'No more than, but more than just ...'

Queenford lake half-marathon (awaiting event pics!), at 8.30 am.

One of my favourite philosophers, Julian Baggini, when writing about that old chestnut the ego and identity, said that "we are no more than, but more than just, matter." Well today, I was no more than last in my category of the Henley half-marathon - sorry to disappoint you. But then again, I was more than just last, since there were only 3 women in the 'Traditional' category (swimmers in speedos rather than wetsuits), and given that the other two were young and had clearly trained in a pool rather than a cake-shop (with its occasional icing from the Arctic), my bronze medal commemorates a modest achievement after all!

Mounted police, or the water equivalent

Where have all the swimmers gone?!

Catharine Benson, turned a swim into an event!

I swam the 5km in just under 2 hours, which was not so bad since I wasn't racing. Quite the contrary, once the first circuit of the lake had been endured, I was delighted to find myself on my own, enjoying the clear water between my plod and the pack's splash. I was convinced I must be last of all, and only discovered this was not the case once I had completed the swim. I imagine those behind were similarly revelling in their patch of clear water.

Perhaps the only thing that dented my pleasure was repeated leg-cramps on one particular part of the circuit (where my left leg acted as wind-break to an ever increasing breeze). I felt like a lumberjack steering an unwieldy trunk downstream and had no idea what to do other than swim on.

The best part of the event, by far, was that a friend came to cheer me on and was there to welcome me out of the water. Catharine Benson is, wait for it, an Atlantic College alumnus, though we just missed each other as she started 2 months after I had left in 1978. She is a brilliant doctor (I know, because she is my GP!), and a great sportswoman who open-swims, cycles and used to run (till the Great North Run did for her). I was instructed, on doctor's orders, to warm up by the fire till I toned down my various shades of blue!