Today I had a couple of absent students at the school, and was able to reschedule those supposed to have lessons later on in the day into the empty time slots, so I got off earlier at 2 and have just squeezed in a run before Max's lessons. The school I am at on Wednesday is among one of the worst secondary schools in Britain, ranking 3200-ish among 3600-odd schools. Attendance in normal lessons is pretty bad - so bad, they have a staff of two working in what is called an "attendance room", dealing with matters of attendance. Anyway, what irks me is that despite having fixed times each week, some pupils don't bother to turn up. Despite notes sent home, and through reception (if they are late or might have forgotten), some don't bother to come. I remember when I was at school it was the student's responsibility to tell the teacher if he or she was not going to make the time the next week for some reason or other. Today I had a student surface after 7 weeks of absence and her excuse was “I’ve had exams”. Hello? Exams for the same subject 7 weeks in a row? Even if that really was going to be the case, why didn’t you come and tell me so I could reschedule your lesson for a different time?

Anyway, it wasn’t all bad today. One of those who did show up was a girl called Tajmina, who hasn’t enjoyed lessons very much because the repertoire she wants to learn is too difficult for her. Today we seemed to have hit jackpot – my simplified version of Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful was simple enough, yet still had the tune, not too many difficult notes and chords… after 15 minutes she had done the tune for the whole song and the melody and chords for the chorus. Beautiful indeed – she seemed pleased with herself and I was pleased too. Good for her.

I managed to do 4 laps around the park at a 5:15 per lap pace, then slowed down so I completed 5 laps in 27 minutes. On Friday I’m intending to do a long run, but that will depend on things really – how hot it’s going to be, and how I’m going to get hydrated. I used to do my long runs with my Camelbak, but finding the correct amount of water to carry so that it doesn’t end up a hindrance is tricky. Today it was boiling and I couldn’t have gone more than 2 more rounds without drinking… gives me something to think about the next few days, I suppose!

Got to get ready to teach Max – mental toughness required!!!