My good friend Helen has been doing a few races recently. Here’s how she got on.

As you read on Lazy Girl’s blog, I’m no way near fit enough to be doing the amazing things that she does – but I am the healthiest I have been for a very long time. So, after my O2 climb and coming first in the mini-triathlon at my local gym (I was the only entrant), my confidence was brimming enough to sign up for two 5k races – on back-to-back weekends.

First up, was the Colour Run at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park with my sister, Liz. As you walk/run round the course, people throw powdered paint over you. It sounded great fun and I couldn’t wait to get started – once I had reassured my over-protective mum that I wouldn’t go blind, deaf, or end up permanently scarred by said paint.

It was a boiling hot day, so after a jogging start, we ended up having to walk the rest of the course. First up was pink paint, which ended up all over me. “I haven’t got any on me…” complained Liz, so when we approached the orange section, I pulled her towards a masked man, who showered her with enough paint to bring true my mum’s fears of being stuck with an orange oompa loompa child.

Plenty of yellow and blue paint later, we crossed the finish line – what a fun day! True to the organisers’ words, the paint all came off in the shower, apart from a nice pink spot on my neck and a blue smudge on my sister’s big toe…

Just a week later, I competed in a Pretty Muddy Race for Life in Clapham Common. I would say that it should actually be called ‘Absolutely covered in mud, ending up with soggy knickers’ Race for Life as that’s exactly what happened to me and my friend Molly.

We jogged around the course between each obstacle, ranging from climbing over giant inflatables to crawling through tunnels of mud. That all built up to the finish, where we scaled a huge inflatable slope before sliding down and ending up on our backsides in muddy water. It was everywhere, on our faces, in our ears and completely covered our clothes and trainers, but we had such a great laugh.

I woke up the next morning, and for a split second I wondered if I could ache like hell when I attempted to get up – but I didn’t. I felt wide awake (I am usually not a morning person), and full of beans. I’m so chuffed that I managed to complete both races and feel so well afterwards. I’m now looking for my next challenge, so let me know if you have any suggestions of fun 5k races I can do!

Helen is doing all this to raise money for The Christie.