VivsMountain: I knew that Deer Stalker would come in Handy!

I was delighted to be included, I really was. Not doing the marathon this year is a huge disappointment but I do think it was the right decision for myself and Madi at the time. Somehow it's easier though to get involved in Jan's efforts to run this year rather than try to forget it's happening. When she asked me last week if I would go out with her on the bike I was thrilled .... what I hadn't counted on was the weather. The UK has this week been plunged back into some kind of ice-age with yet more snow, high winds and Arctic temperatures. I emailed her a photo this morning of my snow-bound garden, half of me was hoping she would decide not to run but of course, with only 4 weeks to go she couldn't do that. I found as many layers as I could to put on remembering just how cold Andrew used to get and I fished out that deer stalker. I left the house looking like Scott of the Antarctic, I could barely walk but figured that once I was hoisted onto the bike I'de be ok to keep peddling.

It didn't help that the bike is a man's one and slightly too tall for me so that I can only have one toe touching the ground at a time which made the mount precarious and the dis-mount positively dangerous. The other thing I don't really get is why the handle bars are at approximately the same level as the seat forcing you into a very uncomfortable position and making your back ache almost from the off. In retrospect what I wanted was a Mary Poppins style bike, or a chopper would have been good. Anyway, I got the hang of it after a while and we picked our way through the ice and slush.

We got round eventually but there was quite a bit of walking, quite a lot of talking (we've not seen each other for a long time) and an awful lot of huffing and puffing on my part. I really feel for Jan, I know just how hard it is. It looks so much fun when you watch it on the TV but it has to be one of the hardest challenges your average 'Joe public' can take on, it really, really hurts, week after week after week.

For me, this morning has really opened my eye's to the fact that for the last 18 months or so I have been adding miles (at times) but the only bit of me that I have really been exercising is my 'grit and determination' I've just been extending the period of time that I can endure the pain. This morning, I discovered muscles that I had forgotten I had and I realised that I am still, fundamentally, very unfit. I really do need to do a bit of work on building up my overall fitness and strength, then maybe, just maybe it will begin to get a tad easier and I might even be able to speed up a bit.