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TRAIN IN RAIN: Ruth Meech and Rob Stone running in the rain!

DESPITE over-stressed calves, tight thighs and lopsided legs - which give rise to the very real risk of running in ever-decreasing circles - my running programme is now under way.

It started off on a treadmill - one of the more insidious instruments of torture invented by man -before progressing to Weymouth's beach and seafront.

Through running and walking - gradually increasing the running and decreasing the walking - training sessions with Rob regularly involve getting from Weymouth Pavilion to the commemoration rock along Preston Beach Wall and then returning to town.

It is roughly three miles, the same length as the Race for Life course, which I will try to run in the company of thousands of other woman at Kingston Maurward on Sunday, June 8.

June still seems a long way away but so, at the moment, does my ability to run the whole way.

Buoyed up with confidence, the first half of the run usually goes well - it is a rare treat to run along the beach on a lovely spring day and even more of a treat to realise that I can do it!

But more often than not, on the way back it generally starts to feel as though some kind soul is sticking white-hot carving knives into my right knee. It's my over-tight muscles playing up again, one set pulling one way, the other pulling in the opposite direction and my poor old knee is stuck in the middle.

So this is where stretching exercises come in handy, to lengthen the muscles and make them more flexible.

To help in this endeavour I have invested in a fit ball, one of those large turquoise orbs beloved by sinewy ladies who spend their free time doing pilates and eating beansprouts.

It's great fun, a bit like a grown-up's Space Hopper, but - sadly - without the smiley face and ear-handles to give extra purchase for bouncing purposes.

In fact, if Space Hoppers are the naughty third years of the inflatable toy world, fit balls are the slightly more mature sixth formers, here to perform a duty and forever going on at us about posture and muscle tone.

My fit ball lives in the lounge. It has received varied levels of welcome from members of the family but I like to sit on it of an evening and watch television. Hardly intensive training, I think you'll agree, but if I can watch Torchwood and tone my muscles at the same time, I call that a winning combination.

For full details of Race for Life log on to raceforlife.org - and please note that the Kingston Maurward race is now full.

Rob Boris' Stone can be contacted on 07760 225598 or in his studio above Cobwebs internet café in St Thomas Street, Weymouth. He can also be contacted for a free chat regarding Race for Life and London marathon training.

10:27am Tuesday 18th March 2008

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