OCTOBER 2007

'Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not.'

  Dr George Sheehan

Although I have kept up my running over the last year or so it is only in the last few months that I have started to really do any significant training for the Atacama. And generally I have found it pretty hard to get back into the mindset that any spare time could (and in most cases should) be used for training.

But I have managed to motivate myself enough to increase my average run up to about 10 miles and throughout October have managed three or four outings a week. A decent start but still a long, long way to go!

But at least I have largely enjoyed my training so far and this is largely because of the recent move to my new home in the town of Dorking, nestled in the stunning countryside of the Surrey Hills. The novelty of this new training ground has yet to wear off and so far it has been a real pleasure exploring the local footpaths and bridalways, although I have noticed a few subtle differences between my new environment and the big city...

Typical view of Tooting

The first of these is that the Surrey Hills are, well.. hilly. All of my runs now start with a 2.5 mile drag up to the top of Ranmoor Common. It's a beautiful place with outstanding views of the valley, and of course it is great for my fitness, but what a shock to the system to start with. Back in London the only hills I had to worry about were speedbumps.

Something else about the countryside is that it is dark. Very, very dark. For some reason they just don't bother installing street lights along little country footpaths, and I have to navigate my way around by the meagre light of my head torch. With lots of things to trip over and an over active imagination, this means any run after sunset has become at best eerie and at worst downright dangerous. So at the moment I'm not sure what to expect first, either I'll fall and break a leg or the Blair Witch (insert Cherie gag here) will get me. Or as an outside bet, the residents of Tooting will track me down and 'smash me up'.

Come back in November to find out my fate!