A Norwich solicitor is in training for the Edinburgh marathon despite a serious fall from a horse two years ago.

Jacqueline Lake, 51, from Swaffham, who is also deputy coroner for Norfolk, said she was 'excited but apprehensive' about tackling her first marathon.

The 26.2-mile challenge takes place on May 27 and the course ends at Gosford House.

Mrs Lake, who specialises in employment law for Fosters Solicitors in Norwich, will be raising money for Parkinson's UK.

Her grandfather, William Steggles, died of the neurological condition in 1981 and her father-in-law is currently suffering from the condition.

In February 2010, she fell off a horse on to her head while she was out on a hack with two other riders from the Blackborough End Equestrian Centre, near King's Lynn.

She said: 'I think I'm very lucky to be alive. Wearing a helmet definitely saved my life.'

Doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in King's Lynn, thought she had fractured her skull but she did not need any operations.

The solicitor had to give up work for six weeks and could not run until around November that year because of the neurological effects. She has not ridden a horse since the fall.

Mrs Lake had entered herself into the 2010 Edinburgh marathon but had to pull out because of the accident.

'I felt devastated and really upset because it had been something I had been working towards,' she said.

The solicitor, a mother of two, took up running about three years before the accident and has completed two Norwich half-marathons, the 10km Grand East Anglia Run in King's Lynn and the 10 mile Marham charity.

She added: 'I feel exhausted and exhilarated when I finish a race.'

Mrs Lake hopes to raise �1,000 for Parkinson's UK and has so far raised �200.

'It is a debilitating disease. It is hard to see how people are affected by it,' she said.

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/Jacqueline-Lake0