vultures Take a trip back in time around the historic Longleat estate, home of the Marquess of Bath, in the fifth staging of this 10K in particularly stunning surroundings. You'll need to watch out for the hills on the race’s figure-of-eight route around

. It was the first staging of the race and it was lovely – I did a season's best time, the weather was beautiful and the course was great.I prefer rural, scenic marathons - I don't tend to run flat road marathons very often.G: It would probably be the Beachy Head

(Derbyshire, April 5) Four-mile fell race run over Derbyshire’s High Peak Trail and encompassing 600ft of ascent. Filling Up Fast…Sister Act - The Nun Run 4 (London, May 3) Adopt a new habit with this four-mile fancy-dress caper around central London

the Black Country's famous canals.City of Manchester 10K (July 5) Popular city road race through Manchester’s suburbs with an uplifting City of Manchester Stadium start and finish. Reigate Priory Summer 10K (Surrey, July 8) This serene midsummer fixture

fine to fantastic. And it's a two-way street: without marshals, it would be impossible to stage races!Go greenLeave the roads behind and get back in touch with nature. Running on grass or trails, as well as getting you pleasingly muddy, will do

sprint tri. The bug bit deep – I finished and loved every weary second of it.Soon, the Pirates were at every race I went to, who all seemed to have entered an Ironman from a standing start. I wanted to spend a year preparing, but the seed was sprouting