Finding My Inner Runner

Yesterday was my second Edinburgh 10k, my first being in 2019 (last year's event got cancelled for some reason...). My stravas of both are attached for comparison. Same route, pretty much the same conditions (it chucked it down prior to the start, but was dry and bright albeit decidedly chilly, with a gentle breeze throughout) and the 2km climb from 4.5-6.5km was still horrible. When I did the 2019 event, I'd only been running for 8 months and has only run 10k about a dozen times before. The official chip time of1:03:52 that I set on the day was a personal best at the time. Skip forward to yesterday, and another 250+ runs of 10k or more in the intervening 2 years and I posted an official chip time 54:17, which is currently my second fastest 10k time (the fastest being 53:43 which I ran during my HM at the end of September). Taking my official times, I knocked 9½ minutes off my 2019 time with yesterday's run; despite moving up an age band category in that period. On the who...

I've been having something of a hectic time, so haven't had time to share this one. Last year, I clocked up the 1,000 mile mark on 30 December. This year, I hit that particular landmark on Saturday. I'm not running more often this year, still typically heading out 3-4 times a week; the difference is the distances. Last year I was averaging around 30km each week with one run being 10km or longer, but the rest being much shorter. This year, I'm averaging around 40km each week, with 10km being my starting distance. My average run distance this year is just over 12km compared with 9.5km last year. My goal is to run 2021km this year and I currently have a wee bit over 350km left to go. As an "after work" runner, I'm now moving into the night run season, which brings its own challenges. The Hi-Viz vest and headlamp have been dug out of the drawer (haven't been needed yet, but I suspect by next week they will) and the merino base layers have already ma...