sportspeople.  Best New Event Royal Parks Foundation Half-MarathonThis debut London event was blessed with perfect autumn weather, but it was the organisers who got everything else right. Over 7,500 runners ran a landmark-lined route that weaved through

to take part in an 18-week marathon-training programme. Although the participants were reasonably fit at the start of the study, none of them had completed a marathon. In fact, most weren’t even running 10 miles a week before beginning the programme

© Getty ImagesIf you feel like you can't run any further once you've hit the 20-mile mark in a marathon – your legs have turned to lead and your mind to mush – you might have started out too fast. Fortunately, there is a simple way around this. A

have changed.In the first Olympic marathon at least one runner thought it was smart to drink wine during the race. We're not saying the challengers to conventional wisdom are right – or wrong. Only that their ideas are worth considering, because

-burning. So grab your favourite sports drink, put your feet up and read on at a comfortable pace.Why?Long runs give you endurance – the ability to run further. Yet they can help 10K runners as well as marathoners. Long runs do several things. They

Blackford on...The New York City Marathon... "Given that I dislike New York and loathe marathons, I enjoyed the New York City Marathon immensely. It started well – I managed to avoid getting peed on from the upper deck of the Verrazano Narrows

marathoner, wanted to lower his personal best from 3:50 to 3:30. And Deena Drossin, the American 10K and cross-country star, wanted nothing less than to run the marathon faster than a legend – Joan Samuelson. All three runners achieved their goals. Each used

Q Is there any way I can use cycling to help with my running? Can it replace speedwork, for instance? I already cycle a hilly eight miles to work every day. I’m currently training for a half-marathon, and I run three times a week.A Cycling makes

and their forum threads launched on Wednesday December 14.A note on categoriesThis year, we've organised the categories a little differently. Rather than impose restrictive time targets, we've focused on the wider goals most marathon runners have - from

to your fat-burning.So, even when you're not training for a specific marathon, it's a good ideato do at least one semi-long run a week. Because long runs are done at arelaxed pace, there's great latitude in how fast you actually run. In general,we believe