A few insisted they still felt the presence of the other, akin to how an amputee often feels sensations in his phantom leg.

'I get phantom leg pains and pins and needles which is very annoying.

Since his 1983 victory in the Boston Marathon, Greg Meyer has suffered a stress fracture of the foot, a torn Achilles' tendon, a phantom leg problem that turned out to be a back ailment and a series of injuries that included a separated shoulder and dislocated ribs.