Do you like your body? If we are to believe what women’s magazines tell us, most of you are thinking no right now. I bloody love mine and for someone whose body caused her to be picked on at school for being spotty, ginger and being too skinny, I think that’s quite an achievement. Especially as I still have a few spots, still have ginger hair and still have sparrow legs.

How did this happen? Well, partly I stopped caring what anyone else thought but mainly I ran a marathon. It’s difficult to be down on your body when you realise it can do pretty impressive things like run for 26.2 miles without stopping.

Remember Red Riding Hood? She was a bit of a bitch really. She goes round to her grandma’s place, granted it’s actually a wolf who has just eaten her gran but she doesn’t know that, and she starts criticising her gran’s appearance. “What big eyes you have, what big teeth you have, what big ears you have”. If any of my grandchildren said that to me they’d be disinherited on the spot.

But the wolf has the best come-back ever: “All the better for eating you with”. Too bad that woodcutter comes along and puts a stop to that plan. Sorry, should I have issued a ‘spoiler alert’? So, whether it’s your grandaughter, a ‘friend’ or that voice in your head that’s criticising you, be the wolf.

“What big legs you have.” “All the better for running a marathon with.”

“What flabby arms you have.” “All the better for elbowing you out the way at the start of a race with.”

“What a large arse you have.” “All the better for kicking your ass in a 10k with.”

Because if you’ve ever stood on the sidelines and watched a marathon, a half-marathon or a 10k, you’ll notice something pretty good: runner’s come in all shapes and sizes. Size six or size 16 – your body can run a marathon. Your body rocks.