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 Bridge. I’ve always maintained that during

.And yet the intense feeling of relief that overwhelmed me on that occasion was nothing compared to the all-suffusing ecstasy I experienced as I tottered off Queensboro Bridge into Manhattan at Mile 16 of the New York City Marathon.It was the contrast, I

.Indeed in New York’s Central Park, where the runners are exclusively short, spherical, middle-aged ladies, The Twelve-Minute Mile Rule is generally observed. Out West, of course, they’re very laid back. In fact, there’s fierce competition between Californians