Leading the field: Paula RadcliffeThe Athens Olympic Marathon in 2004 was meant to be Paula Radcliffe's race. Since her marathon debut in London in 2002 the British world record holder had never been defeated over the distance. Certainly the Kenyans

Street Party: 8,000 runners line up at the startSix hours, 42 kilometres, 23 glasses of wine. Not my normal race strategy, but then this was not a normal race. The festival of wine and running that is the Medoc Marathon used to be a well

Leading the field: Paula RadcliffeThe Athens Olympic Marathon in 2004 was meant to be Paula Radcliffe's race. Since her marathon debut in London in 2002 the British world record holder had never been defeated over the distance. Certainly the Kenyans

that it's a good idea to limit dehydration as you run, in the real world many runners completing marathons between three and four hours do so with a level of dehydration between two and five per cent. So, if you've been following current guidelines