Since my last blog, my training has been steady. I managed to fit in a week’s training in Lanzarote in November. Out there, I raced in the aquathlon and triathlon against Jenson Button, finishing first lady behind him. This must have fired up my motoring competitiveness as shortly afterwards I went to a big Christmas party that had bumper cars. I had great fun driving around in my high heels, remembering the time I’d won a go-carting trophy a few years ago. The poor bloke I was in the car with got out looking a little pale and said “Blimey, you’re competitive, aren’t you?”. However, my F1 efforts a little later brought me down to earth as I was flashed in East London, driving 36 miles an hour in a 30 mph zone (I hope they got my best side). When I received a letter, offering an SAS training day, my initial excitement of some hardcore exercise challenge was dampened by the realisation that this was a Speed Awareness Session. I can’t help thinking though that if you’re going to get a ticket, you really ought to go for it rather than just managing a paltry 6 mph over (only joking, officer). Ever competitive, I’m going to try and be the slowest one on the course!

My running progress has been tested in a few races, including a hilly half marathon in wind and sleet, and Cliveden’s stairway-to-heaven (or was it hell) run. That’s the race where you have to run up 140 steep steps twice plus climb another set of steps so steep most people walk up. This should have prepared me for the nine flights of stairs I have to run up and down between wards of the hospital I am currently working at, but so far it just feels like my quads aren’t my own. But I’ve declined using the lifts so far. I’ve joined another gym close to the hospital – very nice, but just metres from where someone was murdered last year! I realised how used to my old gym I was when I found I had to concentrate on staying aboard the wobbly treadmill and not hitting my head on the ceiling as I ran.

So, all in all, fitness is improving and as I said out in Lanza, I’ve got my mojo back! So much so, that I’ve started to set myself other mini-challenges. When the cashier in Sainsbury’s asks if I would “like help with my packing?”, I am ready – to get all my shopping packed the right way up and credit card ready before it is asked for. A chatty cashier can cause distraction or an unusually speedy one may result in mild panic as you fumble to open bags (sorry, not green enough just yet to have my own reusable ones). Don’t try this with a self-service checkout though, or you’ll be haunted by an “unexpected item in bagging area”.

It's good to see that the government have changed their tune on children and competitiveness. In their new plan to improve community sport, they state that “competitive sport is a perfect meritocracy ... everyone has the chance to do their best. That is the beauty of sport: to fulfill our potential.” Or, as Vince Lombardi once said, “If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?”