𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

I’m not much of a runner. I never have been.

But I have been getting my trainers on most mornings for the past 18 months, simply to stay fit and lose weight.

So, I wasn’t too daunted when I was challenged to run 41km (26.2 miles) over the space of two weeks for this year’s BBC Children in Need appeal.

Lots of people do a marathon in one go so how hard could it be?

Well, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so conceited.

Four weeks ago, a long-standing foot problem flared up. I iced it. I raised it. The doctor gave me pills. I even had an x-ray.

But it stubbornly refused to get better.

Members of Lostock Athletics Club had kindly offered to run the first few miles with me, and it was arranged for a drizzly Tuesday morning in Blackrod, near Horwich.

I arrived, hobbling, and had to watch bemused as they jogged off into the distance without me.

Ian Burns, who is in his late 60s, offered some words of wisdom.

“We are a bit stubborn and think we’re not really hurt when we really are,” he said.

“It can take me weeks to get over a small injury, whereas 10 years ago, I would have been a couple of days.”