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

Today was, on paper, a rest day. Rest days in marathon training are sacred. They are the little islands of stillness in a sea of pounding pavements and sore calves. They’re when you let your body recover, your legs recharge, and, ideally, your mind wander only as far as the biscuit tin. But rest, it turns out, is a relative term. Because while I had a very clear idea of what my day was supposed to look like, the universe had its own agenda. Spoiler alert: it didn’t involve a cup of coffee and a nap. When the Wheels Come Off – Literally We were taking the girls and the other members of the Sittingbourne Carnival Court on a team-building day to Chessington. A lovely idea in theory: sunshine, laughter, roller coasters and bonding. The drive was going well. In fact, it was suspiciously smooth—no traffic, good time, kids behaving. I should have known something was brewing. Then, as we glided along the M25, the car began to lose power. Not dramatically—just enough to make me think I’d som...

A Stubborn Reminder This morning, my lower back decided to remind me of its existence. Not in a dramatic, stop-everything-and-sit-down sort of way, but in that quiet, persistent manner that suggests it has been taking notes on my current situation. It wasn’t screaming in agony, but it had adopted the passive-aggressive tone of an old acquaintance who has never quite forgiven you for that one thing you did years ago. Still, it wasn’t bad enough to stop me running—just enough to make sure I knew it was there, lurking, waiting. The run itself was another gentle base-level session, starting with a descent from The Math School before winding back up the other side. The downhill section felt fine—gravity, after all, is an excellent running coach, though it does tend to overdo things if left unchecked. The uphill return was a little less forgiving. My legs ached, my back complained, and my energy levels were somewhere around the region of a phone on 1% battery, desperately clinging to life. S...