I don't like to be negative. So I'll try to start with a positive. From Twitter and monitoring this blog, it doesn't look like too many of my fellow runners are having too much luck making any progress with their training at the moment, either.

That aside, I'm a bit annoyed at having made no progress since my last, extremely upbeat, report. I had a thoroughly lovely run last Sunday, in freezing but bright conditions. It seems that breathing that sub-zero air was perhaps not very good for me, though, as I woke during Sunday night feeling like my tongue had swollen to fill my mouth - that kind of scorched-mouth-from-hot-drink kind of feeling - and have spent the rest of the week with a roving pain moving from my throat to my sinuses, eyes and ears. So I've been off sick all week as my colleagues returned (some of them) to the office. Many have been working from home, thanks to the arctic conditions.

Today, I am at least feeling much better in myself and am confident of returning to work on Monday, come hell or high water. I'll get there if it kills me, if only to retrieve my laptop and be able to work from home if the country's still in chaos and getting to and from work is still a bit of a lottery. There's a lot of exciting stuff at work I really want to get stuck into as soon as possible and the year promises to be a good one. Come on, Council, sort out these roads - I don't enjoy being part of a 'costing local business £xyz millions' statistic and if you just make it so I can get to work, I'll be there!