mothers on the verge

Firstborn, the Small(er) One and I have just returned from watching the Flora London Marathon. As one of my clients is mineral water brand Vittel - sponsors of the Marathon for the past decade - I am lucky enough to be able to watch the sight of 35,000-plus runners loping, limping and sometimes crawling their way past the finish line from the relative comfort of the Vittel Grandstand on The Mall. It's a remarkable thing, the London Marathon. The 26.2 mile (42.2km) course, which runs through the capital from Greenwich and Blackheath in south-east London to Buckingham Palace, is famously gruelling. Your heart goes out to all those who's bodies fail them less than 100 meters from the finish line, legs turning to jelly and buckling, sending them tumbling to the floor. I saw one man last year who refused to give up even though his legs were unable to carry him for more than two or three steps at a time - every time he fell he just got up again, slowly and painfully, to take another ...