pain is just a little bit more pronounced.

You see, Meg suffers from arthritis and has done for the past 13 or 14 years.

It makes her efforts all the more laudable when you consider what she must overcome and, true to form, when she spoke to The Local Answer she admitted that not everything had been going smoothly in the run-up to the big day.

“I’m having issues with my running,” she said. “I think I’ve got a tendon issue in my left foot around my ankle, although I haven’t ruled out arthritis.”

That makes a tough task even tougher, especially as this will be Meg’s first London Marathon and only her second ever marathon.

“I ran the Virtual London in October 2021, I ran it in four hours, 35,” she said.

“I said after that I’d never run another marathon, I ended up with sciatica. I said it was too much for my body, my joints aren’t as good as everyone else’s.”

So why is she competing in this year’s London?

“I entered the ballot for the first time and I was given a place,” she said.

Meg, whose 14-year-old son Charlie, a pupil at Severn Vale School, is a decent runner, has been a keen member of Severn Athletic Club for the past eight years since meeting her now husband Chris Brown.

“It’s all his fault,” she laughed.

Chris, along with his parents Andy and Sandra, has been one of the driving forces behind Severn AC for a good number of years.

He’s a very decent runner and will be in London supporting Meg, who is hoping to go round in under five hours.

“I’m not sure if it’s doable because of my foot,” she said. “It’s a bit hit and miss, I can have two good weeks and then two not so good. But I’m pretty determined.”

She certainly is and she is also being spurred on by the fact that she is raising money for Endometriosis UK. Two of her friends – Charlotte Elvin and Jen McLaren – suffer with the condition, a gynaecological disorder most commonly affecting women during their reproductive age.

Meg is hoping to raise £1,000 and Charlotte, who lives in Cheltenham and will be in London to cheer her on providing she is well enough, said: “She’s always been a really close friend of mine. To run a marathon and to raise money to support me and everyone else with the condition means the world to me, it really does.”

Meg is hoping the many thousands who line the streets on the big day will also be cheering her on because she readily admits that the thought of doing the marathon “terrifies me”.

That’s after her virtual marathon experience, which prompted her to say: “Halfway round I thought, ‘Why am I doing this?’ And then I thought, ‘That’s not the time to be asking this question!’”

She likes to run a half-marathon but says the biggest distance she has ever raced is 10K, so it’s no real surprise when she says she’ll be nervous on the big day.

“I’ll feel sick and all sorts,” she said. “I imagine I’ll be a shaking mess. I do dressage and showjumping as well and I’m always a nervous wreck.”

Meg, who lives in Hempsted in Gloucester, clearly likes animals because she’s also been doing a fair bit of canicross with her parents’ dog.

“She’s a springer-cross-poodle,” she said. “She’s three-quarters springer but she’s only 10 kilos, she pulls all the time!”

Meg, an accounts assistant who went to Pittville School in Cheltenham, says she doesn’t think she’ll run another marathon after London, before adding: “Unless it’s with a dog, I might run a trail marathon. But it is so hard on the road.”

It’s hard on the road for most people, of course, but especially for Meg with her condition.

“It’s really hard to know if arthritis affects me or not,” she said. “But I ache so much after a long run and I think, ‘Does everyone ache as much as this?’. I suppose I’ll never know but I’m lucky because I’m very well medicated.”

She’s also very brave. She deserves all the cheers going when she runs this year’s London Marathon.