After the hideous Brighton Half Marathon, which was rendered thus by the weather, I took the whole of last week off running. I had two tons of gravel delivered on the Monday, almost half of which I shifted on my 'rest day' that day. The rest I did on Saturday, which was the only day of the week that was noticeably nicer than the Sunday from hell. That gave me backache, which meant I didn't run yesterday either.

But I did this morning. A 30-minute 'level 3' session. I took off on my half-hour loop round Portslade, which includes a bunch of nasty uppy-downy bits. Various aches, pains and kinks that had set in during my week-of-sloth worked themselves out gradually and I ended up doing the route, which I never used to be able to complete in half an hour, in 27 minutes! A rest does you good, you see. A lot of colleagues have been asking whether it's OK to take a break if you're feeling the odd twinge, or just a bit jaded. And it is. Alright, IT IS!

I felt great when I finished, and it's another session on the plan I get to put some data against instead of putting a great big cross through it. Talk about endorphins! I was on a natural high that lasted...oooh...until I got to the office. I was going to change my various statuses (does anyone else have more online social profiles than they can manage?), even, to something like 'Don't steal my happy'. Then I opened my inbox. And my calendar. And added things to my calendar based on my inbox. And it all just ebbed away.

Nevertheless, I'm back in the mood and the weather at the moment is certainly playing ball. What a great couple of days and long may it continue! I may not be able to blog quite as frequently as I'd like. My telephone and internet 'service provider' (ha! don't make me laugh) has switched me off 2 AND A HALF WEEKS before my new provider is due to set me up. I'm writing today in what is laughably called a lunch hour (not my idea of a joke, but clearly someone's - whoever you are, you're SICK, do you hear me, SICK) and will try to do so until normal service is resumed.

The big day draws ever closer, but I'm actually looking forward to it for the first time in a long time. I'd like to take this opportunity, and I don't see why I mayn't, to remind you that I, and probably thousands of other participants, are doing the marathon for charity. If you'd like to sponsor me, please do so at my JustGiving site. If you're not convinced I deserve it, comment and let me know how I can win you over with these little scribblings of mine!