The final countdown.........

Well, this is it, only one week to go to the dreaded 13 mile, half-marathon slog around Paris - I can't imagine I will be feeling like calling it Gay Paris for a while after that!

Luckily a few friends are joining me so this weekend we decided on a training weekend in Kent, thanks to Tom who was house-sitting in a rather large house! Liz who had organised the Paris trip is now unfortunately injured so can't take part, but as all good friends do, she came along to help us with the training schedule by buying lots of bubbly on the way!

So Saturday was a chilling-out day, with a stroll around the area, in preparation for the last long run on Sunday - 10 miles. Of course what I hadn't thought about was the Kent terrain - the longest, steepest hills you've ever seen!

Tom did us proud with a huge lasagne for dinner on Saturday night - carbo-loading for the runners and fat-loading for the non-runners!

Sunday morning I was woken at 5am by torrential rain and high winds, just as the forecasters had predicted (why are they only right when you don't want them to be?), but we had to go ahead regardless as I needed to know if I could actually run as far as I had to!

So we made a vague plan and drew a map on a scrap of paper that I kept in my pants incase of getting lost - Tom was going to be miles ahead of me, and Jules and Andrew were going a different way, so all would be no use if I got lost! Luckily I didn't, but did go up a few dead-ends which then brought my total mileage up to around 12 miles and had me running practically through rivers for 2 1/4 hours! My only thought was that Paris has to be easier (and hopefully a lot flatter) than that!

Luckily we are all of the same mind and decided we deserved a post exercise treat of more carbs, so headed off to The Pilot at Dungeness for the biggest ever plate of fish and chips.....and a small side-order of mushy peas!!

The day was rounded off by a stroll on the beach, but even that couldn't be simple - there had to be a bet - they say everybody has their price, and Polly's was a quick dip in the freezing sea for...

..... a figure that I am unable to disclose. Suffice it to say she certainly earned it!!