Goodluck Jonathan

I have been running or jogging the streets for years. I tried to tie it in with my rugby training and then continued the habit once my playing days were behind me.

The most common route was a road run of just over 2.5 miles from and to Gunnersbury Station via Acton Town and Chiswick Park. In days gone by I could do it in about 20 minutes although I suspect today I would struggle to do it in less than 28.

I do wonder, though, whether it was doing me more harm than good, given that recent figures indicate 18 people a year die in Chiswick as a result of air pollution. I did move to running in the gym after I had my respiratory scare some years ago, and now that I am in Scouseland, I am able to run round Birkenhead Park and Wirral Ladies golf club which are havens of fresh air, by comparison.

Sunday saw the local Race for Life take place in said Park, and the girls, Hannah, Emma and Becky were able to complete the course in under 30 mins, with SWMBO managing a creditable 32 minutes, a little quicker than last year. Given her knee is shot and she is under the knife this week it was an excellent effort.

As with last year though I had to run the route to see how I would have done, and the answer is not too well. I went round today in 37.40. that was two minutes quicker than last weeks effort round the golf course, but still someway off my target of 35mins.

So its back on the treadmill for some serious training....the 10K in September, my one concession to Chiswick air quality, is looking a distant effort at the moment as I have 75mins to beat at that one

I'm still standing, yeah ,yeah , yeah

SWMBO and number one daughter ran the Race For Life round Birkenhead Park yesterday. She had been training very hard for it and completed it in a very commendable 31 minutes. About 4500 people took part and as you can see each of them got a medal . This seems to be the modern trend these days, and in this case I do wonder why any of the finishers would need one. It would probably save the charity a few bob as well.

In childrens sport the trend became known to me at the end of a Twickenham RFC mini rugby day when the awards were given out. The coach of the Welsh side, which had been battered by all the other teams asked where his boys medals were? Eh, you did not win any was the reply. This apparently was not good enough, as all the children were expecting them. Its what happens. So hurried searches for more were made and the boys went back happy.

It all seems to be part of the 'nobody loses' theme that continues to run through the school curriculum at the moment, and don't get me started on the school that banned parents from sports day in case a paedophile turned up in the crowd......do get a grip, please .

Anyway, very well done to 'er indoors, I am just off to see if I can run the route quicker. I am not feeling too confident though, I have a zero and two record where SWMBO and I go head to head on the running stakes!