A Year in Nice

Today I ran 3.66 miles (5.89km) in 40 minutes (including 5 min warm up/7 min cool down). I am extremely pleased with myself because:

a) this is the furthest I have ever run

b) this is the longest amount of time I have ever run without stopping

c) my average pace was 10.55min/mile (that includes the walking)

d) I did all of this despite not exercising at all for 10 days

e) it means I can definitely do my 5k in under 40 minutes.

HAPPY SWEATY SOPHIE :)

It feels like only yesterday I was opening that big, brown envelope containing my A level results, even though it was 4 years ago! I can still remember the bittersweet feeling of getting in to my first choice university despite not doing quite as well as I had anticipated (bloody French oral exam, I’m still kicking myself).

Every year record numbers of 18-year-olds get the top grades (annoying), and every year people moan that exams are getting easier and “it wasn’t like that in my day” (also annoying). 

But what really irritates me about this time of year is the news coverage. Every year it’s the same: the pictures of identical twins who between them got 18 As, the kid who couldn’t speak a word of English 2 years ago but now has 6 As and a place at Oxford, the 13 year old who got top marks in maths or physics or Latin (all annoying), and, inevitably, those who got ridiculously good A levels but got a big fat rejection (actually makes me feel rather smug).

Let’s take the example of little Issy Brooks-Ward. The poor mite got rejected from Oxford, Edinburgh, Bristol, UCL and Durham despiteearning 3 A*s at A level. She was “crushed” but will reapply next year, what a trooper. She laments how hard it will be, saying “It’s a hardship. I’m going to have to take out a student loan. But I am still determined to study English”. Good for you, love. Sisters doing it for themselves and all that.

Just one thing: I would have slightly more sympathy for you if you hadn’t attended a school where the fees are over £28,000 a year. If Daddy can afford that, I’m sure he can cough up a measly 9 grand for a degree in which you will probably end up getting the same results as someone from a bog standard comp. And a little bit extra so you don’t run out of Jack Wills gilets, hairspray or Ugg boots.

So far this year, I have run 95 miles.

By the end of Sunday, I will be up to AT LEAST 100 miles.

No “aim to”. No “hope to”. I WILL! Probably.