In the spring of 2016, I found myself standing on a beach among a crowd of spectators cheering on 17,000 runners during the Egmond half marathon, including a group of runners from my own running club in Utrecht in the Netherlands. A few weeks earlier I had come down with a shin injury, not realizing at the time that it would literally put me “out of the running” for a couple of months. I was bitterly disappointed. Egmond is the highlight of the year at our club and I wasn’t taking part. Instead I was standing on a beach in the freezing cold, doing my best to muster some enthusiasm for my colleagues. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.