Running into trouble

Disaster has struck! Nine weeks away from The Great North Run and I have sustained a bona fide sporting injury.

Predictably it was all my own fault. The reason I've twanged my knee is the same reason I'm running 13m in the first place: I'm fiercely competitive.

When another journalist asked me if I was thinking about doing the GNR I could just have told the truth - which would have been, "No I hate running" - but we'd done our training together and our entire relationship is about bettering each other so I couldn't back down.

On Friday another competitor, sorry, friend said she was running a 10k race in Battersea Park to prepare for Newcastle.

Not to be outdone I decided to match the distance, and bin my training plan.

What do the professionals know anyway?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. I did it in an hour five - but then noticed my knee felt floppy in a ligament-y sort of way.

The result? Two days rest and the gentle jogging for a week. Which puts me miles behind the competition.