You remember that last soul destroying 8 mile run I attempted? Well, since then I have upped the training a bit but it has not been fun. I have been out by 7am, I have done some cross training (thanks Davina) and I have started doing hills sprints (thanks Becky - I think). And then came the big Saturday run. Ten mile route planned, alarm set for 6.45am and the troops all good to go. Sort of.

Never have I seen our training group so unenthused. Niki barely cracked a smile and even James had no time for jokes. It was hard, relentlessly so, and not even the downhill stretch through Sheffield's finest parks raised the mood. We cut it short slightly (to a fairly respectable 8.5 miles) and settled down to a fried egg sandwich. Luckily the rest of the weekend was filled with the fabulous JCI UK Marketing Academy so our woes were soon forgotten.

Another couple of early morning short runs later and soon it was Saturday again and a much more reasonable 11am start. We planned a beautiful run around Ladybower, picked up our newest recruit and drove off in to the glorious Spring sunshine. It is days like this that make me not only glad to live in Sheffield but glad that I signed up to this crazy idea. The pre-training, pre-JCI Ilona would have spent the day curled up on a sofa, maybe venturing out for a spot of shopping or a cafe trip. I must have missed so many wonderful moments and so many breathtaking views.

Also I would have missed the chance to spend a couple of hours chatting with James, the Newbie. He joined JCI all of a week ago and has already signed up to courses, a sleep out and, of course, the Edinburgh marathon. I must confess I was less excited about his arrival when I discovered he had a marathon under his belt as I was hoping for someone who would struggle with the challenge more than me! So you can picture my distress when he later told me his last marathon was "quite slow, only 4 hours 14 minutes". Ouch. But just I was was starting to go off the guy, I got to know him. Full of ideas and enthusiasm, he was great to chat to around the whole run, even if it was near walking pace for him.

Back at the car park, Rich treated us (and some surprisingly vicious ducks) to cake, marking the perfect end to a perfect run. As I say, if Carlsberg don't make runs, but if they did this would have been it.

Please sponsor us at http://www.crowdrise.com/jciunitedkingdom/fundraiser/jcisheffield. Every $10 donated to Nothing But Nets saves the lives of a family in Africa, and will help to eradicate malaria.