It's now a common sight to see people of all ages and abilities running through our towns, parks and rural areas; but it can still be surprising where the running journey can take us. Doug Richards was indifferent to exercise until, approaching his middle years, he became increasingly aware of his declining fitness. So Doug took up running. Rather slowly at first; but he made steady progress. Follow Doug's journey - overcoming modern-life obstacles including a marriage breakdown, work-related stress, anxiety and depression - from that very first one-mile run to marathons at home and abroad. And so on to wider and wilder horizons. How do you prepare for running 140 miles across the Sahara Desert? How does a bus-pass-bearing pensioner stay upright running on Greenland's polar ice-cap? Read of a confrontation with elephants in South Africa, puddles in the desert in China and the emotional rollercoaster of running in tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.

Doug Richards is a retired University of Birmingham lecturer with a long track record of academic publishing, though Running Hot & Cold is his first venture into non-fiction. Doug's background lies in medical research, which led to his teaching pharmacology and neuroscience. He recently qualified as a run leader with the Run England project.