The London Marathon shows the best of politics

It’s been another bad week for politics, with Maria Miller and the expenses scandal dominating the news and bringing Parliament into disrepute once again. Scandals like this reduce public trust in politics, increase apathy and are equally damaging for all political parties. But my week has been increasingly dominated by something that I think shows the very best of politicians and the idea of public service – the London Marathon.

Nine Members of Parliament will join 35,000 others to run the London Marathon this Sunday, five Labour and four Tories. Every single one of my parliamentary colleagues is making a huge personal sacrifice (and trust me it really is hard work!) – in order to raise money for charities and raise awareness of crucial issues that really matter to our constituents.

I’m running my first marathon, in London, on my home turf, to raise much needed funds for the Evening Standard’s Dispossessed Fund charity. The Dispossessed Fund supports over 700 charities and projects across the capital to tackle poverty and inequality. As Shadow London Minister, I’ve had the privilege to visit many of their projects from Advocacy in Greenwich, who support people with learning disabilities, to Streets of Growth in Poplar who work to tackle gang culture. The Londoners I’ve met and the stories they have told me will no doubt keep me going on race day when the going really gets tough.

Something that I wasn’t expecting was the cross-party support I’ve received from people from all backgrounds. I’ve been sponsored by George Osborne, Nick Clegg and many Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrats. People have been incredibly generous and I’ve had conversations and tips from MPs I would have never spoken to before. Parliament has come together and put politics aside to support a good cause. The only exception has been Boris Johnson, who has (so far) refused to help out. He has actually said no!

And there has been a lot of competition between the MPs running this year. From the Labour benches, I’ll be competing with Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, Jim Murphy and Dan Jarvis. Jim is the one to watch – last week he claimed to be on an international development visit but I’m convinced he was secretly at a high altitude training camp. Andy is running his first marathon like me and we’ve been able to help each other cope with our nerves. Dan is a pro runner and without a parachute on his back I think he’ll give Jim a run for his money as the fastest MP.

My aim is to beat Ed Balls – he’s running his third marathon, but I’m hoping it will be a victory for youth over experience and that the home London crowd will get me over the line first! The other MPs running are Alan Cairns, Edward Timpson, Graham Evans and Jason McCartney. It will be interesting to see whether the reds or the blues get the quickest team time.

My training has gone well so far – I did my last long run, 22 miles, two weeks ago and I’m now tapering down to the big day. I’ve managed to stay injury free apart from the odd sore nipple (Vaseline helps!). My advice to anyone considering running next year is just say yes… although maybe ask me again on Monday morning! If you see me on Sunday, please shout some encouragement… I think I’m going to need it. Wish me luck!

Sadiq Khan is Shadow London Minister, Shadow Justice Secretary and MP for Tooting

You can follow Sadiq’s progress on twitter with @SadiqKhan and #YesWeKhan and you can donate to the Dispossessed Fund at virginmoneygiving.com/SadiqKhan