You're running tomorrow in Run to the Beat, London's first half-marathon and a race set to live music.How did that come about?

I watched my best friend's husband do the London Marathon in April and found all that effort for charity terribly moving. That night my neighbour suggested training for next year's event by entering this half-marathon. Ten bottles of Merlot later, I said yes.

Your love song Sophia was nominated for the Ivor Novello award last year. Do you listen to it on your iPod while you're running?

I love Muse's last record: it's really energetic. Madonna, because if she can do it at 50, then I should be able to do it now. And lots of Queen. I think of it as climbing your own Everest every time you set out.

Has the training been a killer?

I've been on a 12-week programme. The hardest has been not drinking. And smoking.

Any tricks to keep going?

Every night I leave my trainers and kit by the bed so that I start the day by putting on my running gear.

Does your Jack Russell, Audrey, run with you?

Audrey (pictured above) came with the husband. She's my stepdaughter! But after a mile she's stops dead and you have to pick her up. Now I'm on five miles a day, she's rubbish!

Were you a healthy child?

Actually, I was in and out of hospital as a girl. I had a dodgy kidney and bladder. I had my first operation when I was 3 or 4 and living in India - my mother is from Allahabad and my father from Jersey. I was operated on then about every six months until I was 11. I've been pretty healthy since - touch wood - apart from a gastric ulcer five years ago.

Sounds nasty. How did that happen?

It flared up two months after I was dropped from my first record deal. At first the doctor thought it was heart trouble and then muscle strain, so he gave me ibuprofen, which is one of the worst things you can take with an ulcer. I was eventually given strong antibiotics that worked. I think the ulcer was caused by grief.

What happened?

My granny had stomach cancer. She had always been this huge matriarch, like an Indian version of the Queen. It was hard seeing this really large woman shrinking daily. Then Mum and my aunt became very ill after she died, so it was like a big black wave over our family.

And now you're happily married...

I married Andrew Chatterley, a music producer, last year on Valentine's Day, just like my parents had done. We met on January 4 and he proposed after half an hour. I said yes.

Sorry - did you say half an hour?

No one had ever worn a suit to take me out on a date; I was hugely impressed. We went to the Prospect of Whitby pub in Wapping, East London. I took one look at him and decided that I would marry him. Then he asked me.

Are you normally so impulsive?

It's the only time in my life. He's from Jersey, like my dad. We discovered that we'd been at primary school together and that my dad and his had been drinking buddies. Even so, my parents thought that I'd been brainwashed and kidnapped by Moonies when I told them that I'd agreed to marry someone after half an hour.

Sounds like fate. Are you spiritually inclined?

I was raised a Catholic, but have spent a long time studying Buddhism. I have to work really hard at being positive - I have to goad myself into it. I don't like this lazy, new agey spirituality. I've got a lot of respect for ritual. Meditation has been really helpful. I do it every day. Running helps, too.

To sponsor Nerina Pallot, who is running in aid of the NSPCC, go to www.justgiving.com/nerinapallot

To find out more about the Sony Ericsson Run to the Beat race, go to www.runtothebeat.co.uk

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