of charging up those climbs and running all the way. Saturday's race was the perfect motivation to get that fitness back - and a reminder of the rewards of doing so.Time: 2:49:23Pace: 12:50/milePosition: 331/334

The numbers in brackets are last year's position; the times are last year's men's and women's winning timesIf we've been given an event's details, you'll find it in the Race Diary.Best seriesThe Yateley 10K series, staged on the Hampshire

Stage 4: 82KI made it! Everyone says that if you can get through the long stage you'll finish the race. I'm happy to report that at around 1.30 today (Thursday) I hobbled across the finish line after 82K, not quite last but with not too many people

.Where to stay Accommodation, in a three-star campsite, is ‘à la carte’. It ranges from the bare minimum of just meals after each race stage, which is included in the registration fee, to full accommodation for the three nights in a chalet, holiday bungalow

better in the morning. And of course, it does.I found out that I had a place at the 26th Marathon des Sables just three months earlier. The six-stage, seven-day race, which takes place in southern Morocco every year, might attract runners from all over

Luton Marathon, Bedfordshire Sunday, December 1WHY RUN IT?Last chance to run in a marathonBritain’s last marathon of 2002 is run over three fairly undulating laps of town and countryside. The race is run together with a three-stage relay.FEES£11

At just 17.5K, the final stage of the 26th Marathon des Sables was the shortest by far but still proved to be challenging. It was another hot day - although once the temperature rises above 40C it's hard to differentiate between simply hot

Stage 2: 38KThe sun usually rises here just before 6am but there was no sunrise this morning. We woke to a sandstorm, just what we didn't need to kick off a 38K stage. I'm sharing a tent with Jay Batchen, who has done the race eight or so times: he

Snowdonia Marathon: a 900ft climb over four miles"You can run London, Paris, New York every year - but to feel you have really 'run' a marathon, try Snowdonia. When you finish, you know you have run a proper 26.2 mile race. Best in the World

female in the Himalaya 100-mile stage race in the Indian Himalayas, and in 2006 I was first lady at the North Pole Marathon. I completed my first Ironman-distance triathlon last year, and hope to run this year's London Marathon the week after I return