Once Bitten

There’s a runner in everyone, waiting to take flight like a beautiful…butterfly?

- Bruce Pinnock

LIKE MEASLES, THE RUNNING BUG is best caught young. Passion is less likely to turn into all-consuming obsession in children than it is in adults. If the running bug coincides with the midlife (read: midriff) crisis, the danger is real.

George and Trixie were engaged. They had met late in life. Neither of them was a runner, but that didn’t mean their lives had been completely wasted. By marshalling at races and handing out potatoes at water points, they had found meaning in a life otherwise devoid of the magic of running.

The date was set. The venue was booked. The invitations were posted. It was all rosy.

Until George tried on his best suit for the big day – and discovered that it had ‘shrunk’. Or rather, as Trixie put it, George had… expanded.

“Buy a new one that’s three sizes bigger,” she advised.

“I would rather lose weight,” George replied, his ego bruised.