I’d been doing a bit of running – the odd 10k (50 mins or so), and my wife, who is much more keen on running, persuaded me to run a marathon. We followed Hal Higdon’s training programme, http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00index.htm, which I highly recommend . It is quite simply all in the training – you’ve got to keep it up, and stay as un-injured and healthy as you can. It is quite an achievement to have done a marathon, and I’m very glad to have done it. Good luck to you all.