Dear, dear, friends happy Thursday to you one and all. Thanks so much for the kind comments about my Scottish adventure. They are much appreciated and happily I am beginning to feel like I might go running again. Indeed I may even do a couple of miles today….back on the horse and all that. Just to tidy up some outstanding details from the weekend, we finished a creditable 134th out of 837 teams, which is a noble effort. However when you consider we were leading at the halfway stage and were probably still top 15 when I took over……well need I say more…….

And speedy Gonzales Alan Murchison finished 15th in the whole flipping race……in his first marathon….that man is not of this world….. Sadly I cannot find a single photo of any of us in action during the race. I suspect Alan and Gregor were far too quick for the snappers and they probably thought I was a spectator trying to cross the road…….ho hum.

So to my next sporting challenge and I am pondering several suggestions. For no good reason I quite fancy some cycling. Perhaps it’s because the idea of doing exercise sitting down appeals enormously. I was flirting with the idea of the London to Brighton Bike Ride, until I realized the entry was closed and it falls on the day before Wimbledon starts, when I disappear down to SW19 for a fortnight and effectively abandon the whole family. So I didn’t really feel I could inflict that on them and saddle sores on myself ahead of a fortnight of mainly sitting down on Centre Court.

I then pondered Land’s End to John O’Groats….. or is it John O’Groats to Land’s End? Not sure. But it is certainly something I am interested in. A lot of the specially organized tours ask you to do 1000 miles in 12 days…..gosh that does sound a little hardcore, especially when you consider I don’t even have a bike….. But if anyone has done it, then I’d love to hear what it’s really like. And I can assure you I will not be making any kind of record attempt along the lines of James Cracknell and Rebecca Romero, who were foiled by injury when glory beckoned. Because let’s be honest, when it comes to fitness, glory rarely beckons for me……just the thrill of the chase….literally.

If you have any fitness ideas for my next challenge, then I would love to hear them. I am also quite keen on a sponsored tea drinking and cake eating marathon, but alas no-one seems to offer that kind of event. Maybe I have inadvertently identified a gap in the market. So for the time being the gym will have to suffice and that is where I’m heading now. Wish me luck…. The treadmill awaits……