Mr Hunter, this is for you...

Twenty something years ago, I had my first real experience of running. Just started secondary school and when the PE teachers were lacking ideas, had some paperwork to do or the weather was particularly grim, they'd send us out for a "cross country run". "Cross-country" was a bit of a misnomer, it was basically a run around the playing fields and back to the school.

Back then, mainly due to having had asthma since I was 6 months old, I'd never get a lot of exercise - in those days the thinking around asthma was to avoid situations which might provoke it (rather than getting on with life and using an inhaler when necessary which seems to be the approach these days).

So I was never particularly good at cross-country running, and generally ran/walked the course, trailing in last.

However one day I decided it was time to grit my teeth and at least run all the way around. I teamed up with a fellow asthmatic and another non-athlete, and with a bit of mutual encouragement managed to run the entire route (which I now know to be not much more than 1 mile !). Overjoyed with my first success in athletics I approached the school gates triumphantly in 3rd last position, only to be met by the PE teacher with the words "I need a calendar to time you, not a stopwatch"

So... Mr Hunter - you might not have realised it at the time but your - admittedly quite funny - remark all those years ago planted a seed in my mind which, for a long time, discouraged me from running, then a couple of years ago made me determined to give it a go, and now, as I watch the miles pass by at 7 miles per hour, 20 miles a week, just makes me smile.

Four more miles in Hyde Park yesterday at a decent pace takes me to 546 for the year.