I’ve developed a man-crush on Jake Wightman this week.

The hairs on my neck were standing up as he came into the home straight to take victory at the World Athletics Championship in the 1500m.

The bravery he showed in that last 200m was amazing. Race favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen has developed an aura of invincibility over the last couple of years but Wightman saw his opportunity.

But it’s not just the performance that has my wholehearted respect. It was his refreshing honesty in interviews after where he questioned whether all the sacrifices he’d made for athletics had been worth it.

He said: “I never feel as though this sport, this job, is all fun and games. I’ve sacrificed a lot: the whole of my early 20s doing stuff with friends, the social life I’d crave, but it is all worth it for moments like this.”

“When I’m retired, fat and enjoying life a little bit I can look back on this and feel very proud that I did everything I could. It’s all been worth it.”

It’s something that runners at all levels can empathise with, whatever goals we’re chasing.

It’s all relative whether it’s Couch 2 5K or the World Athletics Championships – somewhere along the line you’re going to have to give up some of the things you like doing to achieve your goal.

I had a 13-mile run to do this week and it’s been one of the toughest to fit in of my marathon training block so far. I had a very small window of opportunity to do it and all manner of other things were cropping up whereby I had to run it in the evening, my least favourite time to train.

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I didn’t want to go, but I did because I want to be as prepared as possible by the time I hit the start line at Chicago. It doesn’t mean I’ll be successful; a lot of things can go wrong in a marathon and just because I worked hard it doesn’t mean it will go how I want it to. But the odds are certainly more in my favour if I feel like I’ve done everything I can.

The hope of it all coming together, just as it did for Wightman, is what keeps me going. When Wightman came 10th in the Olympics last year it just made him more determined to get it right at the World Championships.

It is that resilience that runners at all levels have to look for because it won’t just stand you in good stead for running; it will stand you in good stead for life.

Run Norwich update

I was really pleased to see Run Norwich reveal they will in fact be holding a refund window for runners who can’t make the revised date of October 23 (keep an eye on their website for details).

I was drawn to Richard Polley’s comments on Facebook where he defended the organisers.

What Richard doesn’t know about organising events isn’t worth knowing so anything he says on this type of subject is well worth listening to (ignore anything he says about Manchester United).

He said: “Well played Run Norwich. I’m a previous member of the team that organises Run Norwich and I’ve been watching things unfold over the past week from afar.

“I’ve witnessed lots of self-appointed experts (many of whom really should know better) huffing and puffing on social media about how incompetent RN is, how they don’t know how to organise an event, what a disgrace they are, blah blah blah, huff, huff, huff, puff, puff, puff.

“But wait, what’s this? Run Norwich has now announced - in a sensible & considered fashion - a full range of measures to deal with the postponement.

“So please let’s just show a bit of respect and appreciation for the team that brings you this event each year and here’s to a great race in October.”

Hear hear.