10 days ago the Gigathlon, one of this year's highlights took place under the motto "Catch the sun". We not only caught the sun during the 2-day event in Thun, but were also once again infected by the Gigathlon bug. For both myself and team colleague Adolf it was a great success & both my long cycle rides plus the two 3-km swims in the lakes went astonishly well. Our final ranking of 84th out of the over 300 couples participating was flattering enough for us relative oldies, but the memories of the moments spent in the company of other athletes - on the camp in the evenings as well as during the race at daytime - will be what remains in our minds more than anything else. With just over 2 weeks to go til the next event (Sierre-Zinal on 8 August) I shall now concentrate my energies on running (most of it in an upward direction!) in preparation for the 31km with a climb of 2000 metres.

This year I've had the opportunity of trying out SKINS, the revolutionary compression running wear for athletes (and the non-sporty wishing to at least look and feel good!). In the first 3 races of the year I've run personal best times which goes to show that there's more to SKINS than just successful marketing! The recovery period following Friday's marathon also seems to be reduced as I feel very keen to get out there and run again.........bye;-)

The number of text messages beeping into my mobile make me realise there must be some kind of article in the local newspaper about "The fastest woman" at the Biel Marathon last Friday. Possibly the race has taken 10 years off my life as the journalist has put me down as a 35-year old!

Friday was the BIG day - or rather night - for running the marathon in Biel. It was the most fantastic experience to run through the darkness of the night, cheered along by the many supporters along the way & guided by the headlamps of those even-madder-people running the 100km race. Greatest moment though was crossing the finishing line, not only in quite good shape, but also as the first woman. It wa a night to remember - and possibly an experience to be repeated next year?! This week is all about recovery and giving the legs a welcome rest, so training will take the shape of swimming in the lake - if the sun comes out!! The Gigathlon is only 4 weeks away.

This weekend I shall be doing the original Gigathlon stretch from Thun to Zweisimmen with my team colleague as training for the event in July. On Sunday I plan to do one last longer jog before reducing the intensity in preparation for Friday night’s marathon.