4hrs 36mins. A glamorous group run.

Big day today, not merely because we re-enter recognised wine country, hopping into Saumur in the Loire with a sigh of relief. Hugh put in a quick time with painful legs and a stop start run. He also had an entourage of WSM team members, all of whom are running the London Marathon and who used this as an opportunity to put in a half marathon of training.

The previous evening we met and had dinner with WSM (PR agency for Optimum Nutrition) and it proved a jolly affair. A smart bunch, this lot. This was not the time to regale how, during my tenure as a student, Leicester University rose to 26th from its consistent 28th spot in the University league tables. Rather childishly, and because we couldn't remember the many barrelled surnames, they were subseqently renamed in a road related manner, hence became Tanya Gravel-Tarmacadam, Julie Concrete-Slab (utterly gratuitous, her surname being Sexton but playing around with that gets us in trouble) and Patrick Motorway-Bollard . Suit yourself but we thought it vaguely amusing. Helena - who was project managing this trip - and the photographer Lee got off scott free as they arrived on a later flight and for this obscure reason were treated with greater dignity.

Despite an attempt to bring things further down to our level by ordering more Muscadet and Chinon, they resisted getting sauced and we managed an unusually early breakfast the next day followed by a dynamic stretching session masterminded by Samia at the start in the village of Chambroutet. The results if this can be seen on the website. Patrick in particular had a unique style.

There followed a warm up in black branded kit and off they went. I was supposed to be leading this one as I planned the route and had the gps. Having farted about checking the route I then had my Achilles strapped and unwisely limped/sprinted off to catch the others thinking all the time I sould have accepted Helena's offer of a lift all the way there.

This was another day of photography for Hugh so I ducked back now and then to look after his camelback whilst he donned bits of branded kit. Quite tiring for him, all this but as usual he accepted all this with good humour. Many thanks to Lee and Helena who made sure everything was done with the minimum of hassle. The ON guys wore similar kit and the girls looked very fetching in their little black numbers. Ahem. Good efficient running styles too. Patrick has immense amounts of energy and runs around, arms out like the guy in the Fast Show who says 'this is brilliant'. He'll probably nail London in sub 3 hrs. Apologies to Tanya with whom I jogged the last half of the run - having accepted a kindly offered energy gel I yomped it down, realising only later I was supposed to take a bit and pass it back. Manners, boy.

So in glorious sunshine we bid goodbye to the WSM team after slightly over congratulating each other- whooping away then falling a bit silent feeling a tad silly as Lee gathered us for another photo. We then felt a bit sad at their departure as they had been great company and had enhanced our little group for all too short a time. See you all on the 21st.

Hugh's last half of the day was quietly dealt with, running in quite beautiful countryside, up towards the Loire river. This was a mercifully gently undulating day all the more so because his shin splints have threatened a re-appearance. Spotting them in the wings we boo their approach. Samia has a strategy to deal with them and we have faith that this and Hugh's efficient style will keep them at bay.