OUR Run For Liam group is doing well and I hope there will be at least 50 of us on the day. We are running the Cancer Research 10k race on October 18 in Cambridge in memory of Liam Fairhurst and also to raise money for cancer research. In June I ran my fi

OUR Run For Liam group is doing well and I hope there will be at least 50 of us on the day. We are running the Cancer Research 10k race on October 18 in Cambridge in memory of Liam Fairhurst and also to raise money for cancer research. In June I ran my first race, a 5k Race For Life and I did okay, in that, I ran all way round and raised some money, but (sorry Eddie) I do find the training difficult. It takes an enormous amount of mind over matter to get me out of the door and I am not completely confident that I can manage 10k. So imagine my horror the other day when my running mate and Ely Standard photographer Helen Drake shouted across the office: "Deb do you realise it's not a 10k, it's 11 miles!" I was pretty certain that 11 miles was not an official running distance, but she was insistent that she had seen it on the Cancer Research website. I was now worried enough to be making contingency plans which involved walking a mile and running a mile and taking on extra fluids and even wondering if I needed some special running clothing as Helen proceeded to get the web page on her screen. "Here it is," she cried triumphantly, "see, I told you, 11 miles". And yes, sure enough, it did indeed say 11 miles. But after a few seconds of panic we worked out that 11 miles was the distance of the venue from Ely not the distance we were expected to run!

You tell the computer where you live and it works out the nearest 10k race to your home and it helpfully gives you the distance you will have to travel to reach the start line.

So panic over, it's definitely 10k, which is going to be hard enough. Thanks to everyone who has agreed to take part so far and if you would like to join us, go to: www.10k.org (there is a big clue in the website address!) search for Cambridge and follow instructions to enter. If you would like a photo of Liam for your T-shirt email me at the address below.

I AM off to visit an open garden at Aldreth on Sunday and it sounds delightful. One acre of country garden in a small fenland hamlet with vegetable patch, trees, cactus greenhouse, fair-trade chickens and Fairtrade shop. If you would like more details, go to the website at: www.artes-mundi.co.uk

Debbie.davies@archant.co.uk