I like beer and I like running. So when, on Friday night, I was deliberating over which ale I’d be sampling, there really was only one contender – Truman’s Runner.

Truman’s is an East London brewery – so I was a little disappointed on learning that the beer wasn’t named in honour of this runner moving to East London. Nor was it a seasonal beer in celebration of the London Marathon this month, it’s just called Runner because it is.

However, a couple of pints of Runner and a curry was enough to help fuel this runner round an 18-mile run at the weekend. Maybe this is the reason for it’s name.

Sunday morning began with the sad news that Micha True (Caballo Blanco) had died while out running. After a couple of tears I set off out on my long run thinking of Micha and resolving that, instead of counting down the miles, I would try to enjoy every stride.

Setting off from my East London home I ran along the Thames and then up The Mall where I ran into a group of runners weilding a torch. Never one to miss a photo opportunity I had a chat with them and found out they were part of the World Harmony Run and, compared with my 18 miles, were running for 8 months. That’s a lot of pints of Runner.

Learning from this weekend: Brighton Marathon looks like it won’t be too bad based on Sunday’s 18-mile pace and Truman’s Runner should be included in my pre-race fuelling.