? This is the afternoon. You don’t go running in the afternoon. In fact, you shouldn’t be here. You’re an optical illusion. Bugger off!”He’s probably right. With the London Marathon 10 days away, I’m fighting off a cold. I woke in the night and felt as if I was trying

as it flowed over my sinuses, cold and pure, then osmosing through the membranous walls of the alveoli in the linings of my lungs, enriching my blood and extending the sacred life force along endless miles of capillaries to the furthest extremities of my

I’ve just completed the Jordan Desert Cup. I ran 120 miles in 48 hours. The experience has left me with a profound sense of awe: it’s simply astonishing what the human body can’t do. It can’t get up at 8am on a cold, wet Sunday to join the Highgate

is hot, the beer is cold and all is well with the world.But imagine if running were not just an unpleasant but psychologically necessary interlude in your self-indulgent day. Imagine doing it for a living.It wouldn’t be a case of, ‘I’m just popping out