Finding My Inner Runner

Miles for Mind has always been important to me, so having 4 seasonal challenges this year instead of just the traditional May version has given me even more reason to flex my running muscles. Across the 4 challenges, I clocked up 757km (470 miles) which has been a huge contribution to my target of running 2021km this year (only 16km left to do it at the time of posting). While the physical health benefits of running are obvious, for me, it is the boost to my mental health that is by far the biggest motivator to get me lacing up and heading out in all weathers and just going for however long/far feels right at whatever pace suits the run. 2021 may not have been the easiest of years, but it has definitely had its highs as well as its lows. Let's all celebrate the victories, big, small, and in between that we've achieved this year. If you feel like supporting my efforts by donating to Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) , you can do so by visiting my JustGiving  page .

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 ...

My run today was my 100 th run of 2021. It brought my total distance for the year to date to 1,192.9km (741.25 miles), making my average running distance this year 11.9km (7.4 miles).  My pace today was nothing especially noteworthy at 6:46/km, but that is pretty standard for my long, easy paced runs. The point for me being that, as a rule, I don't pay any attention to my pace until after I'm finished. Unless I'm taking part in an event or actually pushing myself for a PB, mostly I'm running on the basis of what just "feels right" In the current temperatures, the pace I set felt OK and allowed me to get a good distance in my legs. It is strange, in a way that, while I can (and sometimes do) run faster than I could this time last year, by and large, a lot of the time I'm actually running at around the same pace. The difference is that it running at that pace means I'm left with much more in the tank at the end of a run and I am averaging 2.5 - 3km/run ...

  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...

  Or, possibly more accurately, nature getting too close to me...  As runners, we're used to picking up minor injuries: strains, pulls, twists, scratches and stings; they are pretty much an occupational hazard. Getting strafed by an pissed off buzzard, and being left with a light talon scratch on your scalp is, however, possibly one of the more exotic and "you really had to be there" injuries that can befall us.  The buzzard in question is rather specacular and has a reputation for providing close encounters with unwary ramblers and runners in the vicinity. There are quite a few buzzards around where I live and I often encounter them flying quite low through the woods when I'm out on the paths around Pencaitland and the surrounding area. I can't deny, having one fly at eye-level just a few feet in front of you is an amazing experience. I could, however, have done without the insight into how its prey must feel when it's hunting.  

So, first evening run after the clocks going forward, so I set off secure in the knowledge that I had plenty of time to do my run and not have to worry about losing daylight. Actually, in all honesty, that's been true the last couple of weeks, but the clock change gave me an extra hour of buffer.  So, with that in mind, did I go for a long, leisurely plod (which is kind of what I had in mind when I left the house)?  No, for some reason my legs had other ideas. Long story short, a new 10k of 56:04, knocking 2:15 off my previous time. I've been averaging around 6:15-6:30/km recently, so no idea where this burst of pace suddenly came from, but it would definitely be churlish of me to complain about it.  Anyway, hope you are all staying safe. Happy running...

Last year's Edinburgh Kilomathon (13.1km run) was cancelled, strangely enough, and this year's one is due to be a virtual one on 11 April, which I was scheduled to take part in. Today my big blue envelope dropped through the letterbox telling me that I get my first dose of the Covid vaccine on 9 April. Great news on the vax front, on the run side of things, possibly not so much. Granted, I can actually do it any time in the next 12 months if necessary but I decided that I would get a "contingency one" under my belt today, just so I have it to fall back on if necessary. Hopefully, by the time next year's one rolls around, we'll be able to do more than just virtual events.   

Was I feeling in the mood to head out today? No. Did I head out and run anyway? Yes. Safe to say, was feeling a little flat and could have safely stayed on the sofa watching Boxing Day films all day, but that would almost certainly have added to the flatness of my mood. So, instead, I got myself up, changed and headed out with no expectations other than the knowledge that anything was better than nothing. 67 minutes (so pretty average time) and 10k later and I'm definitely feeling better for it and it made a nice change to be running in daylight again for once. Anyway, to anyone reading this, I hope you had a good Christmas. Still time to get a couple of runs in before 2019 becomes history...

I opened my 2020 running account on 2 January with a fairly leisurely 10k. It was only 10 months after I'd started my Couch to 5k Journey but, having already completed my first Half Marathon distance  and getting my 5k PB below 30 minutes in November, I was pretty chuffed with the progress I'd made so far. My plans for 2020 didn't really come to much at that point. This was before many of us would discover just how important running would become over the course of the year, but I had some vague goals; keep chipping away at my 5k time, get my 10k under an hour, bring my Half Marathon time under 2 hours 15 and, in addition to Parkrun, take part in a number of the organised events locally. The  distance/time goals would be achieved, but sadly every event (including Parkrun) would be cancelled. The one thing that was becoming obvious was that both my pace and stamina were definitely increasing. I had set a very vague goal of averaging around 100k per month, but I was exceeding ...

Like a lot of people, back in May, I signed up for Miles For Mind , organised by runr , and managed to push myself to 75 miles for the month. I had actually run slightly further than that in both March and April this year, but this was the first time I had set a target for the month that I was essentially accountable to anyone other than myself for achieving and I did it with a little over a mile and a quarter to spare. The team at runr  decided that this year they would organise their first autumn challenge, #LeaveNothingButFootprints . Yet again, this would be in aid of the charity, Mind UK . Now, while Mind  are a fantastic charity, they don't currently operate in Scotland but, because mental health is a cause that's important to me, I wanted to get behind this so, instead, I dedicated my fundraising efforts on behalf of the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) . October 10th was World Mental Health Day and, by a spooky coincidence, October was the month where I cl...

They've been through a lot. Since I first laced them up on 11 March 2019 and set out on my Couch to 5k adventure, to their final 10k tonight; covering every distance from that first one minute "jog" all the way through to a half-marathon. In total we've shared a shade over 500 miles/800km together, but now their race is run. We've had a lot of good times up to this point, and a few not so good ones, but they've always got me safely to the end of whatever run I've been on with them. The cushioning may be a distant memory and my big toe has rather assertively made its presence known through the top of the tight toe-box but I think it's fair to say that they owe me absolutely nothing and can now enjoy what time they have left as those trainers I use for pottering around in the garden. Enjoy your retirement...

Tonight's run was one of those unremarkable in every way runs. It wasn't especially fast, or slow, the weather wasn't in any way notable, good or bad; everything about it screamed average in every way (obviously it didn't actually scream as that would have been notable, it was more of polite volume, but you get my drift). Runs like this are sort of bread and butter. Not every run needs to be, or even can be a personal best; the majority of runs are just about getting out there and enjoying (if that's the right word) the feeling of just getting out there and putting some time and distance into the legs. Trouble is, I am a bit of a stat fiend. So when I logged tonight's effort I couldn't help notice that this otherwise unremarkable run was the run that took my 2020 distance to date over 1,000km. Given my average monthly distance, I knew I was likely to get there at some point, but I was pleasantly surprised that I did it tonight. So, it turns out that tonight...

Sometimes this running thing throws up occasional pleasant surprises; the unexpected additional distance or the unintended PB. Today's surprise was discovering that I'd managed the "holy grail" of negative splits. I wasn't aiming for a fast time; I'd already done a 7k+ session with my Sunday morning running group and this was simply a solo after-group session that has become my traditional "scenic route" home from the park where the sessions are held. The route is one that I have run many times (although usually in the other direction); a mixture of roughish forest path and hard packed dirt former railway foot/cycle/bridle path. I wasn't putting any real effort into it; just simply zoning out, plodding along enjoying my surroundings. I wasn't paying any attention to the timings when each kilometre split buzzed on my wrist. The was no "pressure" on me to achieve a particular time, pace or distance. The thing with doing a route that i...

On Saturday, a twitter friend was celebrating having got up early and smashing her 10k PB. as it was nearly lunchtime when I read her post, I congratulated her on her achievement and commented that given the temperature, there was no chance of any PBs happening on the run I was about to head off on. It turns out, I lied. I ran only my second ever sub-60 minute 10k, setting a new PB of 58:19. To say I was pleasantly surprised would be the understatement of the year. Tonight, I went out for another run; 10k again. There was less elevation, I was deliberately taking it slow, but dearie me it was a tough one.  I was well rested, well hydrated; it was actually cooler than Saturday, but I was obviously still experiencing some sort of hangover from my weekend exertions. Not to worry though, it's still another run in the legs and under the belt, taking me to 55k so far for the month.

I suspect it's not the actual running we're missing; since many of us can just go out and run when the mood takes us so long as we are fortunate with our health and the COVID-19 restrictions in our particular part of the world allow us to do so. It's possibly not even being able to run in a group; since as much as I enjoy the social side, I tend to be a solitary runner. For me, what I actually miss is being able to have something to judge my performance against. Not my overall position on the weekly email (although that has its own value), but the arcane calculation that is the age adjusted performance and how it varies from run to run. Then I discovered that Running Heroes has a weekly 5k challenge. OK, so it's on a Sunday rather than a Saturday, but it gives you a leader board and age tables and all of those little things that turn a run into a "non-competitive" competition. It's not really the same, but it is nice to feel that you are part of gro...

Actually, it was only meant to be 7 days, 4 runs and 40k, but, annoyingly, I got the start date of the challenge wrong and so the first 10k didn't actually count towards the challenge. I wasn't going to let that get in my way though, so today, with rather weary legs, and between the showers, I set off to complete the challenge and run the final 10k. Having had a quick recce earlier, the problematic riverside stretch that I ran on my first ever 10k turned out to be no longer submerged, so I decided to rerun that first 10k run from 1 July 2019. So, despite it being decidedly squelchy in places and my poor trails shoes having had another 350km on them in the intervening year, the difference between then and now was just over 15 minutes. Now, I think, I'm going to give my legs a couple of days off while I work out my next challenge.

. On 1 July 2019, I ran my  first ever non-stop 10k . I qualify the "non-stop" bit because several weeks earlier, before I'd even completed Couch to 5k, I'd covered just over 10k  refereeing a rugby 7s tournament . It was stop start, spread over six 14 minute games, but I still include it in my distance totals. Anyway, I digress; 1 July was the day I completed  Ju Ju's Magic 10k Plan  over on  Health Unlocked's Bridge to 10k Forum , so that's the day I'm counting. The time that evening was 1:19:36. Tonight, one year on and not including the rugby tournament mentioned above, I completed my 58 th run of 10k or more. When you consider the that 4 of those 58 runs were half-marathon distance, I've actually completed the 10k distance 62 times in the last 12 months. Tonight's time was 1:04:51, which is a bit off my PB of 58:58, but that wasn't what I was aiming for tonight given the conditions underfoot following several days of rainfall incl...

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...

That pretty much sums up today's run. The distance, 5k, was OK. The time, 32:15 was nothing special but by no means poor based on my usual pace. I certainly want trying for any form of PB either on terms of distance or time, but I still felt somewhat deflated after it. If it had been my plan simply to run 5k, I'm pretty sure I'd have been happy with it; box ticked, achievement unlocked, job done. The trouble was that, while I had no specific distance in mind, I had set out expecting, no, intending to run further but by the time I got to 5k, my enthusiasm had evaporated and I plodded wearily home as my 5 minute cool down. As I said, not a bad run by any standards, and one that I'd normally be happy enough with but today has just felt a bit flat; which, given that one of the reasons I run is for the lift it gives me, makes this one all the more disappointing. Ah well, I'm sure normal service will resume soon.

As I mentioned in my last post , my plan for this evening was to take my new shoes out for their maiden run. By some strange coincidence, today also happens to be Global Running Day. To mark this occasion, I decided to run the same route that I did for last year's event . The result was that this year I ran it a whole 7 minutes faster than last year. My time of 27:22 was a new 5k PB and was 37 seconds faster than my previous best, set at the end of March. How much of that improvement is down to the shoes, and how much is down to having had a break from running since I completed my #MilesForMind  challenge on Friday is a matter of conjecture, although they did feel decidedly springier than the pair they replaced have felt in quite a while. Anyway, it does seem like an auspicious start and hopefully it won't be the last PB I set in them.