The right tools for the job :o)

Long-distance running is a relatively inexpensive activity. The kit requirements, even for those of us who don't wear the same string vest, old P.T. shorts and black school daps winter and summer alike, are modest in comparison with other sports. As evidence, I offer you four bicycles, two pairs of skis, and a climbing rack. Use of the pavements and fells is free of charge. Joining a running club costs pennies, and most races are extremely good value for money.

You can, of course, turn this low-maintenance sport into a bottomless pit of expenditure if you're that way inclined.

You might, for example, insist that your racing calendar would be incomplete without the Great North Run or a full set of World Marathon Majors. You could decide that the Grand Union Canal Race (about 35p a mile, support included) sounds too, too boring to consider when the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc and the Himalayan Stage Race are out there calling to you.

Or you might take note of all those articles in Runners World which suggest that failing to give your finely-honed athlete's body exactly the right fuel is tantamount to filling the petrol-tank of a Formula 1 racing car with unpasteurised milk. Rather than eating meals made of food, you become a consumer of sports nutrition products. Most of the calories in your diet come from three brands - Science in Sport, For Goodness Shakes, and Zipvit. Your supermarket trolley contains brazil nuts, blueberries, organic red peppers, and ... er, that's it.

Becoming a hypochondriac is quite effective too. To remain uninjured, you need full-body compression clothing, a weekly sports massage, a selection of Magic Sticks, eighteen different supplements, and gym membership to allow you to do resistance work and low-impact cross-training. To run your best, you need creatine serum and a Powerbreathe. Develop a niggle, and it's off to the Sports Injury Clinic. NHS? You mean, like, WAIT for an appointment? No, sirree! Osteopaths and podiatrists throughout the land live in mansions paid for by runners.

The fast-forward button to bankruptcy though, is the "CONFIRM AND PAY" link on the online entry site for your first triathlon. That's assuming the divorce petition doesn't get you first.

Oops! I went off on one a little bit there, didn't I?

Leon and I are fairly cheapskate runners, with one exception (two, if you include entering the Brathay Ten Marathons in Ten Days Challenge). We believe that, where sports kit is concerned, you get what you pay for. The recent cold weather has validated that view. Garments that we thought were extravagances when we bought them - Montane windproofs which pack down to the size of tennis balls, Lowe Alpine fleece-lined tights, Arc'teryx Rho baselayers, SealSkinz gloves, and, on a few occasions, down jackets - have played an essential role in keeping us running comfortably when the lure of the fireside and a cup of Horlicks was almost overwhelming.

I hope the weather is on the turn now, because next week most of my warm running kit will be on the ski slopes in Austria with my 12-year-old daughter. Oh, no, of course I'm not envious of her. Not even a little bit :oP