The very definition of lean mean fighting machine, these young men and women are as you can see at the pinnacle of their fitness.  Meanwhile, John and I continue desperately trying to achieve our recommended 10,000 steps a day on the pedometer!  These guys make The Green Goddess and Mr Motivator look like couch-potatoes, so you can imagine how John and I felt!  For those of you under 40 (you lucky things), Diana Moran (nicknamed The Green Goddess) and Derrick Evans (better known as Mr Motivator) are TV fitness icons from the 1980’s.  Although I was impressed by the stamina and physiques of these young people, I was a little troubled by the grunting noises and musky odours!

Anyway, I digress.  These pictures were taken when John took me with him for an athletics photography course a few days ago at the Lee Valley stadium in London.  The athletes were of different ages and had clearly been preparing a very long time, judging by the heights they achieved in the pole vault and the speeds they reached in the 200 metre dash.   I wonder how many years of their lives they have spent practising their sports while their peers were out gallivanting.  Watching those long legs leaping over the hurdles made me wince each time because they came so close to knocking the obstacles over, I feared for their safety.  Then again, I’m sure these dedicated contestants have all experienced more than their fair share of twisted ankles and grazed knees.  The long jump and triple jump were particularly impressive, given that they could leap even further than me and I’m a cat.