At Christmas my husband bought me a voucher for a shop called Profeet. It's a shop which used to specialise in ski boots, but now they do all sorts of footwear including trainers. They also have expert fitters for everything. My voucher was supposed to be used on running gear for when I was doing the London Marathon and my husband thought, very sweetly, that it would be an inspirational addition to my Christmas stocking.

Anyway time passes, life gets busy, I drop out the marathon and suddenly its mid-March and I haven't spent the voucher. Now I don't know about you, but I have watched more than my fair share of vouchers expire over the years. All that money down the drain; I have expired vouchers for golf lessons, guitar lessons, spa treatments and hotel nights, which pile up, then expire and somebody gets richer. But I don't get better at golf, more musical, more relaxed or have nicer nails. So, last week, I took myself off to spend the voucher.

There is something very naughty about vouchers. It feels like you're getting something free, because no money changes hands and you leave with a bag full of goods and a sense that somehow, you've pulled a fast one. Which is ridiculous of course, because the voucher was paid for a long time ago, but just not by you. In the bag of loot I had a new pair of my favourite Asics trainers and some new running shorts and tops, which all had to be worn that night for an impromptu work out.

It’s the keep-fit geek version of going to a nightclub that night, because you have new gold lurex hot pants, obviously that's a long time ago for me. So at last my new year fitness regime has started. I will let you know how I get on next week. Have a good one.