Wind, rain and a sore Achilles heel have slowed Jennifer Hume, The Royal Gazette's weekly 100 Day Challenge columnist, down but haven't sunk her spirits.

She's still trying by going to basketball and marathon sessions, even pulling her pup, Scout, along with her — even if the scales are not cooperating.

Thursday, 13 March

My heel was still sore today but I went to basketball anyway. One of the girls (who's a physio) had a look at it. She said she wasn't sure it was actually my Achilles that was the problem but that the heel was definitely swollen and I should take it easy and ice it. I participated a bit in practice but Coach Tim said I should sit out anything that involved too much running around. I was really bummed though because they started working on layups which looked like a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll be back on form next week.

Sunday, 16 March

I had a good chat with Louise, my college roommate today. She and I are completely the same when it comes to eating and exercise. We were terrible influences on each other when we lived together. We perfected the art of slothing around the dorm room! I told her about the Challenge and after first questioning my sanity, she announced that she had actually lost ten pounds recently. She claimed to have no knowledge of how she managed this and in fact was at that moment sitting on her sofa with a glass of wine and a bar of Cadburys. Normally I don't believe anyone who claims to not know how they suddenly lost weight but with Louise, it's entirely possible that it only happened through divine intervention. After all, this is the girl who called me a few years ago to tell with me great pride that she had finally joined a gym. "That's terrific!" I told her. "So how is it so far?"

"Oh, I don't know," she replied. "They've just started building it. It doesn't open until next summer."

Monday 17 March

Marathon Melissa and I were really bad tonight. We just couldn't face going out for our walk in the wind and cold. We totally wimped out. It's a terrible excuse especially since my number one excuse for not exercising is, "It's too hot". No chance of being overcome by the heat tonight but we hung out on the sofa with Newton and had a good old girlie chat instead.

Wednesday, 19 March

A few people have mentioned that they think Scout is looking trimmer these days. I wasn't so sure so I weighed her at Endsmeet today and according to their scale she hasn't lost an ounce. We seem to both really be struggling in this effort to get fit! Like mother, like daughter I guess.