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True, I wouldn't fancy it myself, and wouldn't be all that good at it either probably, but I don't think it is quite the hard done by profession of old and isn't necessarily quite the "labour of love" that it may have been in the past.

Probably wouldn't be able to contribute to this forum though if I was a teacher as I would be too busy!

Sorry to add fuel to the fire, but teachers these days are pretty well paid just looking at basic salary. You then add a much better than average pension, much better than average holidays AND key workers mortgages/rent, which can be worth many thousands a year, and average/below average working hours, it adds up to a pretty fair result. You could say more than fair, as the competition for jobs in teaching is no where near as tough as the equivalent competition for the same level of pay/benefits in the private sector.

oh I am just 36 btw

Thanks for this, I think the monitor was working fine as when I starte walking it went down to 120 and then down to 100 when I sat down afterwards and 60 at rest, which seems about right. I will do a max heart rate test soon, this would imply mine must be at least 210 which I thought was maybe a bit worrying.

I would be grateful if someone could shed some light on the following and maybe provide a rational explanation and also re-assure me I am not about to expire!

I PB'd in a 10k on Nov 4th. (7 min 40secs per mile off about 8 weeks of 15ish miles a week training). I have done minimal running since (about 5 miles once a week)  I just bought a HR monitor and went for a run at what I thought would be an easyish pace even bearing in mind loss of conditioning (around 9 min milles). I was suprised to see my HR at a constant 188bpm at this pace and up to 200 when I sped up to 7.5 min miles for the last half a mile. The effort level did not seem ridiculously hard (apart form at the end) Does this mean I have got very unfit quickly cos otherwise this would imply I ran a 10k at about 200 bpm which is surely impossible or very unhealthy. Any comments appreciated.