Fundamentally, I was not only concerned about whether we in the Western world could still run like those East Africans but whether, in two generations’ time, East Africans would be running like us! What we had fallen for, they were falling for.

‘We must remember Schleip. Our fascial system is constantly rearchitecting itself and, in as little as seven months, our whole system could be completely renewed.’ The bulb brightened as I considered the consequences of this statement. Fascia is fluid. It moves and contracts. It also suffers if we let it be stagnant.

beautiful movement is not all about power. Balance and symmetry win every time.

I was cool eating meals with sand in. I was fine with the smell of elephant shit. I was OK with not sleeping well. I knew that I could suffer. I knew that I could go to some very dark places – right to the bottom of the barrel – and somehow climb back out again.’

‘You can give up as many times as you like, as long as you keep moving. That’s what my dad always told me.’

tackle those hills of outrageous fortune.

we run a marathon, we are undertaking around 35,000 strides. That’s 35,000 x two-and-a-half times our bodyweight coming back at us. We can either use these 35,000 opportunities to load our body well and create elastic energy to propel us forwards or we can suffer all of that impact, which will in turn slow us down and potentially hurt us.

Headley Court (a rehabilitation centre for injured members of the British Armed Forces)

The wheels are going to fall off, it’s often about whose fall off last!’