On 15 October, Elliot Sanderson from University Hospital Southampton will be running the Great South Run, something he couldn’t have imagined at the start of the year.

“I live in Whiteley with my wife Amanda and our two children Ava (8) and Oscar (4).

I’ve worked at University Hospital Southampton for 5 years and am based in the Capital Projects Team. I am the Clerk of Works which means that I make sure that constructions on site are being built to the specified design, I will monitor the quality of the construction, its progress compared to the programme of works, and health and safety of the project team on site.

I’ve always tried to stay fit and active. This has been mainly on a football pitch where the running is lots of short bursts of energy, so the thought of 10 miles as a continuous distance has been a real challenge for me.

Initially when I started training, I could run around 4 miles, but I kept getting injuries because I wasn’t used to running on concrete. The hardest part has been allowing time to heal, and with a young family, it can be hard to fit in the time for training.

With less than a month to go now before my race, my training has unfortunately been hampered by a hip injury but I am persisting and hoping the race will go well. I can now run eight miles continuously during one session, and still feel good by the end of it!

I have a real sense of enjoyment when running. I look forward to it, which makes things much easier.

To anyone training for their next run, I’d say the hardest part is keeping up the consistency in the training. I can’t wait for the race!”