Dear Mr Waterman,

Bright and early this morning I dropped my husband off at the train station armed with one of his famous 'good' plastic bags and a suitcase filled with enough running gear to kit out all 45 competitors in the upcoming event. He was in reasonable good health apart from a sore shoulder, a bit of a sniffle, suffering from sleep deprivation and moaning about a lack of consistent good nutrition this week. Past experience prevented me from asking about the state of his legs and feet so perhaps you could enquire upon his arrival.

I've provided back up for him on a few occasions and thought some background information might be useful.

He has been known to swear a wee bit if things aren't always just so.

He asks for all sorts of food and drinks but has an uncanny knack of asking for something you don't have, have never heard of and usually when you're miles from any retail outlet.

He likes to think he has a flexible plan but really it's the back up team who has to be flexible.

He has a bit of a cough when running which sounds worse than it is but discreet monitoring is usually effective.

Loo roll and hand wash are a vital piece of his kit.

The night before the race he may be tempted to have 'just one' toast to old friends. He is incapable of 'just one' so abstinence is the best approach. I'm sure his old friend would understand.

I would be grateful if you could return him to me in a reasonable state of health. I would be particularly appreciative if he at least caught the correct flight home.

Many thanks for your help in this matter.

Allybea



PS Seriously guys, huge thanks for doing this xxx

It wasn't a fluke!

I'm feeling very pleased with myself as I ran 3 miles this morning without any walking again! I thought perhaps that last week's race was a fluke and I'd raised my game to achieve my target. But I managed it again despite having not run since last Sunday and having 2 glasses of wine and a wee whisky last night! Ok, it was just as slow as last week but it's really given me a boost that I can improve on this running malarky.

The next distance target is a 10k so maybe I should be looking at a beginner's 10k programme as the complete beginner's one doesn't cover going from running from 14 mins to 40 mins in one fell swoop. Ian helpfully suggested that I need to learn to run faster so I just need to figure out a plan. The non running week was entirely due to not having a plan. Good grief, I'm starting to think like a runner!

Inverness 5k

The first target I set myself when I started running again was to run the Inverness 5k. I wanted to be able to run the whole way without walking. And I did! It took me 41m 37s but I ran every single step. There were loads of kids who set off at 100mph but were walking after 2 mins. There were adults who were running faster than me but slowed to a walk and I passed them again. There were fairies, rabbits and guys in kilts. There were kids with painted faces and women with pink hair. It was brilliant!

Getting that medal at the finish line was amazing. I felt like I actually earned it. It's now hanging beside my NYC marathon medal (2002) and Glasgow 10k (2004).

On the way home I read out a text on Ian's phone because he was driving. It was from Geraldine and it made me cry. But for a good reason. Thanks Geraldine. And thanks to everyone else who sent messages. It's a small but significant step for me and your encouragement is very much appreciated.

I have 2 more targets to aim for now. The first is to be able to go out with the Harriers on their Monday run without holding anyone back. I'm hoping this will happen soon.

The second is to run the Women's 10k next year in an hour. My best time is 66m but it was on the old route and it was years ago when the event first started.

I've no excuses now for not running throughout the winter as I've got some fabulous new Gore running kit courtesy of a certain Family member and his shop at the race. As Ian pointed out I've now got better kit than him to run in.