Hi from a newbie!

[El Gordo]

No, I'm in an abstemious phase at the moment I'm afraid, YP. Once again I can only reflect on Oscar Wilde's famous words, that "work is the curse of the drinking classes".

It's taken me 30 years to face the fact that midweek boozing is not a good idea. More to the point perhaps, I never want to get up and run early in the morning if I've had a bit of a sesh the night before.

If you imbibe wine or gin or rum or whisky or anything with any alcohol in it, don't worry, you're in. We'll even accept a taste for those liquer chocolates. Or just the chocolate.

Marathons? I've struggled round 3 and may do another in the autumn. Most of the regulars have done a few. The champs are probably the Americans though. Rick "Iceman" Neal is embarrassingly good at them, as is Ed Brickell. But Ed made only one appearance here before some Australian bloke came along and said something rather tactless to frighten him off.

There's no reason to feel you have to do one. A lot of people seem to regard them as a badge of honour, and OK, perhaps I do myself sometimes. But in reality, I think half marathons are a much better option. You don't have to do a load of special training, but they are long enough to be able to feel that you've done something out of the ordinary. And you can still walk afterwards. But I can't guarantee what would happen if you stopped off for a few Enoch's Hammers on the way home, mind you.