But running? running is scary.

Only a little. But it's always made me more tired than what feels like an equivalent amount of any other kind of exercise, which makes me feel it's doing some good; and also it's something you can do without any special equipment, preparation or other people. If I want to play badminton, for example, I've got to find at least one other person, book a court, and arrange a time of day; if I want to swim I've got to go to a pool, and so forth. All I need to go running is a tracksuit.

So, how far do you run then?

I never feel tired after running - the "collapsing, unable to breathe" kicks in far too soon for me to do enough to feel tired.

I'd play badminton with you - only I haven't got a racquet.

I've started slowly: this morning I just went once round the block (Courtney Way / Gilbert Road / Carlton Way / Metcalfe Road), which took me something like five minutes. That was a ridiculously small distance, but I wasn't confident enough of my fitness level to try two laps at this stage. (It's been a while since I last did any exercise other than walking.) In fact I managed to get through the initial puffing stage and hit a decent rhythm about half way round, so I might try two laps next time.

You are *so* much better than me at running it's untrue - going the other way round that loop, I can just about manage to get within sight of the One Stop before my lungs give out. Completely. For ten minutes or thereabouts (unless I've got my inhaler with me).

How much walking would you say you did - I'm trying to work out our relative fitness levels. (so I can work out how much of a strop I should throw at my lungs) Or is this an "I don't do any exercise, only about an hour a day" level of exercise?

I make a point of walking to the Cherry Hinton Tesco to get my lunch most working days rather than using the sandwich shop inside the main ARM building; that's about a 20-minute round trip (not counting the faffing at checkouts). I visit the Gallery most Sundays, which is a 15-minute walk there and another one back. I try to walk into town when I go shopping at weekends, which might come to an hour of total walking time, but that doesn't happen most weeks for one reason or another. So I might guess at an average of perhaps twenty minutes of walking a day, or perhaps slightly less. Any journeys longer than that I tend to drive for.

When I was living at the Gallery and working in Bateman Street I used to walk 45 minutes to work and 45 minutes back again every weekday; now that gets you pretty fit without needing much extra deliberate exercise. It's been years since I did that, though...

Hmm, that's the kind of total amount of walking that I do per week as well. Although not at the moment cos I'm cycling it!

I'm proud to say that I have no idea how far I can run before that happens, because I never run more than about fifty feet.

...and a suitable pair of shoes? I suppose one could go running in Doc Marten boots, but that seems a little silly.

I think I get just about reasonable amounts of exercise simply through not owning a car. Going to the supermarket (and back) is about a 5 mile bike ride, going to the cinema about 4.