The starting gun will be fired at the first ever Chelmsford Marathon in under one month.
The prospect of the 26.2 mile two-lap route, which will take in five of the city's parks, might appear daunting to some, especially if you've slacked on the preparation or it has somehow slipped your mind.
Essex Chronicle reporters Ciaran Gold and Peter Walker are also taking pary, but it seems they're at different stages of the preparation process.
We checked up on them to find out how their training is getting on, and it seems Peter will need to get his boots on sharpish if he wants to cross the finish line.
What is your regular training schedule?
Ciaran Gold: It's supposed to be interval training Tuesdays and a long run building up to marathon distance on Sundays, with two eight to nine miles in between.
However, as the big day approaches, I've been slacking massively and I know it's going to come back and bite me. I had a target time but I think I'll just accept a finish now.
If I do three runs a week I'm pleased.
Peter Walker: What schedule?
What food are you eating at the moment?
CG: Far too much junk food. If I'm going for a long run then I'll made some effort to carb load the night before, but otherwise I've made few changes.
One of the best things about running is you burn off a shedload of calories, so you can get away with eating rubbish!
PW: The food I usually eat: cereal for breakfast, sandwiches and lots of fruit for lunch, and for dinner, usually a pasta, rice or red meat based hot meal
Have you run along the route?
CG: I haven't, but as it's Chelmsford, it's flat, so I'm happy about that. There's been some criticism that it's a boring route, but I think that will be the last thing on my mind on the big day.
Also, it's the first Chelmsford marathon. It's great that we're even having one.
PW: Yes, but only because the Saturday morning 5k parkrun in Central Park, which I attend sporadically, takes in part of the route
How often do you run?
CG: If it wasn't for the marathon, I would run maybe once a week. I'm a part of Bishop's Stortford Running Club and they run Wednesdays, but there's loads of clubs around here like the Springfield Striders. I find running pretty boring on my own but it's far better with other people.
PW: Perhaps once a week, but I play lots of football as much as five times a week, does that count?
Have you run a marathon/race before?
CG: I've never run a marathon but I've run a number of races since I started running in December.
I started because my girlfriend Ruth was running the Brighton marathon in April. She was running to raise money for the Brain Tumour charity after her best friend died from a tumour in December, a week before she was due to get married.
I wanted to help her train and my first race was the Essex 20 mile road race in March, which was Ruth's final training run before the marathon. I can remember being petrified beforehand but it feeling like a massive accomplishment afterwards.
Since then, I've done a number of 10k, 10 mile and half marathon races, my last being on Sunday.
I would definitely recommend them to anyone before trying a marathon to get a feel of what it's all about.
You will be overtaken by people far older than you – on Sunday a chap in his 70s comfortably beat me in a half marathon with a time of something like one hour and 45 minutes.
Once you learn you're only racing against yourself it becomes so much more enjoyable and social. If you're struggling other runners will help you with words of encouragement – some people go round the whole course chatting.
And if you're reading this and thinking that running isn't for you or that you 'can't run', come down and watch the marathon and you will be inspired.
Ruth struggled to do 400m in December, yet in April ran Brighton in five hours and seven minutes – not bad!
PW: I ran a half marathon three years ago. I felt very ill afterwards.
Sponsorship money raised by the Chelmsford Parks Marathon will go directly to the J's Hospice. See here for more information
