When we lined up for the start of Manchester marathon back in April I told my friend Liz that if she didn’t make her goal of running in four hours, I’d run any marathon anywhere in the world with her. Liz had to pull out of that race due to injury, but undeterred she hatched a plan to run Frankfurt marathon and asked me to run it with her. I said yes.

At this point I should make out that I’m a selfless individual who will put themselves through a ‘gruelling’ 26.2 mile run to be there for a friend. This is not the case. As you’ll see from the Frankfurt marathon Vlog I did, there was nothing ‘gruelling’ about this. It was fun. Running with a friend makes the miles fly by, helping them achieve their goal is pretty great and running at a comfortable pace was all part of a bigger plan.

For the last 10 miles of bike leg at The Gauntlet half-iron triathlon I cried. Not just tears but big fat sobs came out of me. I thought a lot about why I’d cried like that. I was exhausted, but I wasn’t in pain. Partly the tears were fear – I was scared that the run was going to be uncomfortable and I was going to hate it.

I had good reason to be worried – the run section of my first two triathlons hadn’t been running as I knew it. My legs felt all wrong, like they belonged on a marble statue rather than a triathlete.

But as soon as I started the run at The Gauntlet I felt fine, comfortable, happy.

Next summer I’ll be swimming 3.8km before climbing on my bike to cycle 112 miles. For the last 12 miles of that cycle I’ll be thinking about the running I have to do once I stop pedalling. There’ll be 26.2 miles to run before the finish.

Having good marathon experiences in the memory bank will be important to avoid crying my way through 112 miles of cycling. Good experiences don’t come much better than trotting 26.2 miles with a friend, photobombing a few race pictures and finishing with a smile at a German disco party. That’s what I’ll be remembering as I cycle round the Ironman – I hope Bolton is ready for me to bust out the running man on its finish line.