Esther sprinting away in the Kili Fitness Stakes

Well done, Esther - sounds like you're really getting into the Kili fitness zone. Discipline. Focus. Commitment. If only the England football team had some of those attributes, maybe we'd be invading Berlin by now...

Good luck with the half-marathon. I'm sure you're right about the cross-training helping out with your overall fitness and also relieving the tedium of doing too much of one discipline.

How are we doing? You may well ask...

Gill has climbed into a small kitchen window of opportunity. After months of total focus on her business she has finally found her way back to the gym. There's no truth in the rumour that Charterhouse reception had filed a Missing Persons report with Surrey Police. Mrs M has even booked another assessment so I think she's serious about getting back into the swing of the training thing.

Unless being glued to the couch during the World Cup, ironing and cremating some sausages whilst guzzling Pimms counts as cross-training, I'm afraid I'm slipping behind with my Kili preparation. The only exercise I've been having, apart from a strenous rant during every England game, is the walk to and from work every day. And Mrs M and I have had some great yomps in the Surrey Hills over the last few weeks, otherwise work, commuting, lassitude and inertia have filled my schedule to capacity.

As far as I know Steve continues to subscribe to the just-in-time mountain-climbing theory: I'll get fit just in time to get on the plane

Jon has had much more important things on his mind than Kili fitness for quite a while now. We're thinking of you, Jon, and hope you and your Dad are pulling through.

How to redress the balance? As soon as the final whistle blows on Sunday the World Cup excuse has gone for another 4 years. I'll get back into the gym and cut out the Spitfire-and-chips diet. And Gill and I are off on our usual relaxing summer holiday in August...a week in the French Alps and then a continuous week of strenuous kill-or-cure hiking in the high-and-mighty Bernese Oberland across the border in Switzerland. Still no cross-training, Esther, although I might try and persuade Gill to jump off a mountain parapenting, if that counts?

You and Jon are welcome to come and stay with us one weekend too, if you want to - maybe in September or October? The Surrey Hills are great - not Kili high but perhaps we could go for an all-day trek to start building up some stamina for those long hard African days.

End of summer term report:

• South Minster Cottage: definitely not over-trained this term, but other commitments used as an excuse to miss most classes. Basic fitness levels barely maintained. C-
• Rowledge: truant the whole term. F
• Bristol: Esther - outstanding student, showing great commitment. A. Jon - excused class