How will I be spending International Women's Day? How many women would love to, I'm off shopping.

Well it has been a busy few days. There was a trip to Saracens on Sunday where I witnessed a masterclass from Charlie Hodgson, but paid for it with the loss the feeling in my feet for an hour (you know it is cold when hard men from Wigan like Andy Farrell are complaining).

Gail with rugby stars Lewis Moody and Jamie Roberts

I almost lost myself into the Thames on Monday and the high winds meant we had to abandon ship and the Saracens boat race was relocated inside and onto a rowing machine.

And then there was and a couple of days with the England rugby camp sandwiched either side of a former England captain retiring. So a little bit of retail therapy is the order of the day.

I never liked shopping when I was growing up. In fact I didn't like anything that got in the way of sport. I went to a school that placed a huge amount of emphasis on sports and sporting achievement. Every evening was filled with swimming competitions, squash games, badminton, gymnastics and athletics.

Despite playing county hockey, netball and tennis I was never good enough to do any sport professionally, so I decided to do the next best thing and copy what thousands of frustrated failed sportspeople like me had done and go and train to report on sport.

I worked at local newspapers, in radio and local television then came my job at Sky Sports in 1997. I was still at university so used to work during the holidays of my final year before joining full time after I had graduated.

After a year or so working across lots of different sports, I was given a chance to report for Rugby Club and I absolutely loved it. A few more features followed and there was also a reporting stint on beach rugby - I can recall nothing of the tournament but remember the industrial sand left its yellow mark for days.

Then a year or so later I moved to Sky Sports News and after a year or so of trying to convince the big boss I was ready, he eventually gave me the chance to be a reporter.

That was nearly 10 years ago and I have loved every minute. I have had the opportunity to meet some inspirational people and cover some incredible events. It is perhaps not the same sort of adrenalin you get from competing but at times when you are watching history being made on a football, rugby or cricket pitch it isn't far off.

For a long time I was the only female reporter at Sky Sports News so I did feel an element of having to prove myself but I'm not sure that it was in any way different to the young male reporters starting out trying to prove themselves.

There were still relatively few females out on the road at that time and you would often find at the beginning of press conferences you would get "welcome gentleman" then they would spot you and add "and lady."

There was one instance I can remember when I was with my female camera lady and we turned up to an interview with a former player and when we got to his door he wouldn't let us in because he didn't believe that we were from Sky Sports News and that women were doing those kinds of jobs, but slowly over the years that has changed.

Rugby World Cup

I was reminded of it when I was covering the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand last year.

I was lucky enough (the rugby purists would say otherwise) to be following England during the tournament and it was only in out last week in Dunedin that I realised I hadn't had a conversation with another female in person that hadn't been serving me food for nearly three weeks.

As I looked around the England camp, at the press pack and at the snappers I realised I was the only female there. I was probably the only one that noticed, and in a way I hope that was the case.

There was no "and lady" at the start of the press conference, no differentiating who I was, everybody was just getting on with the job and I wouldn't want it any other way.

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