Medals, Team GB, my grandson and me

For the first 48 hours after I finished the Lakeland 100, it was all I could do to get to the toilet; on the Sunday night I was reduced to wriggling there on my bum because my legs had all but seized up.

Even on the Tuesday, when I first ventured out of the house where I was staying at Ambleside, it took me the best part of an hour to hobble to the shops and back.

Aside from the stiffness, my left foot was getting me back for running on an injury that first made itself felt about 30 miles from the finish. Walking on the flat was just about possible but any slight variation in the surface was a challenge and any incline out of the question.

The human body’s powers of recovery are staggering, though, and by Wednesday morning I’d got enough mobility back to make the 300-mile journey back to London, brave the public transport system to the Olympic Park at Stratford and take up an unmissable invitation to receive a Gold Challenge fundraiser’s medal at a special presentation at Team GB House. I was there for Britain’s first two gold medals of the Games, including Bradley Wiggins’ victory in the cycling, when the whole building seemed to be about to take off. 

There were times when I even felt a bit like a proper athlete myself, swapping tales of what it’s like to run a 100 with Olympians. I wouldn’t have minded some of their physio facilities, though, as much as I appreciated their hospitality.

Mt grandson Stanley (pictured) was impressed.