Way back in early Dec 2003, we joined Portsmouth Joggers, this was on the back of our application to the marathon and the received wizdom it’s sensible to start training when you apply (or earlier) because when you find out that you’ve got in, it’s already past the “last-chance to do it without massive pain” date.

For the first five weeks we were typically doing 7 mile runs. I’d get around the run ok, and then my knee would sieze up overnight. This eased as my legs became accustomed to the mileage and I’d forgot about it.

After yesterday’s run, I’m hobbling around like I have an inflexible leg brace on – exactly the same problem as with 7 miles, except this time I ran three times as far. Still, at least I know from experience that it quickly eases, and after a few more runs of the same length I won’t get it again. Err, hopefully.