Having won a ballot place in the 2026 TCS London Marathon, Linda Tostevin said she has “thoroughly enjoyed” her training.
Now, with just days to go, she is making her final preparations before travelling to London to take part in one of the world’s most iconic sporting events.
“I can honestly say I throughly enjoyed my training,” she said.
“I was not a runner at all, so was starting as a complete beginner, I couldn’t even do a parkrun without stopping.”
With that in mind, running the London Marathon is not something that Linda ever expected to be doing, but she’s doing it for one special person – her dad.
Roy Tostevin died in March 2022 from Parkinsons, but he’s been with Linda throughout her training.
She said he has been her inspiration and motivation when the runs got longer and harder.
“The longer runs can be very lonely,” she admitted. “I completed my longest run of 35km on Monday 23rd March which was my dad’s 4 year anniversary.
“I knew I wanted to do my longest run on that day, running from town to his memorial bench at Pleinmont and then back along the coast to home.”
For other runs, Linda has met up with friends and joined a running group and said that has been very helpful.
“I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to meet up with friends for runs and everyone has been very encouraging,” she said.
“The best part for me has been the challenge, this is definitely something that is very much out of my comfort zone but I have really enjoyed the challenge.”
Linda’s challenge comes to a head this Sunday when she takes part in the 2026 TCS London Marathon.
Widely recognised as the world’s largest fundraising event, Linda chose to raise money for Parkinsons UK through her marathon efforts.
“I entered the ballot never expecting to get a spot but I did and so I chose to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK,” she explained.
Linda has already smashed her fundraising target – and her training – and will be lining up with almost 60,000 other people for her 26.2mile run on Sunday.