Finding My Inner Runner

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...

Back in March last year, when parkruns got cancelled and lock down started, I was a year on from starting C25K and my average distance per run was around 8.75k. Skip forward to today and my average over May, June and July (so far) is now about 12.5k/run. It has, in fact, now been over 6 months since any run has been under 10k. I don't say the above to brag, simply a recognition of the fact that for someone who just wanted to keep his fitness up between rugby seasons so that I didn't dread August rolling around each year on account of increasing age and it getting harder to pick up again each season, I really am amazed at how far (literally and figuratively) I've come since deciding to give Couch to 5K a try back in March 2019. I have had the good fortune to be active and have a reasonable degree of fitness all my life, but it's fair to say that now, in my 50s, I'm probably in the best physical shape I've been in my entire adult life, and it's all down to me ...

  Yesterday, I completed my third "Miles For Mind" challenge. My first, in 2019, was the month that I completed Couch to 5K and my total of 66.75 km/41.5 miles, while modest by the distances I cover today was, not surprisingly, the most I had ever run cumulatively in a single month at that point. It was a month that, not only did I graduate the C25K programme, I also ran my first 5k and my first Parkrun. Skip forward to 2020. Lockdown was upon us and the distances I was covering during my 3/4 weekly runs was increasing. My target was an achievable 50 miles for the month. I started strongly, bringing my half-marathon time under 2 hours 15 and, over the course of the month, I totaled 122.75 km/76.25 miles. In October, runr also set the "Leave Nothing But Footprints" challenge. That month was also the month that I turned 50, so I had a fairly obvious target to aim at. Another half-marathon brought my time below 2 hours 10. A 10 mile run later in the month took my time...

I realise that there are still a few days left, and I need to squeeze in a 30 minute challenge run before the year is out, so my total will probably edge up a little further, but yesterday I hit the 1,000 mile mark for running in 2020. It has, for all of us, been a very different year from the one we were probably looking forward to at this point last year. For me, I suspect running is one of the things that has helped most in getting me through it. Back at the start of 2020, I set myself some goals: See how much lower I could take my 5k PB below 28:38 Get my 10k PB below one hour from 1:03:49 Get my 10 mile PB below 1:45:00 from 1:49:29 Get my Half Marathon PB below 2:30:00 from 2:30:23 Complete the equivalent of John o' Groats to Land's End (874 miles) by the end of the year. As the year passed, my runs increased in length and duration, and I ticked the goals off one by one so that they now stand at: 5k - 26:36 10k - 58:19 10 miles - 1:34:29 HM - 2:05:46 John o' Groats -...

The accepted distance, by road, from John O' Groats to Lands End is 874 miles (1,407km). The straight line distance between the two is actually a 'mere'  603 miles but, since quite a lot of this route is through the Irish sea, which is not exactly conducive to running (and I'm a famously poor swimmer), I decided to stick with the road network for my virtual mission. If you take Monday 11 th March 2019 (when I commenced my Couch to 5k journey) as being the date I set out on my end-to-end odyssey, today I completed the final 10 miles that saw me traverse the full length of the British mainland from one end to the other. Given the current lockdown restrictions in Scotland meaning I'm supposed to stay within 5km of my home, it's probably just as well that this has been a virtual challenge or I'd probably be in all sorts of trouble (although I could try and claim I was testing my new (at the start) running shoes to see if they fitted me properly as my just...

So, it would seem that the best way to shake off the gloom and despondency of having not managed to get out and run for a couple of days is, quite simply, to get out and run... Wasn't really sure how far I'd manage when I set out after work, but it seemed that my legs were keen to make up for having had a couple of days off (from running at least, they'd walked more than 20km over the weekend) and I quickly just fell into a rhythm and off I went. 5k came and went easily enough; 10k wasn't especially tough, so I just kept going. It had been threatening to start raining pretty much from the beginning and as I hit the 14k, it became less of a threat and more of a promise, but despite the fact I was more or less passing my front door at that point, my legs were not for giving up and I carried on through to the 10 mile mark in my second best time of 1:52:44. So, on the whole, I good run to get back out there with.

Having wimped out of my usual Monday evening long run yesterday on account of it chucking it down and a howling gale (I, know, excuses, call myself a runner....) so went out tonight with the intention of a fairly leisurely lollop around the village. My legs, it seems, had other ideas... 10 miles in 1:49:19!?! That's 10½ minutes off my previous PB (or, effectively, a shade over a minute a mile faster). I've no idea where that came from but for my first run of December, I'm definitely taking it...

And another goal achieved... Having had to cut last week's attempt short due to me running out of daylight, and figuring that with the clock change, it will be dark by the time I finish work from now until March, I went out and treated myself to a Petzl 400 lumen head torch at the weekend. Took it for its maiden run tonight and, lo and behold, 2 hours later, 16.1k/10 miles is in the bag. At just a shade over two hours, it took a little longer than I thought it would, but I'm just happy that I've got to the distance; the times can come later. Not sure how my legs will feel about this tomorrow, but they'll live to run another day I'm sure...

So, tonight I was aiming for 10 miles but, in cricket parlance, bad light stopped play. Or, to be precise, pitch darkness meant I couldn't see enough to do the final lap needed to make up the distance. On the plus side, at least I know the 13.1k kilomathon  I plan doing in April is within my capabilities. Now, I guess I need to invest in a head torch...