Nick, Graham and myself all jumped in a taxi to head to the start. Nick has joined me on many a challenge, but this was the first time I’d met Graham, a mate of Nick’s - what better way to get to know someone than over the course of 100km of meandering towpath.

It’s Thursday, I ran this morning only about 6km, I had managed a similar distance yesterday. I’m recovering and not in as much pain today as yesterday, and certainly not as bad at before.

Make no mistake, this is a page turner. Allie tells her story with a brutal honesty, heartbreaking at times, comical at others. Her “straight from the heart” account of her journey to recovering alcoholic is eye opening.

The Nove Colli Run, 200km across northern Italy, is a course more famous in the cycling world, but one that Mario Castagnoli decided should be run.  And, 25yrs ago, he did just that.

If you want a easy and amusing book about running the most extreme Ultramarathon in the world then this is it.

I should be flying back from Miami with Nick right now. The Florida Keys 100 was meant to be on this past weekend and it was cancelled. No need to dwell upon the reason why it got cancelled. The email landed a few weeks back; I’ll be honest, it threw me…. I mean I “got it”, but was still annoyed. Not annoyed at the context, but …. well, let’s take a moment to go deeper.

Well it’s not just 135 miles, it’s across Death Valley in the USA - the hottest place ever recorded on earth, I explain. This is normally followed by a question: “how many days does it take?” “Well, it’s just a single run, it’s non-stop”.