In the first of her weekly journals, find out how our Sport Academy runner is preparing for the London Marathon. Hello! I work as an intern for the BBC's Blue Peter programme. I am having an absolute ball as a runner for the film team, getting up to all kinds of craziness.
I don't think there is such a thing as an average day for a film team runner on Blue Peter.
It can mean anything from dressing up in a toga in Glasgow and filming at the London Palladium to getting to grips with cameras and post production... not forgetting, of course, the essential skill of tea making!
 A girl of many talents - Rebecca plays in her band Jelico |
However, I'm about to get involved in a whole different world of running. It's called the London Marathon.
I am 24 and come from beautiful County Down in Northern Ireland.
It would seem that the old Irish luck has worked some more magic for me.
After winning a BBC Club competition, I've now got my very own personal trainer to help me prepare for the whopping 26.2 miles on 23 April.
It's not my first marathon. Almost two years ago, I stood with 35,000 others in front of the Arc de Triomphe about to take on the Paris Marathon.
After training completely on my own for 18 weeks, I questioned my sanity as nerves and an ill-advised strong French coffee meant I had slept not one wink the night before.
My aunt and flatmate gave me some much needed encouragement for the last stretch, and wild horses could not have stopped me from tearing over the finish line that day. I waddled down the Champs Elysees, where it had all began some five hours earlier. It was living proof that prayer works!
So, after humble beginnings in school cross country races back home in Banbridge and those amazing experiences in Paris, my running career is about to take another twist.
Hopefully, this time round it will be a little less painful, thanks to the assistance of my trainer Dan Brockhurst.
 |  Follow my highs and lows, injury battles and my constant fight with the morning alarm clock |
He is an Ultra-marathon runner and has completed the legendary Marathon des Sables, running 150 miles across the burning Moroccan desert in seven days. Dan has also run the Britvic Marathon of Britain - 175 miles in six days - and is set to run the 45 miles from Tring to Little Venice at the weekend.
My little 26.2 miles around London seems a mere trifle in comparison, but I am fully aware that things are going to get very tough indeed!
I am hugely privileged to be running for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. They raise �20 million each year through fundraising, much of it going towards research and development, buying and replacing of medical and surgical equipment, accommodation and other services for families.
This charity is special to me because I spent some time in hospital as a girl, and am very thankful to all the hard-working medical staff who helped to put me back on the road to health.
So follow my progress with my weekly diary - the highs and lows, my injury battles and my constant fight with the morning alarm clock.
Other running experts will also be on hand to pass on plenty of tips on things such as diet or training regimes as we get closer to the big day.
So if you're training for the marathon yourself, or you've got any questions about anything to do with my preparation and this great event, then why not get on our message boards.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
