I???ve come a long way in the two weeks since I started my training binge. Hastings left me incapacitated for the best part of half a week, but when I eventually regained use of my Quadriceps, I ran home from work and the improvement was marked; I was faster and my legs felt much stronger.

My weekend was really busy so I kept putting off my long run. It got to 4:30pm on Sunday before I finally ran out of excuses and gingerly set off on half marathon number two. I followed my familiar route from last year; High Street Kensington to the Thames, around Battersea Park, along the river to Big Ben, then through St James??? Park, Green Park and Hyde Park to home. Before I even got to the river I was struggling, but as the run progressed I gradually settled into my stride and by the time I left Battersea I was feeling pretty good. I kept up a reasonable pace all the way and was amazed at how easy it felt compared to the week before (although maybe the lack of a 150m high hill could have been a contributing factor?). I reached home, and had I not been half an hour late for meeting my parents, I could have gone on and done anther couple of kilometres.

So progress has been made, but the amount of improving that still needs to be done is daunting. This weekend I am going to the US to visit my sister in North Carolina. I have packed my running stuff and plan to do a mammoth run. Training now needs to get serious.