I had a place in the London Marathon in 2003 but unfortunately had to pull out after doing all of the training, as I had a chest infection during the taper.  It was particulary sad because Dad was dying in hospital and was really looking forward

of 4:30. I was using my Garmin to pace myself and that had me bang on 2:15 at the halfway mark although the official half marathon split was 2:16.58. I did start to tire a little around the halfway point and I think may have taken a sneaky little walk

before, with 10 weeks of actual running, and a maximum distance of 19 miles under my belt, here I was attempting the London Marathon, wondering what on earth I was doing! After the trip in from Abbey Wood to Blackheath, Em and I walked across the common