I took the notion to enter Beachy Head a year ago, after marshalling the 2017 event. I hadn’t done a marathon for a while, and hadn’t done Beachy since 2008. The 2017 day was fine, the runners who passed me were in high spirits. I should join them, I thought. Training began in July. I…

You too could be wearing one of these if you can come and help marshal the Moyleman, an off-road marathon on Sunday 15 March. If you can help, contact me: tom.roper@gmail.com and come to the marshals’ briefing at 8:45 on Sunday at Wallnds School, Gundreda Road, Lewes. It’s a glorious route, going from Landport Bottom…

Last Saturday I took a phone call. It was Mo Farah. He’d heard I wouldn’t be running this year’s London marathon. In a voice cracking with emotion, he pleaded with me to reconsider. Gently but firmly, I refused. ‘No, Mo’, I explained, ‘I’ve had my day. It’s time to hand over to a younger generation’.…

Today the fifth Brighton Marathon took place, and I marshalled, which is possibly not worth a blog post, in itself—except that it is such an extraordinary experience to witness, and play a small part in, such an event. An early start, out on the course, erecting barriers and directing runners to the start. I was…

Haile Gebrsellasie ran the Berlin marathon in 2:03:59 in 2008, a record that stands. Peter Some won the 2012 Brighton marathon in a time of 2:12:03. I finished it in 4:46:12. By comparison you might find that unimpressive but I’ll have you know that was forty seconds faster than last year. Indeed, though this was…

This morning I went to the marathon exhibition, not to pick up my number, which I already have, but to browse, to admire exhibition stands selling jacuzzis and beetroot-based energy gels. I took two pace bands, one for a 4;30 finish, one for 4:45. It was a great pleasure to run into former BSMS runner,…

Apart from the chance to wander up the byways of the biomedical literature, another advantage of my current job is that I travel. This stops me becoming stale, and offers the opportunity to listen to the radio while on the move. I’m usually a Radio 3 listener, but this morning I happened to turn on…

For the next sixteen weeks I shall be training for the third Brighton marathon, my twelfth, the race taking place on 15 April in my fifty-eight year. I am following one of the Runners World training programmes, designed to get me round in 4 hours and thirty minutes. This seems a reasonable ambition. My marathon…