I really enjoy reading your training diary; my husband and I often chuckle over comments you make and he's not even a runner. Keep up the good work!

BTW, what does "Junior Member" mean?

Hello Shelagh

Thanks. I've been a bit remiss with the diary recently but I'm slowly getting up to date. I seem to have talked myself into another marathon in the spring, and am due to start my version of 'serious training' [guffaw] later this month, so I hope I'll be back to a stricter writing regime too.

It's not always easy to know what balance to strike with the diary. I was chatting recently to two friends who'd been reading it. One said the thing he didn't like was the "sermonising", but the other disagreed, saying that was what she liked. I guess the only response is to keep putting out what comes naturally and if people like it, great. If they don't, too bad. There are plenty of much drier, 'pure running' weblogs around that go into great detail about splits and training regimes and physiology. I'm not that fanatical.

Junior Member? That's how vBulletin (the forum software I use) classifies people according to the number of posts they've made. Can't remember the figures but if you're a new poster you're a Junior Member, if you've posted more than 10 ot so times you become a Member, then I think it goes on to Senior Member then, I don't know, Supreme Being or something. I can change all that to categories of my choosing, which might make things a bit more entertaining. (This is the sort of childish thing that men get very excited about.)

By the way, was the Boston marathon as good as its reputation?

Boston was everything it was cracked up to be. Enough so that I am returning one more time. 2 good friends qualified for the 1st time so there's a group of us going. Should be fun. This may be my last marathon. I did not enjoy the training I did for Victoria, partly because it was hard getting the mileage all in when I was in England. I'll look forward to hearing about your training for your April marathon.

Ah, I wondered if it was the same Shelagh....

Hope you enjoyed your time in the UK.

I certainly did! The heat in Paris was a bit oppressive, however. I managed to meet up with the Serpentine group about 3 times at your suggestion and I had a wonderful run with a woman in Greenwich that you directed me to from the Runners' World forum. Unfortunately, they were about the only enjoyable runs the whole summer!