The Manchester Marathon came passed my house this morning. The weather was appalling, with almost relentless wind and rain.

Donning full waterproofs we stood outside to applaud and offer encouragement. After the elite and club runners had gone through the field gradually became more spaced out and the amount of suffering appeared to increase. We were at the 8 mile mark and, for some of the runners, this was going to be a very long, very hard day!