It’s hard. Really hard.

It hurts.

There will be times when you want to stop. You want to be on the sofa, watching bad tv and eating cake and the very last thing you want to do is take a single step further along that bastard road.

IT’S REALLY, REALLY HARD.

Natural ability is a good start but not essential. Practice is important. But, when it really comes down to it, the only thing that will get you to the end is sheer pig-headedness and being unhealthily single-minded. That and Lucozade slogans.

Crossing the finish line feels like nothing else in the world. Ever.