started to train for the race: now where did I put that corkscrew? So you want to run the Medoc Marathon? The next race – on September 12, 2009 – will mark the 25th anniversary of the race, so expect places to fill even more rapidly than usual. To find

: April 26Madrid’s most important athletic event has seen around 200,000 runners attempt to complete the 42.2K run within the six-hour time limit, but only 120,000 have been successful to date – it is without a doubt survival of the fittest. The well

’s oldest, fastest and flattest marathons as well as a variety of innovative shorter races.Choose from our pick of the best Dutch races, selected by Runner’s World Netherlands’ Editor Ysbrand Visser, and your training will seem downhill from here. Egmond

ever when he finished 12th at last year's race; and that there's a two-year waiting list for prospective UK applicants.I wanted to find out more, so I read several books, talked to previous participants and trained hard (for me), running and walking