’m hovering around 108,000. That distant October turned out to have been my only serious encounter with runner’s high. It might have been vivid, but it hasn’t happened again. By my maths, this means I have experienced the rush on 0.00185 per cent of all my

’s trying to make it around the block four times, as well as the 36-minute 10K runner who’s training for a first marathon with long runs that stretch to 12 miles, then 16, then 20.The gradual-adaptation principle is deeply rooted in human physiology, and has

ran 2:42:24 in 1975, and Joan Benoit Samuelson ran 2:22:43 in 1983. ("World best" was the euphemism instead of "world record" for road-race performances before January 1, 2004.) This year saw a course record set in the men's race, but, at 2:07:14

this first-hand on a 1998 trip to Kenya. One morning, I joined a handful of marathon runners who were being coached by Dr Gabriella Rosa as they tackled the infamous Fluorspar Hill that rises nearly 4000ft in 13 miles.I managed to hang on for only 10 minutes

of the participants running a 62-mile race consumed 14,000 millilitres of liquid; another who ran only 26 miles, drank only 280 millilitres. The latter runner, not surprisingly, showed the most loss of vascular fluid, resulting in thickened blood plasma and impaired

on the back of an envelope. In 1886 a British man, Walter George, ran a 4:12.8 mile. The mile record dropped by a little more than 13 seconds in the 68 years leading up to Bannister's 3:59.4. In the 50 years since Bannister, the record has dropped another 16.3

This extract is from The Runner's World Complete Book of Running by RW USA Editor Amby Burfoot. You can now preview it, free, for two weeks without risk or obligation. All running programmes for beginners are the same: they move you from walking

on the back of an envelope. In 1886 a British man, Walter George, ran a 4:12.8 mile. The mile record dropped by a little more than 13 seconds in the 68 years leading up to Bannister's 3:59.4. In the 50 years since Bannister, the record has dropped another 16.3

."NUTRITIONPass on the extra carbsBread, bagels, pasta, potatoes and pancakes - you just can't get enough, right? Wrong, says sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, author of Nancy Clark's Food Guide for New Runners (£12.95, Meyer & Meyer Sport). Running two or three miles

to all circumstances and all runners – the beginner who’s trying to make it around the block four times, as well as the 36-minute 10K runner who’s training for a first marathon with long runs that stretch to 12 miles, then 16, then 20.The gradual