Page 24 of The Bad Mother's Diary

Ugh.

It was FREEZING!

After half an hour, my body stopped working.

We walked back, me limping a little, Laura offering reassuring words.

‘You just need to build things up slowly,’ she said.

I asked how far we’d run.

She said, ‘One kilometre.’

I said, ‘Is that about a mile?’

She said, ‘Um …nearly.’

When I got in, Daisy was crying. Nick was desperately rocking her and singing ‘Consider Yourself’ fromOliver!

I limped in and cuddled her to sleep, then hobbled down to the 24-hour supermarket for a chocolate bar.

It’s amazing the motivation I have to exercise when there’s chocolate at the end of it.

Sunday February 22nd

Did a stupid thing today.

I bet Nick that I’d finish the marathon.

I blame Helen. She laughed (actually snorted is a better word) when I talked about training and made a snide comment about my baby weight.

I got all puffed up and said, ‘It’s for charity. What was the last thingyoudid for charity?’

Which was a stupid thing to say to Helen, because she listed all the charity luncheons, art shows, dinners and auctions she’s involved with.

Nick said, ‘You’ll never finish it. In winter? Forget it. It’s twenty-six miles.’

Helen said, ‘Actually darling, it’s twenty-seven.’

Then Nick reminded me about the time he picked me up from the post office down the road because I had a heavy parcel.

Which I thought was VERY unfair, because the parcel was his Christmas present.

Somehow or other we ended up making a bet that I would/wouldn’t finish.

I said if I finished the marathon, Nick should buy me lots of new clothes because I’d be slim and gorgeous after all the training.

Nick looked a bit wrong-footed. Then he eyed up my baggy running clothes and said, ‘Okay fine.’

I said, ‘You just wait. When I set my mind to something, I’m unstoppable.’

He said, ‘Like when you wanted a natural birth?’

I told him to go fuck himself.

Then I went running.

I managed twenty minutes. After that, I read magazines in the 24-hour supermarket so Helen would think I’d done an hour.

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