“I love running, but I’ve been finding the long runs during our training for the Yorkshire Marathon quite taxing. Not the running itself particularly. That can be tough at times but, hey, I’ve read Chi Running so I’m good at being Zen about it. I know it’s temporary and can zone in on that and remember that I’ll soon be home with my feet up.

I’ll admit to struggling, though. Without race day crowds, bands playing and little kids to high five, I’ve been mentally thumb-twiddling. Not bored exactly, but not scintillated either.

It’s easy to get friends to run up to about ten miles but beyond that, for obvious reasons, there’s not much that will persuade even the best of buddies to get their trainers on. I recently did 18 miles by the Leeds-Liverpool canal. It was perfect running weather, the scenery was pretty and it’s a fabulous, traffic-free trail. I listened to two episodes of Marathon Talk, three Spanish podcasts and part of Locomotive, our A Man Called Adam running mix. Even with all this entertainment, by the end I was thinking ‘Blimey, am I still running?’ What I need is some company, I thought, which is how I came to do my long run last Sunday with White Rose Runners. Brought together by personal trainer Babs Shiells, the WRRs are a group of women all new to marathon running, all running for charity. Babs has trained them from scratch, supporting and encouraging them all the way. Not that she would say this; they inspire her, she says, not the other way round. She deserves plenty of credit – she’s a mine of useful training information and a well of positivity – but I do see where she’s coming from. The women are incredible.

The 22-mile run we did was the longest any of the group had ever ran. Babs had covered all eventualities though. Having mapped the route, she’d driven it and put buckets of water, sports drinks and gels at key stages.

She and her daughter, Jess, had also planted arrows along the way so that people like me knew where to go. As the runners set off, they clustered into smaller groups, keeping a steady conversational pace to take their minds off the miles ahead. It was a gorgeous, flat route through the countryside around York, and Babs drove it several times to make sure everyone was OK.

Back at Bab’s afterwards, there were mats out for stretching in the sunshine, plus tea and cake.

I have to say it was absolutely brilliant, exactly what I needed to motivate me for the final push towards the marathon finish line. If you’re flagging and a bit fed up of your training, I’d thoroughly recommend finding some fun buddies like this; even one long run with them completely shifted my perspective.”

• Dr Jayne Rodgers is a runner, cook and writer. She runs the blog veggierunners.com with her daughter, Bibi. With only days to the Yorkshire Marathon, her training gets a shot in the arm thanks to some good company....