Somehow I forgot to mention that my preparation for the Switchback was just about as good as that for Nottingham. Friday night was John A’s 30th birthday and he’d planned a trip to a roller disco in Vauxhall with a load of mates. This coincided with yet more leaving drinks at the George as more contractors left the building. After a couple of pints I was persuaded to join the birthday party, partly as most people decided not to go. At a rough guess I was likely to be the oldest person there. Lots of eye candy in lycra and spandex made me feel even older but I stuck it out until gone midnight. The good news is that I only hit the deck a couple of times.

Getting the slowboat train from Clapham to East Croydon and a cab home was not a new experience but one I’d not done for some time. I even managed to bump into one of the guys whose leaving do it was outside the kebab shop in Clapahm – bzarro. Fantastic falafel and chips rather than dodgy kebab I’ll have you know.  Luckily the taxi driver still took me home after I’d had a go at him for not knowing where I lived. A 10K jog home at 1.15am wouldn’t have been great.

Well more beer than running this week. Monday started well when I did the 2km walk and 800m at the Vets meeting at Croydon Arena. The funniest thing, sorry Steve, was watching Steve Smith compete in the 3000m steeplechase – and he said he enjoyed it. That looked really hard work. Next time remember your towel, mate.

The rest of the week involved more visits to the George to muse over the various resignations at work and attending Chinwag’s BigSummer07 event at Imperial College on Thursday. Thursday was an excellent opportunity to catch up with former colleagues, while enjoying a few free beers and then a few more at student prices. I managed to leave before the 1.00am finish and make it hope clutching a very girly umbrella.

As for the calf – well it’s improving enough to take the trainers away to France next week. Labenne Ocean here we come.