severe pain in my right shin, since diagnosed as stress fracture. Best of all: when I crossed the finish line and burst into tears. What would I do differently: not wait until I was 60 years of age to do it. The key to my success: just determination

words I've ever heard... 'It's okay love, you can stop now'.It has to be one of the most amazing, terrifying and painful experiences ever (granted, I've never given birth!) From the cheerful, smiling start to the tearful, slogging end, picking one moment

? Perhaps. But I took the attitude that anything was possible until proved otherwise and I immediately started training and filming. Suffering from shin splints because I was overweight, my first 5K runs around Hyde Park often took over half an hour

muscles are sore as you begin a run, stop running until the pain goes away. Never try to run through the pain of an injury.Too driven If you have a run or race planned, you go ahead with it even though you’re sick, injured, sore or worn out.Too lazy If you

are caps of bandage with a squashy silicone gel inside. They fit over individual toes and really do help prevent blood blisters. See full threadShin splintsThe Dog Walker - The two main things you can do to prevent shin splints are (a) build up your

is, and how glorious it feels to know that I will never attempt anything so daft again in my life (maybe).I found there is no way of knowing what can come from so much pain and sustained effort, without finishing your own marathon. And knowing

from that shared by the majority of the running population.That would be that hills are the enemy. They’re an obstacle, standing in the way of fast times, a burden to be endured, a muscle-sapping, lung-bursting exercise in pain.Of course most

Hospice supporters - I was a real show off!Worst moment: 23 miles was a real killer, it just seemed to go on and on and on and on.........Biggest surprise: having run London before, my biggest surprise was how much pain I was in over the two days after

already beginning to show. "The third marathon was very hard but I didn’t tell the physio John how bad I was feeling in case he pulled me off the course," she says. "I hadn’t expected to have such problems sleeping. The pain in my legs got so bad it woke

double chin. I’d been running for six years, mostly five-mile stretches. I hovered around 12 and a half stone, and was prone to shin splints and knee pain. Obviously, 26.2 miles of asphalt could be a problem. The thought of being branded a DNF was my