I survived two miles in the Thames!

Triathlons and all sorts of variations on the theme are just booming in the UK at the moment. Ordinary people can excel, it gives the weekly or daily exercise regime some focus, it’s competitive but also sociable, and it means you’re outdoors and seeing parts of the UK – ditches and rivers and mountains – that you wouldn’t ordinarily be inpired to get so intimate with. And beer tastes really good afterwards.

I like all of this excitement, but I think I come down on the ‘just loving doing something unusual outdoors’ side, rather than the ‘culmination of an intensive period of training’ side. As such I always seem to be underprepared, and proud of the fact! It doesn’t help that, since I’m a journalist, people keep letting me do things with a week’s notice and no proof of ability!

Here I am at the end of a 2.25-mile swim down the Thames, from Hampton Court to Kingston, jelly-legged and dead pleased with myself.