It started long before it began. The idea was as eloquent as it was simple – and perhaps a tad outrageous: stuff a couple of pairs of running shoes and a change of clothes into the saddlebags of a motorbike and head across country in search of new

I was an old man when I started running. Not that 43 is all that old, it’s just that I was living an old man’s life in an old man’s body, dreaming an old man’s dreams. I’m much younger than that now.Before I started running, I could count the years

awful races. I’ve run long enough, hard enough, and easy enough to know that you have to learn to take it all in your stride. And while I have some solid running experiences behind me, I now have runners behind me too, thanks to the second running boom

Many runners are too tense. They’re tense before they run, while they run and after they run. But it’s not their muscles that are tense – it’s their heads. Rather than running in the present tense, they’re always running in the past or future.Men my

teacher. And I remind myself that my running – indeed my life – is my shovel. No one’s gonna break my back, no one’s gonna steal my joy, no one’s gonna steal my right to celebrate what I’ve accomplished, so long as I’m working the shovel.Waddle on friends.

This section is adapted from No Need For Speed - A Beginner's Guide To The Joy Of Running, by John Bingham. Buy this book!You may be uncomfortable hearing that no one can tell you what your fitness goals should be. No one can tell you how much

’s OK because it’s the process of running that matters, not the destination. I can learn something from every run, even the difficult ones. What can I learn from this one?” Extract from No Need For Speed by John Bingham (Rodale International Limited, £8

– of running. I thought that being a penguin meant looking past others’ expectations and getting to the truth of myself. I thought that being a penguin was about being slow.But then, not long ago, a 32-minute 10K runner introduced himself to me as a penguin. I

arsenal. I can prepare for battle.Like Napoleon, I pace back and forth in front of my assembled shoe troops. What shall we confront today? A long run? Where are my favourite cushioned shoes? Heading for the track? Where are those lightweight trainers

Imagine a marathon with seven starts, nine finishes and 1600 turns, run almost continuously for 48 hours on a course only 328ft long. Imagine a marathon at which whales, seals and penguins are the only spectators. Imagine a marathon run