If you want to run your first marathon in your 50s, it helps to be chased by zombies

When Ben Elton didn’t distract from the pain of moving my body, I found the perfect solution – the interactive smartphone game Zombies, Run!

At 56, I am running my first marathon, an old, fat, bald dad surrounded by millennials in body-hugging Lycra and smiles that look AI-generated.

But I am ahead of them.

For they are only competing for positions and personal bests, and I am being chased by zombies.

The black dog of depression hit me around the time of my last birthday.

I didn’t feel I had achieved anything of note for an eternity.

I used to work out but, for years, work kept getting in the way.

I decided to kill two circling, carcass-sniffing vultures with one stone and run my first marathon.