Frankly, Tick Number 6 on my Ten Things Marathon List was a bit of a disaster.

It was typical me, really, with my customary lack of planning and last-minute preparation. Although I have got away with this before on my marathon adventures, I really was found out on the 4th May, the day of the Neolithic run from Avebury to Stonehenge.

I only made the final decision to tackle this cross-country marathon on the day before and thought that I could simply roll out of bed on the day and run my usual race. Big mistake.

The first inkling that I wasn't going to be quite up for it was prior to the start. The usual dyed-in-the-wool types were there as normal, including the by-now familiar smattering of 100 Marathon Club members. Something was different though. My shoes. How could I be so stupid? My well-travelled Asics were not built for mud and grass and stuff. They were strictly road shoes and a nervous look around at everybody elses' impressive off-road footwear made me realise my schoolboy error.

I tried to comfort myself with the notion that surely shoes weren't that different and probably a ploy by the good people of Nike et al to extract more of our hard-earned cash. But the absence of a pair of Multi Terrain Fourtrak Gravel Masters gnawed away at me during the early miles over mud, ruts and gravel and I knew that this was not going to be a good day at the office. Of course, the bigger reasons for a new Personal Worst were my poor preparation and my failure to take it easy at the start.

Bizarrely, I thought of the Slaughtered Lamb in "American Werewolf in London" as I walked-ran the last ten miles or so. "Keep off the moors! Stay on the roads, lads" the inner voices said. The warning had come a little late for me, but I think that it's safe to say that I will be back on the road for the last four marathons of the Ten Things 40 challenge..