-mail exchange with Runner's World. The proposal sounded simple. Write a monthly column. Nothing too technical, just the observations of a former couch potato. I’m sure that the rest of the staff were ready to have the editor committed for offering

wife Karen in the final 20 metres, so technically she was last. Yes, it’s true that she hadn’t actually started running yet, that she was wearing three-year-old training shoes, and that she was laughing so hard at the sight of me running that she could

Extract from No Need For Speed by John Bingham (Rodale International Limited, £8.99). To order direct from Runner's World for the special price of £7.99 (inc P&P), call 0800 731 0622 and quote 55174-0.Those who know me well know that I enjoy