A design lecturer who started running for just ten minutes at a time is getting ready for his next marathon after completing the race in New York.

Arnie Nisbet (40), completed the New York Marathon in 5 hours and 12 seconds on 5 November and will now be running the Paris marathon in April next year.

He said: "I honestly believe that if I can do it anyone can do it.

"It seems like a dream - if I didn't have photos I wouldn't believe I had done it.

"It was the most amazing thing I have done and probably the best thing I have ever done. You see it on the TV and you look at it and say: 'I wish I could do something like that' - and it was completely beyond what I thought I'd be capable of doing."

About 18 months ago Arnie decided he needed to take a bit more exercise, and started running three times a week near his home in Hackney.

He said: "I started going out for 10 minute runs three times a week and steadily built up to 20 minutes which took about two months.  The hardest bit is to get up to 20 minutes then it is much easier to get up to an hour and so on. I had never done any sports.  I applied for the marathon which gave me the focus.  Entering races gives you a goal to work towards and completing it a sense of achievement."

Arnie ran several 10k races in preparation for the New York marathon.

After the race, for which preparation included several 10K runs, his name appeared in the New York Times, which listed all the runners with times up to 5 hours and 5 minutes.

However, he said: "I had hoped to do it in five hours - so I missed it by 13 seconds!"

Arnie, whose wife Jill also ran the New York race and did the Paris Marathon in 2006, has now raised £350 in sponsorship for the Princes Trust and hopes to top £500.

The trust runs schemes to help create opportunities for young people, many of whom may have missed out.

He said: "Hopefully the work of the trust helps make young people realise they can achieve those things which have been beyond their dreams and expectations - like I did when I ran the marathon."

Before teaching, Arnie worked as an art director and animator in the computer games industry, then as an illustrator for major magazine and newspaper publishers in the UK and abroad.

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