Keep on Running

running a marathon is your admission ticket to something truly special, something that takes you to the next level of human experience and beyond

Football fans don't get to share the pitch with the Beckhams, the Ronaldos and the Pelés. Yet we runners get to share the course with our heroes

Train hard and consistently, and the distance racks up sweetly.

Football fans don't get to share the pitch with the Beckhams, the Ronaldos and the Pelés. Yet we runners get to share the course with our heroes. It's an unbroken chain which leads from the slowest of the slow right the way through to Paula Radcliffe at the front, setting yet another record. Somewhere between the two extremes is me, generally in the top 10

Maybe it's only marathon runners who can genuinely claim: 'We must be mad!' Presumably the logic goes: I am running an awfully long distance for no reason any sane person would ever understand, so I might as well run it as a Womble.

Nothing else summons people in quite such numbers for such a mass

For the spectators, it's all about helping the runners get there. And that's what makes marathon running unique

A huge part of the charm is the great atmosphere, the hundreds of thousands of supporters, the almost constant roar of the crowd, the generosity of the man quite literally on the street as he urges you on as if it really matters to him. It's an event which brings out the best in us all, a terrific gathering of selfless spectators egging on tens of thousands of selfish runners.

History tells us that the first marathon runner – though he didn't know it at the time – was Pheidippides, a Greek messenger who was sent from

You might strive for a PB, but any time you think you're bigger than the marathon you're running, the marathon will always have the last laugh.