Running

“Running! If there's any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can't think of what it might be. In running the mind flees with the body, the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms” - Joyce Carol Oates.

I'm not really a runner: for me, it's for making it onto a bus, or getting past the last defender before smashing my shot under the keeper.

But somehow, many months ago, my "friend" Pree pursuaded me to enter the ballot for London's Royal Parks half marathon - before cleverly failing to get a place herself!

I had never run more than 15km before, and today I managed 21 - in a respectable 2 hours 06 minutes. And it was wonderful! Helped by an unseasonably sunny October morning, not fewer than 16,000 of us ran / jogged / hobbled through car-free London streets, seeing the sights from a whole new perspective, and raising loads of money for all manner of snappily-strapped, loudly-supported charities.

I'm still not into running - but I may just be back for more. In the meantime I'm with John Bingham, from No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running:“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”