, fit, young. If he’d beaten me in his first marathon, I’d have had to saw my own head off.As for the others, Denise, after weeks of training through a knee injury, managed a good time, and counts her first marathon among the great adventures of her life

biker with whom he was engaged in conversation. “Andy, meet Rita!”Yet be warned: the ordeal of Man v Horse is seldom alleviated by such entertaining diversions. It’s a tough run, and if you’re seriously thinking of following in the footsteps of a

, but they still hurt like buggery if I so much as get out of bed in a hurry.Not that it’s made much difference to my training, since the Alpine 78K last summer turned my hamstring into a sort of pain-sensitive stalactite. In any case, I’ve joined The Gym. All

Why I should have imagined that a 14-mile run along the Cleveland Way in August might be good training for the 105-mile Jordan Desert Cup, remains a mystery. Perhaps I reasoned, not unreasonably, that August = Summer = Heat

"How’s the training going?"It’s the first thing they ask me, nowadays. That’ll teach me to shoot my mouth off in pubs about the Trans 333.Fordham has the right idea. He refuses to disclose whether or not he’s doing a race until he turns up

of Blackford has been synonymous in Mauritania with colonial exploitation of the worst – or more accurately, the wurst – kind. For me to attempt to enter the country would be suicide.Actually, you may be surprised to learn that none of that is true. I invented

and sacrifice. Blackford, they said, you must run up-country, into the very heart of darkness, and persuade Seaton to give himself up.For days, I jogged along forest tracks with no sustenance except two pieces of string and a sackful of unpronounceable medicines

over how laid back they are. They’re fanatical about it. It requires great dedication and years of training to run that slowly. I closed effortlessly on my quarry and pulled alongside him. “Well, hi honey!” he greeted me. “Where you headin’?” I hadn’t a