Deputy editor Paul Wiltshire is on the final straight...

In the cruel world of Wii Fit, I - a half marathon-running 46-year-old - am 68 years old.

My mother-in-law, who is in her 70s, is 52.

I struggle so much with getting my balance right on those ridiculous blue bars that I’ve now all but given up.

But here’s one in the eye for Mr Nintendo’s cold technology.

According to a doctor, I’ve got good core balance.

And not just any old doctor, either.

Dr Julian Widdowson is the elite team doctor for the England rugby team.

In fact, he stood me up for his England duties a couple of weeks ago - but last week I got myself checked out by him at the CircleBath hospital, where he has set up a sports medicine department.

The good doctor, who’s also head of sports medicine at Bath Rugby, gave me a good going over - bending my legs in all directions and checking my breathing and heart rate.

I got to use a machine like the one Chelsea players test their leg strength on, and got in a terrible knot trying to master simple warm-up exercises with the senior physio.

One bolt of inspiration she provided was that you should warm up as you start your run - not before, when your muscles are cold.

The advice was to run for a few hundred yards to warm up the muscles, then do the stretching exercises - and hold the position for 30 seconds each time.

The physio found my hamstring muscles were more than a little tight, so I finished off with a ten-minute sports massage.

I came away from the hospital at Peasedown St John with the message that I should not go off too fast at the start of Sunday’s race - and attempt to stick to an 11-minute mile routine.

I didn’t quite make that on my 10-miler at the weekend.

But then my 10-miler turned out to actually be more like 12 miles once I’d measured it so I’m ever hopeful.

Good luck to you all.

* Staff from CircleBath - one of the event sponsors -will be offering post-race massages. To find out more about the hospital, ring 01761 422388.​