Update

As it's been nearly a month since I launched Running on Empty in a blaze of non-publicity I thought I'd give you an update of what's been happening since.

To date I've sold around 70 books which isn't fabulous by proper publishers' standards, but pretty good by mine, as there is only me to do all the publicity/marketing etc and I do only have soooo much time.

Some of my sales are definitely coming via the internet, so do let people know about the book. You can email me direct at: jules@marathonmum.com , to get an order form and you can pay me by cheque or by paypal. You can also order it via amazon or through your local bookshop. And shortly I hope it will be available with an online bookshop run by the Running4Women Website.

Brenda Earnshaw and Brian Porter did a great job of promoting the book at the Freckleton half marathon on 18 June and I know of two direct sales as a result. If there are any other of you Freckles out there, it's still not too late...!!!

I am hoping to be in my local paper this week - and did my first radio interview last Saturday on BBC Southern Counties Radio. I was interviewed by Sally James and William Marden and they were very kind to me. Which was just as well as it was 8am and I had a bit of a hangover... My only mistake was I told them that at the start and they mentioned it on air... They also very kindly gave away a copy of my book with free tickets to see Status Quo at Epsom Downs this Thursday. I suspect whoever rang in for the Quo might have been a bit nonplussed, but hey, maybe I'll convert someone! Anyway it was jolly good fun, although Dave did question why anyone wanted to be famous if it means getting up at 7am on a steaming hot Saturday morning. Particularly as I then had to get back to sort out our six year old's birthday party.

Which is how I came to be icing a mermaid cake at 9.10 an hour after I'd been on air. From the sublime to the ridiculous, methinks, but it kinda sums up my nutty life, so it seemed quite appropriate really...

On Sunday I ran the Race for Life with my eldest daughter- actually I use the word "ran" in it's loosest possible sense, with 4000+ participants, and being accompanied by a ten year old meant not a lot of running came into it. It was also blazing hot, and we started late, so my daughter moaned a fair bit. A run which I could have probably done in 30-35 mins therefore took us just over an hour. But I was able to point out a long line of people behind us to my daughter, and given that she has of late been feeling rather pathetic about her lack of sporting abilities (sadly she takes after both her parents in this regard), it cheered her up no end to see how many people she beat. (I didn't let on most of them were probably so unfit they'd never walked 5k let alone run it, but somethings are best left unsaid...) Getting over the line before me was even more of an achievement, so though basically the experience was pretty grim: it was hot, badly organised, there were no water stations etc, it was really worth it seeing her face as we came over the line. In ten years time I do hope we're doing proper races together - then she will be beating me hands down...

And finally, earlier this week Ginia and I went to St Thomas' for a party at the Twin's Research Unit to celebrate National Twins' Day. It was great fun and they very kindly gave us the opportunity to talk about our marathon experiences. And we have our picture in today's Daily Mail too boot. Typically, I haven't bought a copy...

If there are any twins out there reading this who would like to take part in the very important research The TRU you does, you can find out more by contacting:

Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology Unit
on: 020 7188 5555
email: twinrecruitment@gstt.nhs.uk
website: www.twinsUK.ac.uk


So that's it for the moment.... will post more news here when I have it...