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Actress Sophie Thompson is running the London Marathon, and making a video diary as she prepares for the big day.Today she is joining the thousands who are registering in person at London's Excel Centre. Having spent weeks training on her own, she is now just one runner in a queue that stretches back to the street.
There are mothers with prams, office workers and senior citizens - all of them readying themselves for 26 miles, 385 yards around the capital.
When the registration desks open at 11am, the runners roll forward, and Sophie is soon signing the paperwork.
"I'm signing it, it's happening," she says, "I can't get out of it now."
Veteran advice
There is no mistaking the commercial enterprise the London Marathon has become. As far as the eye can stretch, there are stalls selling everything a runner might ever want.
There are computer gizmos, running kits that look more like diving suits, and a pasta canteen where competitors can shovel themselves full of carbohydrate. There is even a massage parlour where you can get a little pre-race muscle manipulation.
Sophie is more interested in her fellow marathon runners, particularly the veterans. One elderly gentleman in tweed jacket and spectacles she meets in the registration queue has run every single London Marathon since 1981. Then she meets Derek who will be running his 23rd on Sunday. "Everybody's a winner, [it's] worth all the effort, and you'll do fine," he tells Sophie, before embracing her.
Help!
Politely dodging the many sales teams, Sophie finds her way to a giant wall emblazoned with the words "Impossible is Nothing", where runners are being encouraged to scribble their names and messages. The wall is the work of a well-known sports company, who appear to have overlooked the connotations a wall might have for marathon runners.
With Derek's words still fresh in her mind, Sophie writes "Everyone's a winner". She also writes "Help!"
"Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours London Marathon," she says as she reflects on her journey to date, and the many miles she has put in. "I hope I've done enough."
She then betrays just a smidgeon of emotion, before the comic actress in her quickly re-emerges.
"I'm walking around being a little bit moved ... and trying not to spend too much money on all the running produce!"
Sophie Thompson is running the Virgin London Marathon 2010 for Children In Need India and for 24th Tottenham Scout Group.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.