The sight you can see above did not fill me with confidence, if truth be told.
It was Wee John's bag the night before our Great North Run adventure, and that really is 200 Marlboro Lights taking up most of the space.
My optimism was even more diminished after I woke up at 5 o'clock the following morning and realised we'd drunk four pints of Guinness and a bottle of wine each as a means of tackling our pre-race nerves.
And I'm not joking.
But, you know, it's the result that counts, and we were both very pleased with that.
I finished the 13.1 mile course in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes and 14 seconds with Wee John not far behind in 2 hours 2 minutes and 10 seconds (his teeny, tiny legs having had to run many more steps than my longer equivalents).
Most importantly, our running total (pardon the pun) has now worked its way up to £1,791 with more still promised.
And if you haven't yet donated, you now have an added reason to do so. Let me explain.
Early last week, our total was standing at just over £500 and we were a bit down. So I had an idea; we would keep the fundraising link open and also run the Bradford Half Marathon on 2 October!
I phoned John to share my Eureka moment, but wasn't able to get all my words out.
Or to put it another way, John interjected with a short statement ending in "off." But I entered anyway.
So, one more time, here is our link.
