Well I survived my holiday. Just about. We stayed in my parents' holiday home and as always my mother stocked the presses with loads of treats for the kids. Pringles in every flavour, mini mars bars, chocolate hobnobs, after eights. The kids did their best but I think it was the first time we ever finished the holiday with treats left over. It was kind of scary how much was left actually - do I really eat that much every other year? The sun shined enough to warrant having to purchase quite a few 99 icecreams - which were eaten with gusto by the children.

One child couldn't always finish her ice-cream. I would normally do the honours but this year I had to leave the remains to the nearest rubbish bin and the very grateful wasps circling around it. For the first time I was not able to eat at the local chipper - the Salt and Batter - but I had quite a few nice pasta dishes in the café next door, Belle's Kitchen. Our farewell treat is always an ice-cream sundae in Belle's - as you can see, the children certainly enjoyed theirs. I had a bowl of soup. :(.

You'd think you could avoid junk food in athletics...

Junk food is everywhere. You just can't hide from it. I've been running lately as part of the Limerick Sports Partnership Feet on the Street campaign - they hold races every Thursday night throughout the summer and I took part in a few of them. Full of healthy athletic people and a few stragglers like myself. It's good fun and it's pretty hard to eat junk food while running so at least it's an hour where I don't dream about chocolate or chips. But junk food still manages to inch it's way into the world of running. Take the lucozade drinks. Apparently they aren't really necessary for runners unless you are doing more than 5k but sure any physical activity is a good excuse to drink one. Now some might argue that lucozade is not a junk food/drink - after all they used to give it in hospital. But I would consider it a bit of a cheat. It's fizzy and full of sugar so for me it's in the borderline category. Then there are jellybabies!! Yes jellybabies are part of the athlete's diet apparently. There are super-dooper running ones that help release glycogen or something like that but I'm told ordinary jelly babies are just as good. An expert told me eating a few before a race will definitely help your stamina. But I'm not allowed jelly babies. Maybe that's why I haven't won any races. Then, there are the raffle prizes. A hamper of health food? Not on your nelly. Bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates. Thankfully, wine does not fall in the junk food category so I was happy when my winning ticket netted me a nice Sauvignon Blanc - but fellow runner Suzanne won the Dairy Milk selection and brought them into work to torture me. Thanks Suzanne.