When we meet there are nine days to go before the second Jane Tomlinson Run For All, the 10-kilometre race around Leeds that's part of the legacy left by a remarkable woman, his beloved wife of many years.

The previous night's rest didn't happen, due to all sort of problems and queries about thisyear's run – hundreds of emails to answer from participants, discussions about everything from money to food and drink, the army of volunteer helpers to traffic management.

Add to that a full-time job as an IT specialist, his role as single parent, the fact that he's been tied up for months finishing off the third book he and Jane have written about her fundraising adventures, and his work as chief executive of Jane's Appeal, the charity which administers the money raised – £1.85m of it so far.

Oh, and then there are other plans to attend to, such as the one for he and daughter Rebecca, 20, to set off on July 11, to replicate Jane's 2003 1,400-mile John O'Groats to Land's End bike ride, this time in personal celebration of her life. There's also the campaign, started at his wife's urging, to address inequalities in access to new cancer drugs.

You suspect that he might be hallucinating, rather than just a tad exhausted.

There won't be much sleep between now and Sunday either, when runners,
walkers and people in wheelchairs will set off from Millennium Square, cheered on by thousands of wellwishers as they make their way around Jane's home city.

It'll be the culmination of months of planning by Mike Tomlinson and the team, but also a terribly poignant day, as he and the family picture the smiling elfin face that's missing. Last year, Jane was there, at the start and at the finish line – too poorly with cancer to take part, but spurring everyone on and congratulating them as they came safely home.

Mike says he will be on site from about 4.30am, watching the infrastructure of the race come together, the 650 volunteer marshalls arriving (in all 1,000 people will be working on the race), cheering on not only Rebecca, but every one of those who've signed up for charity, inspired by Jane's feats of fundraising.

"I think the atmosphere will be fantastic, like last year," says Mike. "While most people are local, 20 per cent are from beyond Yorkshire – Cornwall, Devon, London, abroad. It's nice to have that diversity. People want to come and do Jane's run.

"For some it's not particularly a challenge, except that they might be after a personal best; for others is may be their first 10k. There are some amazing stories, and you never know what the person in front of you has gone through to get to the start line. We should treat them all as heroes."

So many charities will benefit from the run. About 1,700 participants are being sponsored to take part in aid of the cancer charities supported by Jane's Appeal, and Mike hopes they will raise £750,000 on the day.

Since completing the London Marathon a couple of months ago, Mike's own fitness regime has been on the back burner. "You get hooked into the event, making it happen, aware that the buck stops with you... and then, with everything else, well, I can't remember the last time I even watched a television programme that wasn't half a football match."

He and Jane never wore their heart on their sleeve. In their previous two books – the new one, about Jane's cycle ride across America, is due out in September – they describe the niggles and stresses of balancing cancer treatment, looking after the family, working and the pressure of planning and succeeding with Jane's epic charity rides, runs and swims.

They're patently a tremendously close family who trade sarcasm and bantering insults rather than showing too much of their innermost feelings in print. Mike says he can only speak for himself about how things are now, almost 10 months after Jane finally succumbed to the cancer which had been pronounced terminal seven years before.

"I couldn't speak for the children (he and Jane also have a 22-year-old daughter Suzanne and 10-year-old son Steven). I've had a bad couple of weeks. I guess you don't realise how heartbroken you are, then certain events trigger it. That happened a couple of weeks ago, and I've been struggling ever since. You think you've moved further on than you have... then something pulls you up short."

He seems to be so frantically busy that there is little time to pause and reflect. "Hmm... yes, I know that part of packing so much in is grief-avoidance, to be perfectly honest. But still it sometimes comes and smacks you in the face and you can't do anything about it."

Unlike his instantly-recognisable wife with her megawatt smile, Mike Tomlinson's face has not become such a well-known one. The cameras were always on Jane. She might at times have hated the training, the slog on the bike or the road, in the pool, the wrestling with pain – but they were part of getting the job done for charity. What she struggled with, despite her warm and giving persona in interviews, was the fame.

"She never had any regrets, and all the things she did were extremely exciting as well as raising all the money. But we couldn't go anywhere in the country or in mainland Europe without her being recognised. Some people felt it was okay to make negative comments... and there were situations like being in the clinic at St James's after hearing bad news and feeling distraught, when being well-known made it very hard.

"But Jane could shut the door at home and be in her own world, and around Rothwell people were used to seeing her about. She knew recognition was the price she had to pay for giving the charities a profile. She did accept that."

Does he feel that Jane's tremendous fitness – which often had to be regained at huge cost after bouts of illness and cancer treatment – helped her to live longer? "It helped her to feel strong enough to contemplate more treatment, when others might have given up. But it was the drugs that kept Jane alive, not running a marathon."

Which brings us to Mike's campaign to make the Government end inequalities in access to groundbreaking cancer drugs. "It's Jane's fight, not mine. She told me to do it. I'm not a political animal and she didn't have much time for politicians. But she thought it stank."

She's changed so much already, has Jane Tomlinson. There are people, sick with cancer or not, who are striding out or running because of her indomitable spirit; the sick have been assisted and research furthered; she continues to give hope and an example of how to live a full and meaningful life, even in the face of death.

"Jane was always the same character," says Mike, with the glimmer of a smile in his tired eyes. "It would have surprised anyone, seeing the things she did, but Jane was like no other human being I've ever met."

Does he think she's out there somewhere, feeling proud of what she's achieved?

"No...she's probably sitting up there p****d off with me over something..."


The Jane Tomlinson Run For All sets off at 9am this Sunday, June 22, from Millennium Square, Leeds.

Full coverage of the race will appear on our website as it happens on Sunday with full reports in Monday's newspaper.

If you are taking part on Sunday, send us your stories and photographs for our online coverage so we can publicise your efforts. Click the link to email us at yponline@ypn.co.uk>>

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