And so, the end is near

As the challenge draws to a close, time to reflect on a successful year of running:

• In March, my first half marathon, in Milton Keynes, in a very respectable time of 2:04:20;



• In May, comfortably my fastest 10k so far in the BUPA 10000 in London, finishing in 54:19;



• In September, a very enjoyable New Forest Half Marathon where I broke the 2 hours barrier, finishing in 1:59:37;



• and as a bonus, a new 10k PB of 53:30 in the UNICEF Hong Kong Disneyland 10k;



• added to which, with the help of my sponsors - thank you - I raised £335 for the Cure Parkinson's Trust.

At the time of writing I've reached a total of 819 miles for the year, comfortably beating my 750 mile target and my 601 mile total for last year.

I've run those miles at an average pace of 9:39 minutes per mile, faster than last year, and averaged nearly 5 miles per run, again more than last year's 3.6 miles per run.

Hopefully this all sets me up well for next year's marathon and 1000 mile challenge, which I'm running for Practical Action and CLIC Sargent.

Mission accomplished !

On Sunday November 28th at around 7:10 am in Hong Kong I completed 750 miles of running since the beginning of 2010. And I went on to complete the UNICEF Hong Kong Disneyworld 10k in 53 minutes 33 seconds, a personal best by around 40 seconds.

Prior to the race I'd built up my total with a few runs along the Kowloon harbourfront. Running there, while pleasant compared to the temperature in London in November, is also a challenge due to the humidity and pollution, so I'm glad I got some "acclimatisation" in ahead of the race.

The race itself was really well organised, with a separate start for "elites" and the masses, good marshalling and signage, and a nice course with a good mixture of terrain and some dramatic scenery.

I set off at a pretty steady pace but then speeded up somewhat unconsciously due to missing a couple of the kilometre markers, and so reached the halfway mark in 26:10, a little faster than planned. The second half of the course, although flat, was also slightly into the wind and as the sun came up the temperature rose quite quickly towards 23 degrees - together with the humidity and my early pace this took its toll and by the 9th kilometre I was struggling and had slowed to 10 minute/mile pace. However I managed to speed up a little to complete the final kilometre in 5:23 and crossed the line in 53:30, beating my time in the BUPA London 10000 by 41 seconds. Very happy with my performance.

All four of us who took part found the race conditions tougher than expected and were glad we hadn't signed up for anything longer !

So... I've achieved my target for the year. Time to celebrate my achievement - looking back only 3 years when I started running I could barely manage a mile without stopping - now I am comfortably running half marathons, and regularly exceeding 20 miles per week. Not bad for an old-timer !

With a month of the year still to go, I want to keep going and see by how much I can exceed the target. Much will depend on the weather over the next few weeks - currently there's heavy snow cover and low temperatures which makes running more difficult. I also need to keep my mileage ticking over prior to starting my marathon training just before Christmas, so will need to find a way to start fitting in at least four runs per week - at the moment I am just about managing three, sometimes only two, per week.

A lunchtime run to Dulwich and back today in the snow and frost added just over 6 miles to my total which now stands at 764.78 miles.

Deja vu

Damp days of autumn are here now - a grey and rather misty weekend in south-east London. But good running weather, not too cold, and just like last weekend I totalled another 16 miles: 4 laps of Dulwich on Friday, 4 laps of Greenwich on Saturday, and back to Dulwich for 4 more laps today.


On Saturday I decided to run a bit slower in preparation for my marathon training, where if I'm going to run at 10 minute mile pace apparently I should be doing my long slow runs at nearer 11 minute mile pace. According to my new gadget my average pace was 10:25 minute miles, and my average heart rate was 157 bpm, which was slower than last week, but somehow I'll need to run even slower once my marathon training starts to ramp up next month.


My total for the year is now 733.5 miles - 16.5 miles to go. So if I do 4 miles next Friday, and do a few training runs along the waterfront in Hong Kong next week, I'll be right on track to cross the 750 mile finishing line during the UNICEF 10k on Sunday 28th.

New gadget

Mostly I try to avoid too much paraphernalia and gadgetry when I'm running - no iPod, no water bottle, no flash gear, just a comfy pair of shoes, t-shirt, shorts or tracksters, a simple sports watch and that's it.

But a recent work bonus and the upcoming marathon made me decide it was time to invest in a bit of technology and I bought a Garmin Forerunner 305. As it's GPS enabled it will be handy for those days when I'm running somewhere unfamiliar and take the guesswork out of how far I've run.



It also displays instantaneous pace, and a bunch of other stats which will be helpful towards the end of long runs when doing the calculations in your head becomes a bit too demanding. And there's a wireless heart rate monitor with the package which will allow me to be a bit more scientific with my training and ensure that my long slow runs are slow enough, and my interval training is fast enough.



The device looks a bit bulky - due to the large screen and also, I guess to the size of the GPS transceiver - but it's actually quite comfortable on the wrist. And the heart rate monitor, although it takes a bit of getting used to, is ok to wear - although once the novelty wears off I probably won't wear it for every run or race.

Anyway, the gadget added a bit of interest to my runs this weekend - I did 4 laps of Dulwich on Friday, 4 at Greenwich on Saturday and four back at Dulwich again today for a total of 16 miles. During today's run I made an attempt to find out my maximum heart rate by doing a "stress test" which involves running 400 metres close to maximum speed and then running the next 400 metres flat out. Well maybe my "flat out" wasn't really flat out because my heart rate only rose 2 bpm to 179 bpm compared to my peak rate after running up the hill in Greenwich on Saturday.

Here's my graph from today's run. I guess over the next few weeks I'll start to figure out what it all means...

My total for the year now stands at 717.5 miles - so only 32.5 miles to go. If I calculate things right I might cross the 750 mile finish line when I'm running the UNICEF 10km in Hong Kong - a nice way to complete the challenge...

700 miles !

A wee burst of weekend activity has taken me past the 700 mile mark for the year.

Four laps of Dulwich at lunchtime on Friday, four laps of Greenwich on Saturday morning, and back to Dulwich for three and a half laps today - 15.5 miles, taking my total to 62.9 miles for October.

Lancashire and Hertfordshire

We've been away for the last couple of weekends, in Stockport and Hertfordshire. Still managed to fit in an 8 mile run along the Mersey last Saturday, and 3 laps of Fairlands Valley Park for 7.45 miles yesterday.

A few laps of Dulwich Park last Friday and a 35 minute run this morning brings my total for October to 47.38 miles and for the year to just under 686 miles. Only 64 miles left to reach my target !

Gentle recovery

A rest from running this week after last Sunday's exertions.

Yesterday I went to Dulwich for half a dozen gentle laps, and today I did a swift lap of the Forest Hill neighbourhood - so a total of just under 10 miles for the weekend, bringing my total for the year to 648 miles.

I'm starting to look to the future now and have my marathon training plan in place - officially it starts the week before Christmas but I'll probably make a start on training after I get back from our trip to Hong Kong at the beginning of December.

Talking of Hong Kong, I might be running a 10k while we're there, assuming there are still places available. The venue is Hong Kong's Disneyland. It will be fun to take part in a race overseas - it's quite an early morning start and the weather in November is usually fairly comfortable so hopefully it won't be too hot or humid.

New Forest Half Marathon

Had a fantastic weekend in the New Forest - I broke 2 hours for the Half Marathon for the first time, and Sophie successfully completed her first full marathon in a shade under 5 hours, while her sister sliced nearly 15 minutes off her marathon PB.

The day started cold but bright, with a north-easterly breeze. The half marathon started at 0930 so I made the assembly area by 0850 leaving plenty of time to queue for the toilet and get my bearings. Bit of a scare as I did a bit of jogging on the spot to get warmed up and my right calf twinged... I stretched it gingerly but it still didn't feel good. 40 minutes of hanging around in the cold didn't do much for my muscles and I was relieved when we finally inched towards the start on Station Road in New Milton.

There were 2300 entrants to the Half but it felt relatively uncrowded, and the other runners were predominantly serious runners, with running club vests in evidence and a happy absence of iPods. A brief countdown and we were off. I'd stood in the :105-120 minute band but was taken by surprise by the pace at the start and was quickly overtaken by a lot of people. However given the cold temperature, my twinging calf and the uphill start I figured I should take it easy for at least the first mile, and I passed the marker in 9:50. Perhaps a little slower than I'd ideally intended and as the terrain levelled off I stepped up the pace a little, covering mile 2 in 9:05.

Sometime during the next mile I reached the first downhill stretch and I decided just to relax and go with the slope - I continued to do this and it meant the next two miles disappeared rapidly in a very speedy (for me) 15:54.

By this point the scenery had really opened up and we were into the New Forest proper, with scattered pine trees, heathland shrubs, and the occasional New Forest pony to admire. Mile 5 brought the first and steepest hill of the run which slowed my pace to 10:16 for the mile, my slowest mile of the race. But with the hill over, I sped up and covered mile 6 in 8:53 and had my first jaffa cake (my current fuel of choice) to celebrate. Six miles in 53:43 was actually marginally ahead of my plan (whose ultimate target was to complete the race in 1 hour 55).

Around this time I caught up with a walker - yes someone walking at 9 minute mile pace ! Clearly he was more than just an amateur out for a stroll and it was fascinating to watch his rhythm as he overtook runners both going downhill and uphill. A little demoralising not to be able to burn him up though - he kept pace with me for quite a distance.

The water stations on the course were dispensing water in cups, which meant it was tough to drink on the run so I decided to just stop for the duration of the stops. It didn't slow me down much and it was more comfortable to drink. The weather wasn't hot but it was sunny and I didn't want to get dehydrated.

I knew that there was a long slow incline at the 8 mile mark and a shorter one around 9.5 miles, so I'd decided to keep a bit in reserve for those. Mile 7, which included another downhill, I covered in 8:35. I then waited for the "big hill" as it appeared on the course profile, but it turned out to be a very shallow gradient, and I covered miles 8 and 9 in 9:32 and 9:43. I reached mile 10 in 1:31:04, now a little behind schedule and needing to cover the last 5km/3.1 miles in 24 minutes to beat my 1hr 55 target. A tall order, but my plan had always been to get to mile 10 with a bit in reserve and then step up the pace as the terrain levelled off and headed back to the finish.

The first part of the plan went well, with mile 11 going past in 9:03, and mile 12 in 8:59, but the last mile, along a long straight road with the finish line out of sight around a corner seemed to last forever, and not only was I clearly not going to beat 1hr 55, but getting under 2 hours looked unlikely. Fortunately though, my parents- and brother-in-law were waiting around 200 metres from the finish and their shouts of encouragement helped me over the line just as the clock ticked past 2 hours, and I stopped my watch at 1:59:37, a time later confirmed by the chip timing system.

So - my first sub 2 hour half marathon - Just ! A great feeling. My sixtargets for the race had been, in order:

Beat 1:55

Run 9 minute miles (= 1:58 approximately)

Beat 2 hours

Beat my previous best (2:04:20)

Run all the way

Finish

so I'd managed to achieve 4 of them. A pretty good performance. I think I could have beaten 1:55 if I'd been able to do a little more midweek training in the runup to the race but sadly that was not to be.

I didn't quite manage a negative split - 0:58:52 vs 1:00:45 - perhaps I should have saved a little more for the last 3 miles. But I didn't tie up as badly towards the end as I did at Milton Keynes, and overall I'm very pleased with my efforts. I really enjoyed the race - beautiful scenery, well marshalled event, friendly fellow runners, and a small enough field to allow everyone to just... run.

After meeting my in-laws, having a bit of a stretch, a change of clothes and a spot of lunch, I walked back to the 25 mile mark to wait for my wife and sister-in-law, both running in the full marathon which had set off 3o minutes behind me. My sister-in-law ran strongly finished in 4:10, beating her already good London time back in April by 13 minutes, and then my wife, in her first marathon, came home in a really excellent 5:02 - even more creditable since she'd had a bit of knee trouble in the run-up to the race.

So... all round, a fantastic day.

The last couple of weeks of running, including the New Forest race, has brought my total for September to just over 70 miles, and for the year the total is now 638.6 miles.

Another landmark

On Tuesday my lap of Forest Hill and Honor Oak took me past 600 miles for 2010, and also past my total miles for 2009.

It's been a bit of a struggle fitting runs in these past couple of weeks, what with moving out of my flat in Edinburgh and having a particularly demanding assignment keeping me in the office for long hours during the week. But I've more or less kept up with my half-marathon training, and managed 5.5 laps of Greenwich last Saturday for 11 miles, and 5 miles at my planned race pace (8:45 minute miles) in Crystal Palace on Sunday.

A day off from running tomorrow, and then my final long slow run on Saturday - 6 laps of Greenwich for 12 miles.

Meanwhile, my training T-shirt for next April's Brighton marathon has arrived - exciting !

3 laps of the Palace

My intermediate half-marathon plan said "5 miles pace" on Saturday and "10 miles slow" on Sunday. Well, I did the 10 miles slow at Greenwich yesterday, but since Monday is a holiday I decided to leave the 5 miles pace run until then and did 3 leisurely laps of Crystal Palace Park this morning for a total of 5.76 miles.

Having said that, Crystal Palace is still a decent workout as the terrain is quite hilly and a good mixture of terrain underfoot. So not too "leisurely". Hopefully the hills will pay off when I do the - mostly flat - New Forest Half.

After a slow start I've still managed 69 miles in August so far, with another 5 to come tomorrow. So my total for the year now is 563 miles - which means I've completed 75% of my challenge - in 65% of the time.

Back on track

Still no scope to go running at lunchtimes during the week but instead I got out for a couple of early morning pre-work runs. It's a bit of a struggle getting out of bed an hour earlier on a workday, but it's worth it once I get running and I feel a lot more awake at work afterwards.

Yesterday I did 4 miles at Dulwich at my planned race pace (8:45 minute miles) for the upcoming half marathon, and today I did 4 and a half laps at Greenwich, so in terms of my race training I'm more or less back on track after a couple of weeks where I fell behind a bit.

Total for August is now 49.4 miles and for the year 543.4 miles.

Frustration

I started a new assignment at work on August 3rd. Although it's based at an office at London Bridge right next to the river, so far it's been too busy to be able to get out for any lunchtime runs. Also I was back in Edinburgh for the weekend and had friends visiting which cut down the running opportunities. So my mileage has dropped away significantly these last two weeks, which is frustrating.

I'm going to start getting up early a couple of days every week and going out for a local run before leaving for work. It'll help me keep up with the training schedule for the half-marathon next month.

So, a total of just under 30 miles so far in August, bringing my total for the year to 523 miles.

500 miles !

Passing 500 miles for 2010 means it's time for a musical interlude:

A good couple of weeks' running began with a few midweek and weekend trips to Dulwich where I carried on with my half-marathon training - including some 400 metre intervals - and then back to Edinburgh for a long weekend where I did three laps around Inverleith on Friday evening for 7 miles, and a couple of circuits of Arthur's Seat (with a stop in the middle when I caught up with Sophie and her parents) for 4.46 and 2.1 miles. Taking my total for July to nearly 79 miles. Four miles this lunchtime in Dulwich takes my total to 504.53 for the year.

Tomorrow I start a new assignment, which will make it more difficult to run at lunchtimes. So I might have to start being a bit more creative to keep up with my training plan.

Arthur's Seat

Back in Edinburgh for the weekend, preparing for the sale of my flat. A good opportunity to do some running in cooler weather than we've been having down south. Saturday I did 4 laps of my usual route around Inverleith, plus a little extra, for a total of 9.45 miles, and felt good - I could have happily continued but I had some chores to do.



Sunday I re-ran the route of the BUPA Great Winter Run, a 5km race around Arthur's Seat, the hill which dramatically overlooks Edinburgh city centre. The route follows a road which climbs around the hill for around a mile, levels out for around a mile, with fantastic views over the city, and then descends over the course of the third mile.





The hill isn't particularly steep but it's relentless, and it's generally pretty windy on top. So it's a nice wee run to waken you up on a Sunday morning. When I did the Great Winter Run - which isn't quite a full lap - I went round in 28 minutes 20. This time I did the full 3.25 miles in 31:08, so a bit slower, but I'll blame it on slowing down several times to take photos...













Last weekend we were in Hertfordshire and dodged the 30+ degree heat by getting up early to do a few laps of Fairlands Valley Park on the Saturday, and then had a leisurely run across the fields to Datchworth on Sunday. The intervening weeks have been a bit quiet on the running front due to work commitments, but I still totalled 46 miles for the two weeks. My total for the year is now 465 miles and I'm on schedule to exceed my 750 mile target comfortably.

Half-way

Half way through the year, and the challenge is going well - my total for the year now stands at 428 miles, well past the half-way mark in terms of distance.

This week wasn't such a productive week for running - I had a short notice request to go and work in Reading on an urgent project which meant no lunch-time running. So just a couple of runs at the weekend, but due to my inactivity during the week I felt like doing a longer run on Saturday, and in spite of the temperatures in the high 20s, managed 4.5 laps in Greenwich for 9 miles - my longest run since the Milton Keynes back in March. Today I felt a little stiff but ran a gentle 4 laps of Greenwich in rather cooler weather - still around 25 degrees but a nice cool breeze.

Tomorrow marks the "official" start of my training for the New Forest Half on 26th September. I'd like to break 2 hours this time (I aimed to do that at Milton Keynes but was scuppered by starting too fast and by the unexpectedly steep hill in the final mile). So I think I'm going to set 1:55 as my target. It's a tough target: 8:45 minute miles for 13.1 miles, and the website says the route is "undulating" - so I think I can do it if I train well.

Greek holidays, hot sun and a new running venue

Just back from 2 weeks' holiday on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, where the temperature started high and got higher, reaching 39 degrees at one point. So a good time to enjoy the delicious food, relaxation at the beach, floating and swimming in the Aegean and the hotel pool, and a bit of sightseeing around the island.

The temperature meant it wasn't great weather for running, and I originally didn't plan to do any at all, but we took our shoes and shorts along on the offchance and in the end we did 4 short runs, 2 at either end of the holiday when the temperatures were marginally cooler.

Running at a leisurely pace and in the early morning also helped, and running along a beautiful coastline with the prospect of fresh fruit, Greek yoghurt and honey for breakfast was a nice reward for toiling up the hills in the heat.

So around 12 unexpected Greek miles to add to the June miles total - which I'd expected to be rather modest due to the holidays.

Back home and the weather in the UK is pretty hot too, albeit not quite in the same league as Greece. Since getting back I've managed a couple of trips to Dulwich, doing 5 and 4 miles, and also a visit to Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage, a nice park with lots of scope for long runs alongside a couple of artificial lakes and through trees. It's a long thin park, split by a road, but a lap of the larger part of the park is around 2.5 miles, so it probably covers a similar area to Greenwich Park, and it's a lot quieter. There are some gentle hills too, although not quite in the Greenwich league.

But all in all a good venue for running when we visit Hertfordshire. On Saturday I did a couple of big laps and one smaller lap for a total of 5.9 miles. Just over 44 miles so far in June, with my total for the year now at 415 miles.

While I was on holiday I read a really inspiring book: Born to Run by Christopher MacDougall. It's a difficult book to categorise but at its heart the messages are clear: the human species originally survived, and then thrived, as a result of our ability to do endurance running; our bodies are capable of much more than we believe, as long as we eat well (avoiding processed food as much as possible), keep hydrated, and run easy - running is meant to be, and feel like, fun; and modern, expensive running shoes which provide a lot of support and cushioning and promote heel striking rather than forefoot running, actually cause, rather than prevent injury.

It's a book which taught me a lot and I'll be trying to put some of it in action from now on.

Since my last blog entry I've signed up for a few more races: I'm going to do the BUPA London 10000 again, in May 2011; I've signed up for the New Forest Half Marathon on 26th September this year and, next year, I'm going for the big one: 26 miles 385 yards at the Brighton Marathon on Sunday 10th April 2011.

Lots more about those in races in future blog entries....

Success !

Big success at the BUPA 10000 on Monday - I finished in 54:14, well ahead of my 55 minute target... 8m 44s per mile, and while it didn't feel easy it certainly felt a lot more comfortable than the first 2 10ks I did back in 2008.

The weather turned out to be perfect for running: cool and grey but not much wind. As with all BUPA races the start was really well-organised - I was in wave 4 out of 9 and having got there early I was right up at the front of my pen so got off to a nice clean start.

As usual a large proportion of people sprinted away at the start - not sure about the point of that unless you're elite - better to finish strong than start strong - but anyway, I went off comfortably and reached the 1km mark on Embankment in 5:49. As I started to warm up my pace picked up and I did 5:28 and 5:21 for the next 2km, putting me nicely on target for 55 minutes. The race leaders passed in the opposite direction at this point - fantastic pace they keep up and it's like watching a different sport when you see their leg extension and length of stride.

The course was basically very flat but the fourth km into the City contained the only real hill so my 4th km was a little slower at 5:32. The streets around the City were quite narrow and there were a few kerbs to watch out for and the enclosed spaces meant it started to get a litle hot, although they had showers set up around here which were welcome. I passed the half-way mark in 27:34, so still right on schedule.

Exactly 5:30 for km 6, and then a bit of downhill back onto Embankment, with kms 7 and 8 taking me 5:23 and 5:17. This stretch seemed to pass very slowly although it was probably worse for the people running the opposite way knowing they still had 8km to go.

The turn off Embankment onto Horse Guards was very welcome, especially as Sophie was waiting there to cheer me on, and the 9th km took me 5:18. Turning up Whitehall I knew I was on target for a good time and just tried to keep my pace up until the final turn into The Mall and under Admiralty Arch. The last 400 metres were a lot more comfortable than my previous two 10ks and I managed a little sprint to make my last 1km the fastest of the race in 5:16, bringing me home in 54:18 according to my watch, although the "official" chip time was 4 seconds quicker.

A really enjoyable run and a well-organised race - and thanks to generosity of my sponsors I raised over £200 for Cure Parkinson's Trust.

A big thank you also to Sophie for supporting and photographing me on the day - and for all the support she gives me the rest of the time.

So... back to the 750 mile challenge: my total for May was an excellent 80.31 miles, and three runs this week have taken my overall total past the half-way mark to 382.6 miles. So still ahead of schedule.

Two days to go

Did my last pre-10K run today.... a couple of laps of Greenwich. A cool, showery day, ideal for running, even more so since the rain (and the bank holiday weekend) seemed to have scared a lot of people away leaving the park much quieter than usual. Shame it looks like it's going to warm up for Monday's race but at 20 degrees it shouldn't be too bad to run in.

This is the uphill section of the lap around Greenwich. At one time running up it once was a struggle but these days three or four laps is pretty routine and it's a good workout which makes running faster on the level a lot easier.

Having a nice park to run in like Greenwich makes a big difference - a lot easier to get motivated to go out running, and keep running, than if I was pounding the pavements, having to dodge pedestrians, cross roads and breathe vehicle fumes.

So... the BUPA 10000 on Monday. As usual my first two goals are 1) to complete the course and

2) run all the way around. Assuming I can manage both of those, goal 3 is to beat my previous best 10k time (59:59 at Hampton Court Palace in 2008) and goal 4 is to beat 55 minutes, which means 8:53 miles or better. Let's see...

Total miles in May is now 74.1 miles and, for 2010, 364.8, so the 6.1 miles to come on Monday will take me almost to the halfway mark of the challenge, a whole month ahead of schedule.

Another marathon weekend

Back in Edinburgh for the weekend and it's marathon time here - Sunday morning echoing to the sound of starters guns going off for the various races which make up the Edinburgh Marathon festival. The marathon kicked off at 08:50 this morning so the "proper" runners will already have finished and the majority of the rest of the field are probably at the painful 20 mile mark.



The weather is absolutely glorious at the moment - 25 degrees yesterday and forecast for 22 or so today. Nice for a barbie in the park but not so good for distance running though and I imagine the first aid people at the marathon will be busy. Hopefully there's enough water to go round and people are sensible about their pace.





Anyway, my training for the BUPA 10000 next Monday has gone pretty well and I did my last "long" run today - just under 7 miles at a good pace of 9:07 per mile. I need to up that to 8:51 per mile if I'm going to reach my 55 minute target but I'm hoping the race day adrenalin will achieve that. Also I've been eating too much junk over the last few weeks so hopefully keeping an eye on my diet over the next week will help. And hopefully the weather will cool off a bit before then !



As for the 750 mile challenge, well, also going well. 64.45 miles so far in May, and a total of 355 miles for the year so far, so looks like I'll have reached half way by the end of May, which is great news. June is likely to be a lower mileage month however as I'm off on holiday for a couple of weeks - volcanic ash, forest fires and political instability permitting !

More sunshine on Inverleith

A very sunny weekend in Edinburgh and very nice conditions for running.

6.5 miles yesterday and 3.5 miles today, together with 11 miles in lunchtime runs at Dulwich, add up to 21 miles for the week, taking me comfortably past 300 miles for the year so far. At the current rate of progress I'll cruise past my 750 mile target and get to 900 miles by the end of the year.

Only 3 weeks until the BUPA 10000 now... this week I ran 6 laps of Dulwich in 55:33, so if I keep up the training I should have a good chance of beating 55 minutes on the day.

Marathon inspiration

Last Sunday I went to support my sister-in-law run in the London Marathon - she had a great run and went around in 4:26, a really excellent time, even better given it was her first attempt at the full distance.

I've been thinking of doing "the big one" for a while and I think watching all the thousands of weekend joggers like me last Sunday was probably enough to convince me to give it a shot. Not sure I'll sign up for London, since the crowds make it difficult to get a clear run a lot of the time. But on the other hand the atmosphere and the crowd's support were fantastic. I took several hundred photos...

Anyway, back in the here and now I had some good runs this week in Dulwich to finish April with a total of nearly 74 miles, including a very quick 5km on Thursday which I completed in 26:06, which bodes well for beating 55 minutes in the BUPA 10000 at the end of May.

And today to get May off to a positive start I did two-and-a-bit laps of Greenwich plus an extra bit for a total of 4.75 miles. It was nice to go back there after a week off (because of the marathon closing a few roads).

It's a great park to run in, some nice long, flat straights, together with a steepish hill to make you work a bit for your mileage. And it's a big enough park that even when it's busy it doesn't seem crowded. And today, maybe due to the bank holiday weekend, it was nice and quiet. Oh, and the views are great too !

Some hard yards at Crystal Palace

First trip of the year to Crystal Palace today - lots of roads closed at Greenwich due to tomorrow's London Marathon. I'd forgotten about the hills at Crystal Palace and went out a bit fast - so ended up doing 3 laps rather than 4, for a total of 5.5 miles. An hour long swimming lesson before my run probably didn't help. But the good news is my ankle's now pain-free.

And I've had a good week - 5 runs since Monday for a total of 21.5 miles at 9min 16 pace. Total for April is nearly 63 miles and for the year 279 miles.

Tomorrow: a day off running to go and watch the London Marathon and support my sister-in-law who is running for World Emergency Relief.

Sore ankle

Apparently the UK is covered by a cloud of ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano. It's causing a lot of worry for airlines and their passengers...

Ash cloud or no, the weather these last few days has been fantastic - warm spring sunshine, very little wind, and very comfortable temperatures. Very nice conditions for running.

Unfortunately I seem to have picked up some kind of ankle injury. Don't think it was caused by running since it doesn't hurt when I'm running or walking - but it is sore when I stretch or turn the wrong way.

Maybe it's just old age.

Anyway, injuries and ash clouds aside, I've had a good week's running - nearly 18 miles this week, including some intervals (8x400metres) on Wednesday. Oh and a swimming lesson as well.

Total distance for April is 41 miles so far, and for 2010, 258 miles - so I've now completed 1/3 of the challenge, ahead of time.

Spring sunshine

After a very long cold, winter it looks like spring might really be here... three days of bright sunshine, warm enough for t-shirts and shorts, well for running anyway.

Had a great Easter in Edinburgh - very relaxing - and didn't do a lot of running for various reasons. But this week has been more productive and I've clocked up 19 miles this week - 8 in Hyde Park during the week, 7 and a bit at Greenwich yesterday, and 4 laps of Dulwich today.

And I'll be working from home for the next week or two so will hopefully be able to get out more regularly at lunchtimes.

240 miles completed in the year to date - 510 to go. So still nicely on schedule.

Looking forward to the BUPA 10000 next month - I've got a plan together and will be trying to do a bit of speedwork to make sure I beat my target of 55 minutes.

Greenwich weekend

Two morning runs at Greenwich this weekend - 4 laps yesterday for 8 miles, and 1.5 laps today for 3.25 miles, bringing my total for the week to just over 18 miles and for March to just over 53 miles.

March was always likely to be a lower mileage month due to tapering for the MK Half, and having a bit of a rest afterwards. But overall I'm still ahead of schedule to comfortably beat 750 miles by the end of the year.

200 miles...

Back on track with 18 miles over the last week - two lunchtime Hyde Park laps, and a couple of runs in Edinburgh over the weekend.

My total for the year has just passed 200 miles - 202.75 to be exact. So 27% of my target completed in only 22% of the time. If I keep up my current rate of progress I'll run more than 900 miles in the year...!

Bupa London 10000

Just back from a week off running after the Milton Keynes Half. Nice to have a break and especially nice to enjoy a bottle of wine or two and not worry about feeling crap for the next day's run.

But I've signed up for another race - the BUPA London 10000 on Monday May 31st.

The route starts in St James Park and follows the Thames for 3km, takes a loop around the City of London for the next 4km, and then returns along Embankment finishing with a run up The Mall. It covers some of the route which the Olympic Marathon will follow in 2012.

I'm hoping to complete the course in 55 minutes - a little faster than 9 minute miles.

I'm going to be raising money for the Cure Parkinson's Trust and I've set up a fundraising page.

Looking forward to a good run and raising a tidy sum for the charity (and clocking up some more miles towards my 750 target for the year).

Milton Keynes...

Just back from a very sunny but cold Milton Keynes half marathon.

I finished in 2:04:20. A little disappointed as I'd hoped to break the 2 hour barrier, but still very pleased with how I ran, especially since the course, and especially the last mile, wasn't quite as "fast and flat" as promised in the pre-race publicity !

The rather cruel last mile apart, the course was actually very nice - a small section of running along closed off main roads for the first couple of miles, but after that the rest of the route was on cycle / foot paths which snaked their way around surprisingly pictureseque countryside, including a section around a lake which was really lovely.

The start was downhill and I missed the first mile marker - I'd intended to start slowly at around 9:30 miles but did the first 2 in 18 minutes and in spite of trying to slow down ran the next 2 in 18:06. However it all felt quite comfortable at that point but I'd probably taken a little more out of myself than I'd planned.

The next couple of miles were a little slower but I still passed the halfway mark in good time in exactly 1 hour. I averaged 9:30 for miles 8 to 11 meaning with a sprint finish I could still have got close to the 2 hour mark - but then the hills began: mile 12 took me 9:54 and I crawled up the mile towards the short finishing straight in 10:46. What felt like a sprint finish but when viewed on my parents-in-law's video afterwards looked like a very painful jog brought me home in 2 hours 4 minutes 20 seconds. Still a very respectable time for a first half-marathon.

Sophie had a great run and finished in 2 hours 16:35 - a personal best for her.

One lunchtime run this week together with the half-marathon added up to 17.1 miles for the week, and my total for the year is now 180.7