That's 16 weeks of "slow" running now -- it was as exciting as a watching paint dry. I hope it's produced the desired objective of boosting my endurance. It got so boring in the last month that I ended up buying an ipod shuffle and listening to motivational anthems such as the theme for Rocky -- although I didn't feel like I was "flying high now" when I was plodding along!

Slow running gives you a lot of time to think. I've finally realised that marathon training is a bizarre activity. You spend hours in the cold and rain pounding your body while trying to dodge homicidal transit van drivers in order to get fit enough so you can experience dehydration, hunger, exhaustion and PAIN with 32000 other people. So why would someone want to run/jog/walk/crawl the London marathon? Well, I've conducted a highly rigorous scientific study in which I've explored people's motives (such a study should only be tried by those with appropriate qualifications). Based on my study (hmm, was it n=5 or 6?) and from lurking on marathon training websites, people seem to do marathons for one of the following reasons:

1. For some it represents a spiritual experience, a means of connecting with lost ones, especially by running for a charity that has personal significance. Respect to you lot. I hope you get from the marathon what you need.

2. For some, their life feels empty and lacking in meaning so they try to numb their emptiness by aiming for a goal that distracts them from reality. I fear that for this group, the marathon will only bring temporary relief from their emptiness.

3. For others they think, "this will be a larrrff". It won't. Ask Jade Goody.

4. And then there are those who are disappointed with their lives and so they start looking around for some "big" achievement that will make them feel better about themselves. Sadly the euphoria associated with running a marathon is short-lived.

5. Then there are those of us who sit on our withering bottoms all day communicating with a computer (like now!), who remember that once upon a time they were fit, active and lean. These people deceive themselves that middle age can be reversed or halted by running a marathon. It won't.

Hmmm.

Right, I'm off to do 1 hour of fast running at an average heart rate of 160.