The year of 1985 was something of an annus mirabilis for me and my running. That year I achieved my marathon PB with 2-34-53 at the London race in April. In the build-up to that result I did a 1-15-37 half in Watford, 55-34 at the Woking 10, and 1-58-16 at the Worthing 20 – all PBs at the time. I also did PBs on the track for 5000m and an 800m after recovering from the marathon (the 5k being just two weeks later), and an new PB of 1-14-52 at the Leighton Buzzard half marathon in June. Throughout...