"Shirts or skins ?" said Mr Jones

I reminisced about school games afternoons this Sunday morning.

I went out in the cold sleet and my fingers slowly went numb as I jogged along, cold and wet through, with each impact of sleet stinging my face, arms and legs.

As a schoolboy, games afternoon consisted of one team playing in shirts, with the opposing team playing 'skins'. All well and good when the weather was fine, but brutal when it wasn't.

I seem to recall playing skins quite a lot, but maybe that is my mind playing tricks. I recalled one hellish afternoon as I jogged along, when we played rugby in torrential hailstones in mid-winter. 'Character-building' said Mr Jones the PE teacher.

We came back in so cold, that when the showers were turned on, the hot water also hurt us when it hit the skin and it took hours to revive our fingers which were curled into balled fists.

He was a proper bastard, that PE teacher.

But I was forced to do games at school. On Sunday I did the same thing of my own free will.

Maybe I hadn't built my character enough at school - needed a top-up in my forties.

I thought I was mad, but I ran past a woman jogging along whilst pushing a pram in that weather ! She must have been really bad at character-building at school. Probably didn't do shirts and skins at her school though...

Anyway, I am pleased to report that the calf muscle is now feeling okay. Not 100%, but okay.

I ran again this morning - 5 miles and all is well.

Just as well - I have the Silverstone half-marathon this Sunday. It is my test of how far I have progressed in training. I need to see what happens to my body at that distance. It will be the furthest I have run in over 20 years if I finish.

Hope the calf holds up.

And no hailstones.