Race for your life, Charlie Brown

A while ago I took part in Race for Life, in aid of Cancer Research UK.

It was something of an adventure - a part of town I hadn't been to before, not being sure of how I was running owing to a lack of training runs.

In the event, I was very pleased to exceed my expectations, finishing roughly two minutes faster than I'd hoped. So all the training is paying off somewhere.

The best thing, though, was the atmosphere. Literally thousands of women of all ages and levels of fitness, in stetson and tutus and angel wings and pink, pink, pink, like some mildly athletic hen night. In addition to our race numbers pinned to our fronts, many had sheets on their backs, which told of who they were running for, family and friends who had suffered cancer.

I felt very glad that I had no one to put on my back.