Last weekend I went home and got talking to the family about running. My immediate family has no runners in it but apparently there may be running genes in the family.

One of my uncles did the London Marathon a few times and ran the first Berlin Marathon after the wall came down. Another uncle told a story about how he had won the local schools 40-mile run once.

I know that elite athletes (which I know I will never be) have a genetic predisposition to being good distance runners and that hard training alone won’t get you an Olympic medal – you have to also have it in your genes.

This made me wonder whether there is an ‘average runner’ gene. One that makes your body able to run crazy distances without too much risk of injury and get through races without giving up. From now on I’m telling myself that there is and that I have it. Genetics are on my side – now all I need is to do the training.