Will she really do it? by katieh123

Where to start.... as my mum has already said, we've made the decision not to do the Reading Half which I have to say is a big relief to me, I knew that I couldn't be properly ready for it and worried that a bad run there could really put me off for quite a long time.

Last week I had a good session at the gym on Tuesday evening and then had some good intentions to run Thursday evening and Saturday morning.... less said about that the better! Saturday afternoon Andy (TFO) came up to London (thankfully he managed the drive without petrol pump drama or more points on his license!), so we hada nice wander over the Common (which Andy has decided would be a great spot for totty watching given the huge number of girls running in lycra!) and down to Battersea for a drink (well, that bit might have only been me!). Then a nice dinner out and Andy headed off home, and I sat in being ultra cool and doing a jigsaw - haha, I sure know how to party on a Saturday night!

Sunday my walking buddy Kat picked me up at 9am. Now the last walk we did along the Thames path was very flat, so at the end of it I made a throwaway comment that perhaps we should find a slightly hillier route next time and Kat informed me she'd found something suitable... Now I think you're all more than aware of a slight genetic hatred of hills in the Hammond laydees, Kat had only gone and found the biggest hill in the South East!! It's called Leith Hill - and I was not impressed!!

Thankfully she let us drop our pace (she normally makes me walk as fast as possible, such a task master!) and we pootled around some bigs ups and downs for a total of about 7 miles. As we were nearing the end, we saw some runners and realised there was a race going on right at the summit of the hill. Now, I had seriously struggled with walking up the steepest part of the hill, and here were poor sods having to run up and down it. I was thinking it must be a 5 or 10k, and making a mental note to never ever ever even think about doing it, and then asked a marshal about the distance and it was actually a Half - seriously, hats off to all the people doing it - for the masochists/hill lovers among you, check out www.trionium.com for their range of evil races!

By the time I got home and showered I'm ashamed to say it was back off to the pub for me, and now i'm sitting at work considering quite how wrong it is to have a hangover on a Monday morning and also wondering how walking up hills has made some muscles in my bum (of whose existence i was until now unaware!) very very sore!