The Shenley Christian Fellowship blog gives the opportunity for people in the Fellowship to share what’s on their mind with a wider audience. Phil Atkins blogs about running in the London Marathon.

I work for the Prison Service and have done so for the last 23 years in a variety of roles and locations around the country. I am currently based at HMP Bullingdon, near Bicester.

I was born in Kent but spent most of my formative years living in Worthing, West Sussex, which is where I met my wife, Karen. We started married life in 1991 in a village called Yapton and all three of our children were born in Chichester: Michael (18), Sophie (16) and Lauren (also 16). Shenley Christian Fellowship congregation members may know them better than me as they have been attending SCF since we moved to Milton Keynes in 1997. I’m the guy that you will have seen loitering with any one or a combination of these people since I started coming to SCF 18 months ago.

My spare time is largely filled with three things. For a number of years now I have been the fixtures secretary of the Milton Keynes & Border Counties Youth Football League. I schedule every fixture that the boys between the ages of 11 and 18 play in this league. It takes up a few hours a week and becomes frustrating at times but it does allow about 3,000 boys to participate in something they enjoy and also gives them a purpose.

I also like spending time with Karen. We enjoy the cinema and occasionally visit the theatre. I even joined her on a 45 mile bike ride recently, though I did struggle with this a little bit. I run with the girls at the park run on Saturday mornings (www.parkrun.org.uk/miltonkeynes), and analyse football matches with Michael, in particular West Ham United and England.

The other thing I spend a lot of time doing at the moment is running. In September 2009, I was very stressed and started running to help relieve the stress. I lost a couple of stone and found that I actually enjoyed running. I’m currently training for the London Marathon which takes place on April 17th this year. I have known I will be running this event since last May so it has been a long journey to reach this point (about 1000 miles to the end of March). I have spent many long, cold, dark, wet, freezing hours out running. There have been a few sunny ones as well and I am looking forward to the warmer weather now.

I shall be running for Toybox and am busy raising funds on their behalf. I believe this is a very worthwhile cause and hope that the little bit I am doing will help raise funds for street children in Latin America. If you would like to sponsor me I have a fund raising page which is www.virginmoneygiving.com/PhilAtkins. I’m hoping to exceed the target I have set and know that every penny helps so anything you feel able to give will be very gratefully received by both me and Toybox. Alternatively, feel free to nab me when you see me.

The training has been long and hard but does allow me the opportunity to relax (!), think, stay fit and de-stress. It is also amazing how much more you notice when you are out and about on your feet instead of in a car. Seeing nature as God intended (as long as you can block out the cars and lorries!) is fantastic though I’m not a fan of hills when I have to run up them. It is also a chance to get away from computers, televisions and other gadgets around in this day and age (Apart from my iPod and Garmin watch with heart rate monitor and foot pod!).

(Don't forget to visit Phil's fund-raising page!)