The run where I found that elusive, mysterious link between conditions and performance.

The right weather. A warm summer sunrise, the light sprinkling the Thames with diamonds.

The right music. Mathew Herbert’s 1998 classic Around the House

The right track: In the Kitchen

The right motivation: training for the London Marathon, fundraising for local charity South London Special League.

And I’m running strong and fast and nothing can stop me. Work worries, life worries – they all fall away for a little while.

And this is why I do this, why so many of us do this, to push ourselves, to motivate each other, to give something back.

Training Block 2 has officially begun.