Leading 8000 runners in the warm up before the 27th Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash was a bit daunting. To ease my nerves I managed to enrol hunky Scissett Football Club to help me out. They did a fantastic job helping get the crowd motivated for their 10k run. Luckily the fog cleared a bit so everyone could see what we were doing on stage!

After the warm up I dashed across to the start line and huddled in with the rest of the crowd. It was good that there were so many people, the body heat kept us all a bit warmer. Everyone seemed excited, I chatted to a group from Liverpool running club who were all set to run great times.

I managed to complete the course in 38 minutes so I was very pleased. I seem to be maintaining my fitness level at the moment. Not bad for a veteran!

I have been baking lots of chocolate cake recently, which means I have also been eating loads of choclate cake so thought that might have slowed me down. Maybe that's the key, eat more chocolate cake for more energy!

This year's Abbey Dash was the most successful ever, expecting to raise well over £200,000 for Age UK. Scissett Football Club did their bit and raised over £500.

If you want to take part next year or in any of the other 10k runs that Age UK are organising, check out all the details on their website,  www.ageuk.org.uk