"London Marathon 2025: Getting in Shape Again for the Ultimate Running Challenge!"

Birthday Bliss Being a Bank Holiday Monday, I enjoyed that rarest of treasures: a birthday that didn’t involve a staffroom, emails, or muttering “thanks” to a Year 10 who says “happy birthday” like it’s a diagnosis. Instead, I woke up to the gleeful noise of children bouncing off the walls and Kelly wielding a pile of presents like the world’s most cheerful postie. Among them, the absolute gem: tickets to see the Gladiators live tour in November. Yes, actual Gladiators . There was a moment I thought about challenging my family to “Duel” over who loved me the most, but then I remembered the cake. Just a Little Trundle Now, you might imagine that being both my birthday and taper week would result in me doing what any rational person would do: sit down, stay there and perhaps eat more cake. But alas, the schedule called for a 30-minute recovery run, and as every runner knows, taper doesn’t mean stop , it means “run a bit, but feel smug about how little you're doing.” So I set off...