A mile a day keeps the doctor away

I told my husband this several times, until it was pointed out to me that I was, in fact, dwelling. But it rankled.

Although it all became a bit clearer on Monday morning when I woke up sounding like Bonnie Tyler.

My lungs were obviously not happy. If I'd felt like I had a massive cold I would have pulled the duvet over my head and rang in sick, but overall I felt okay - I was just extremely croaky.

I managed the working day and was determined to go running that night.

I had to lay my Parkrun demons to rest.

It was a chilly evening but dry and I put on my new Christmas trainers, that I was keeping for "best" and aiming to keep as pristine as possible.

They are a lovely blue and look really fancy.

We spent ages in the car park warming up and concentrating on our arm movements.

We were standing in a circle at one point doing the running arm movement while standing completely still.

The aim is to brush your thumbs on your hips. If your arms move fast enough, your feet will follow, Sam says. 

Anyone driving by must have believed there was a giant outdoor disco going on, especially if they spotted Austen.

He was opposite me and had a good old wiggle going on.

We then had to put the breathing, arms and running altogether.

This multi-tasking business is difficult. I think I only just managed one out of the three - breathing in case you were wondering - and even that wasn't brilliant as my chest felt tight.

We set off on the run portion of our class.

Jo was leading us and we pegged it up Parklands.

I even overtook some people. I think they were runners too and not just random people out for a slow evening stroll. 

We went through the cut to get to Mayo Park and disaster struck - I ran in mud. 

My good trainers are no longer going to be kept for best as they are covered in it. 

Sarah says they are only proper trainers if they're dirty but I don't believe her. 

I was feeling good and not too disheartened when Jo told us we were doing hill reps. 

It was icy in places but not too bad. It was first one to the lamppost shouting "turn" and a jog back to Jo for recovery. 

We had nothing to worry about. Paul and Linda are in our class and they're fast so we knew we wouldn't be going far at the back. 

I was fine going uphill. Again, there were some overtaking manoeuvres and Jane shouted at me to watch the ice.

There was a slight "I have a fur ball lodged in my throat" feeling at times and there was no jogging to the bottom for me - it was too icy and I'm too clumsy.

The worst bit was getting to Jo and feeling like I needed to cough up the fur ball, or possibly a lung, so I could breathe more easily.

I wimped out of Thursday's session as I had to practise singing Total Eclipse of the Heart as I was thinking of a new career as a Bonnie tribute act. I'd gone croakier. 

It did get me thinking, though. I do believe I've dodged more colds and illness epidemics since I started my running adventure. 

This is the nearest I've got to being poorly for a while and it wasn't even a proper cold that entitled me to feel sorry for myself. 

Forget apples. A mile a day keeps the doctor away.