“Laura, have you painted your nails yet?” It was the night before the wedding of one of my oldest friends and I was due to be bridesmaid. The dress was very nice and so were the shoes the bride had picked for me, but unfortunately they were open toe and my feet were still battered and bruised from Brighton Marathon. “No but I will, I promise.”

Running a marathon was a breeze compared to spending the day in four-inch heels and dancing until 2am. My feet had barely forgiven me when just a week after the wedding they were stood at the start line of the Edinburgh Marathon. So it’s no surprise that by the finish line there was a whole lot of below nail swelling going on.

If our relationship wasn’t on shaky enough ground already, on Monday night I did what any marathon runner serious about recovery does and took them to karaoke. In celebration of going sub-4 I sang Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ followed by ‘Jump Around’ during which, fuelled by three beers, I did exactly that. Then my friend stood on my right foot and I was in more than a House of Pain.

I’ve promised my feet that if they forgive me and heal quickly, I’ll treat them to a new pair of shoes. They’ve requested something flat and ‘not another bloody pair of running shoes’.