Hello friends and fellow fitness fanatics. Well I write to report that despite the hottest day of the year, I made it through the Hairy Haggis Relay in Edinburgh in one piece. Now we all know don’t we, that I am nothing more than an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to running and the key word in that sentence is amateur. So picture the scene if you will, when I met my hearty and erstwhile running companions outside the Disney Store on Sunday morning. There I was with a British Lion no less, the lovely Gregor Townsend and the galloping gourmet Alan Murchison, who it transpires is no amateur at all when it comes to running. Now you’ll recall that Alan was running the first two legs of the relay (13 miles) and then ploughing on for the rest of the race. Gregor was picking up for 8 miles and then yours truly was bringing it home for the last 4.7 (although my GPS seemed to think I’d gone 4.92 but that is by the by).

So imagine my surprise when I gently enquired how fast Alan would go. Oh he’s hoping to do it in about 2 hrs 30ish, came the reply. Brilliant I thought. That is my kind of runner. A nice gentle steady pace…… But no, it quickly transpired, not the half marathon in two and a half hours….. the whole bloody thing….. I think we can describe the silence that followed as stunned. My husband gave me a look that can only be described as appalled sympathy. He was clearly thinking what I was thinking. She’s in a relay team with a professional sportsman and a TV chef who is actually an elite runner ……. Oh bugger…… I smiled bravely and tried not to laugh……. hysterically…….

Still we wished each other luck (some of us would need it more than others….) and parted happily. Alan was indeed as good as his word, because he was the first relay runner to the handover at halfway…….so I was inadvertently part of a team that was actually leading the race at one point! Oh the reflected glory. It took him just under an hour and 20 minutes to reach halfway……. Heavens above. Gregor set off at a rattling pace and came back in between an hour 15 and an hour 20 and then yours truly pottered off at a blistering pace for the first half mile and then proceeded to slow to a running standstill if you know what I mean.

It was so hot I thought I might actually throw up. I have never run in heat like it and don’t have any desire to repeat the experience. If I tell you that my last training run of 4 miles was completed in 47 minutes, you will appreciate how tough it was when I say that it took me just over an hour to do my 4.7 (or 4.92 in my case). It was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other at times, but I didn’t stop, because I just couldn’t. The crowds were fab and people were so encouraging and we got there in the end. Our team time was 3hrs 40, which wasn’t too bad at all. The lovely Alan, who you can see on the Great British Menu next Monday, finished in 2 hrs 40...... He's faster than Gordon Ramsay I can tell you....

I don’t know how people made it through the whole race and if you are one of them, then you have my whole-hearted admiration. It was brutal. Still I have a Hairy Haggis Relay medal to keep me going and a chunk of change for Help The Hospices, which is indeed the whole point. With current donations and outstanding pledges I’m up to around £600, but I am going to try and make it £1000 if I can. So come on, if you haven’t already, sponsor me please….. I promise you I earned every penny. And the absolute highlight was the priceless picture of me crossing the line…..or not as the case may be. My husband took the shot and either (a) I was going so fast he missed me or (b) I was going so slowly I hadn’t actually got there yet. It is the enduring image of my day.

Marvellous. My thanks to everyone who looked after us at the weekend. We had a ball. The weekend was best summed up as we boarded the plane home on a balmy Edinburgh’s summer evening….. I turned to Scott and said, without a trace of irony…..” I’m really pleased with my choice of outfits this weekend…..I think I’ve got my clothes just right……” And there you have it..... a running legend is born. I am off for an ice bath…..I really am….. Have fun and feel my pain…….

www.justgiving.com/Sue-Thearle