I believe it

I apologise for the basic quality of my blips at the moment. It's mainly due to being so busy with work and with marathon training.

It was the first of the two longest training runs today - 20 miles. My training group are attempting this next week but as I'm away in Paris for the weekend (yippee!) I thought I'd get it out of the way now rather than having to do it when I get back.

I now have a well established preparation plan which involves rubbing my legs with anti-inflammatory gel and taking a couple of ibuprofen before I set off. That distance takes it toll on the old muscles and I'm not averse to any help I can get!

The run was hard but it was important for mental as well as physical training - believing that you can run that far.

On 17 March we all take the train to Littlehampton and run the 20 miles back to Brighton for the last really long session. As it's St Patrick's Day I might have a Guinness at the end!