Managed to stagger around Lord Montague's estate this morning. I was not at the front of the runners so estimate it took me at least half a minute to cross the start line, and finished in 1 hour and 15 seconds, so I am taking that as under 1 hour. There was no official timing, as it was a fun run for charity rather than a race. So, a bit disappointed the clock didn't actually say 59 point something, but confident that I did do it 'sub 60' as the first bit of the race is standing on the spot waiting for people ahead to get going. It was 'undulating' and a bit of a dull course with lots of doubling back on yourself - a bit disappointed as the countryside down there is so splendid. Still! Monty probably didn't want us trampling over his azaleas, and after the bad write up I gave his motor museum on this very blog (Dec 07) he probably is still feeling a bit churlish towards me. There were some steep slopes and mud and grass and gravel, hardly any tarmac, so suits me, but a heavy going course. One girl finished in 28 minutes, and as her name was not Paula I think she took a wrong turn. The 10k sorts the runners from the walkers, as it were, and whereas on the 5k I did there were plenty of people who has the physique for darts, it seems that only the fairly fit attempt the 10. Next March I am planning on doing 'Bolt round the Holt' again but doing the 21k instead of the 5k. So, that's doubling what I managed today, and I was struggling the last 500 metres! Had a good middle from about 4k to about 8 I was enjoying it and feeling like I ran well.

Was very irritated as I went to the gym to have a jacuzzi, steam, sauna, shower session ( hereafter known as a Jtriple S) And there was a family with their young boys dangling their feet in the jacuzzi, despite it being for over 14s. Then I was about to head to the steam room when 5 young men went in, and I thought it would be a bit full, as 5 is the most you can really get in there without sitting on each others laps. And I had forgotten my conditioner so my shower was unsatisfactory too. And my hair looks like a birds nest. Still, mustn't grumble!

I drove up to Godalming to meet the girls who had been at Ma and Pa's for the night, we met at Winkworth Arboretum which was just coming into its perfect shades of Autumn, great day to go. Its a pretty spot in a steep valley, very steep, so more hill climbing. After a comforting piece of NT cake we swapped suitcases over and I and the girls had the complete joy of listening to Andy Stanton read 'You're a bad man Mr Gum' on CD. We love Mr Gum books, they are the funniest books written for children since Roald Dahl died. I can recommend them for adults too, along with Billy Bonkers by Giles Andreae, another very funny book to listen to in the car. Andy Stanton is my new hero, along with Justin from CBeebies, who is quite simply the funniest and cleverest man on the telly. I listened to Desert Island Discs today, with Steve Coogan, who comes a close second. Also listened to Gardeners Question Time (lot of time in the car today) and am fascinated by the story of honey fungus. Also caught a few minutes of Elaine Page's show time on Radio 2 - fabulous radio, I love musicals and hearing the 'Music of the Night' from Phantom - well you have to sing along don't you?

The girls were in Claygate cos we went up yesterday for the Claygate Scouts 100 year church service, during which dad was one of the interviewees. The vicar did a great job of putting together a simple and interesting talk which managed to combine Scouting and God seamlessly, but sadly the rest of the service was rather 'fossilized christianity' with very little input from the young people, it seemed to have been conjoured up for the benefit of the old and good of scouting, which is great, but sad not to have the boys ( and girls ) more involved. For example, the readings were done by two leaders, and it would have been a simple thing to have a Scout and a Cub do the readings. The songs were old and long hymns and again it would have been easy to have had a song that the children knew and enjoyed. And to top it all, the boys had to sit at the back! They are the future and they should have been at the front, at the centre and a whole lot more involved, but they didn't ask me to organise it, and maybe they will for the 200th anniversary.

So quid pro quo (I think), in return for us going to a service which did not leave me smiling a la harvest last week, (but dad was great in his bit of it, and the tea after was lovely I had 2 scones with jam and cream), the girls stayed the night so R and I could go to Lou's 30th birthday party. The band which Adam and Chris play in played, and were excellent, but the venue was a bit on the big side for dancing, and I was drinking diet coke as I try to avoid alcohol ( you know, athlete in training and all that) so had a few shuffles when I was dragged up by various lovely friends. I made a big effort on dressing up as Lou requested, having spent the night before in Tescos clothing department being styled by Ang, who has a good eye for putting outfits together and can spot on a hanger something that looks great on, but bad on the hanger. Bought and wore some very high heels and lucky not to have sustained an ankle injury which would have put me out of the race.

On Tuesday I went out in the rain all day on a mega bike ride with my friend Fair Oak Rachel. We met at Denhams Corner which is just past Hedge End (Iknow, some of you are lying down already at the thought of cycling past Hedge End) and we cycled through Upham, round Bishops Waltham to Corhampton, and then Warnford and back down a bit of the Meon Valley cycle path to Droxford and then back to the pub at Dundridge which I last visited with Jo Hayles in January when we did a walk out that way. We were soaked and muddy and it literally rained all day, the hardest bit was the last 3 miles up hill on my own after saying goodbye to Rachel, having come back through Bishops Waltham and Durley. Made it back at 2.50, lightning fast shower and got girls at 3. I think we did about 20-25 miles. Very saddle sore after that, despite my amazing ladies gel saddle.

School is going well, thank you, I seem to have upset enough people now and have reached a critical mass where there are no more to be upset. I am finding the children lots of fun and very keen to learn, and am enjoying doing the various bits of planning and so on, sad I know, but I found a great website for phonics planning yesterday! My team are great, good feeling of positive working together and I am loving having a door and a classroom twice as big as my old one.