According to Mara Yamauchi, Britain's only hope of rostrum representation at the conclusion of Sunday's Flora London Marathon, attaining the status of an elite long-distance runner "is not rocket science".

Think of it simply as committing to a religion. "You have to devote your whole life to it," said Yamauchi. "All I seem to do from morning to night is train, shower, eat and sleep in constant cycles.

"I just focus on getting the best out of myself. But there are no secrets to the marathon. You just have to train hard and prepare as best you can."

Considering that Yamauchi, 35, once worked as a diplomat with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, her frank disclosure of what it takes to become a successful marathon runner hardly seems likely to attract a desperately needed new breed of British talent to the discipline.

Ian Stewart, one of the country's most successful distance runners, is now charged by UK Athletics with reviving British distance running.

While he may not appreciate Yamauchi - the former Mara Myers now happily competes under the family name of her Japanese husband, Shige - coming so clean on the commitment required, his belief that there are youngsters prepared to forgo the easy distractions of iPods and computer games does get her full support.

With a record 155,000 applications having been made for place in Sunday's race, the talent pool is surely there. It is a case of convincing the most promising that pounding the road - China's Olympic bronze medalist Zhou Chunxiu maybe takes it to extremes with a weekly target in winter training of 180 miles - can lead to glory and riches.

Yamauchi (left), sixth in the Beijing Olympics, will be Britain's highest-ranked runner in the race - former women's winner Paula Radcliffe is absent with a toe injury and the best time of Tomas Abyu, our leading male competitor, is over six-and-a-half minutes off the world record. She said: "I hope my performance will inspire more British people to take up marathon running.

"There is talent out there. And in the UK we do have excellent facilities now. London 2012 should be a great inspiration. Three years is not long to become a top marathon runner if you haven't started already.

"People just have to come up with a goal. They should ask themselves 'how am I going to get there, who is going to help me do it?', then get on with it. It's not rocket science."

Yamauchi hopes to prove what can be achieved by dramatically lowering her personal best of 2hrs 25mins 3secs set when coming third in the Tokyo Marathon last November. In Sunday's race, which is live on BBC One from 8.30am, she will be up against defending champion Irina Mikitenko, of Germany, and all three Olympic medalists: Constantina Dita, of Romania, Kenya's Catherine Ndereba and Chunxiu.

However, Yamauchi comes to London encouraged by her own performance in Beijing. She said: "I was up there until the last mile really and then I just didn't have quite enough at the end.

"But it made me realise that I can win medals at this level."