365 days, 1016 miles...

So, a year of running is over.

After crossing the 1000 mile line a couple of weeks ago I had a full week off running in the week before Christmas, and then clocked up a few leisurely miles in an unusually mild and briefly dry Glasgow on Boxing Day.

A few laps of Dulwich Park on the 29th helped to loosen up the knees after 8 hours in the car driving back from Scotland, and then a lap of the lanes of North Hertfordshire yesterday brought my total up to 1011 miles.

Then today I did a couple of laps of Fairlands Valley Park in Stevenage, plus a little extra, to take the run over 5 miles and my total for the year to 1016.03 miles.

Before a rundown of the stats for the year, I want to say a big thankyou to my wife Sophie who, as well as tolerating my running obsession has also probably run at least 800 miles herself this year, ran with me in the Brighton marathon and the New Forest Half, and supported me and took photographs at the other races.

Thankyou also to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Phil and Sally, for all your encouragement and support, and well done to you too for completing your own marathons this year.

Thirdly, a big thank you to Michaela at Practical Action and Ceris at CLIC Sargent for your support, encouragement and T-shirts - and in particular to Michaela for the place in the Royal Parks Half and the great support before, during and after the race.

Fourthly, thanks to my brother for running with me in 10ks in Glasgow and London - look forward to doing the BUPA London 10000 with you in 2012 !

And lastly, but by no means least, thank you to all of the people who have sponsored me this year - with your help I've raised more than £1900 to date for the charities. They, and I, greatly appreciate your support.

And now - for the stats:

Total miles: 1016.03 (2010: 829.29)

Number of runs: 182 (2010: 168)

Average run distance: 5.58 miles (2010: 4.97 miles)

Average miles per day: 2.78 miles (2010: 2.27 miles)

Total time running: 6 days, 17 hours, 43 minutes, 21 seconds (2010: 5 days, 13 hours, 32 minutes, 43 seconds)

Average time per mile: 9 minutes 33 seconds (2010: 9 minutes 40 seconds)

Longest run: 20.01 miles* (2010: 13.1 miles)

Runs of 5km or longer: 172

Runs of 10km or longer: 49

Runs of 10 miles or longer: 18

Runs of 13.1 miles or longer: 8

Runs in Dulwich Park: 60

Runs in Greenwich Park: 31

(* the more diligent blog readers will remember I didn't run the entire distance at the Brighton marathon so my longest run was the 20 mile training run a couple of weeks beforehand)

And a few charts:

What next ? Well, I've signed up for the BUPA London 10000 next year. But no other plans yet. I might do one or two other races later in the year, but I think I'll have a year off from big mileage targets and charity fundraising. And then I might have a go at another marathon in 2013. 

But, for the moment, that's all. Thanks for reading!

Success !

8.5 chilly miles in Greenwich on Saturday and seven laps of Dulwich today brought my total for the year to 1000.14 miles.

Longer post to follow soon.

Some Asia miles

Back from a week's holiday in a sunny but cool Hong Kong and a total of 15 miles run along the harbourfront.

The crowds of Chinese tourists surrounding the statue of Bruce Lee constitute a bit of an obstacle course for runners, but otherwise it's a real pleasure to run there with the spectacular views of the island, the skyscrapers and the mountains behind, and the constant movement of Star ferries and container ships across the harbour.

Those miles took my total for the year to 972.5 miles, and three lunchtime runs back in chilly London brings my total to 984.29 miles - less than 16 to go to reach my target.

It's possible I could reach the target this weekend with a couple of lengthy runs, but most likely I will have 3 or 4 miles left and cross the "finish line" early next week.

(Very) quick update

So... not a lot of running last week, due to a cold which disappeared quite quickly but then made a comeback and lingered for a few days. However, I felt better by the end of the week and got out at the weekend to clock up 12.5 miles in Dulwich and Greenwich, bringing my total for November to a healthy 84.6 miles.

This week I've fitted in three lunchtime runs for 13.5 miles, bringing my total up to 957.51 miles. So only 42.5 miles to go with 30 days left.

We're off on holiday for the next week and, although I'm taking my running shoes, I'll only be doing a few short runs. So I'm expecting to have 30 miles to complete from 12th December. Which, all being well, I should still manage to fit in before going home for Christmas.

Fog, colds and Movember

Like most of the rest of the UK it seems, I've had a cold for the last couple of weeks - which has curtailed my running a bit. I thought I'd got rid of it but it seems to have made a return and is still lingering in spite of all the fruit eating, vitamin C tablets and hot lemon and honey drinks. Hopefully I'll shake it off soon.

Last weekend I went to Greenwich for my regular Saturday "long slow run" to discover a 10km race was underway as part of Movember - the annual moustache-growing extravaganza to raise funds for men's cancer charities. Lots of the runners had entered into the spirit with plenty of moustaches, real and painted, on display on men and women alike. It was a good natured event with plenty of banter between the runners, stewards and passers-by. Even the "come on come on woman", a regular Greenwich visitor, helpfully pointed out to me that I was "running the wrong way!" as I passed the runners on my anti-clockwise lap.

I completed four full laps and a smaller one for a total of 9 miles, and ran down the "finish straight" the wrong way as the organisers were dismantling the race tents etc.

Work is pretty busy at the moment so I haven't been able to get out at lunchtime as much as I'd hope but I managed a couple of 4 mile runs along the Thames on Tuesday and Thursday this week. The weather has been great for running lately - mild, clear and dry. If only there were more marathons and half-marathons in November !

Bit of a late start yesterday so we went to Dulwich and did a few laps just before lunchtime, but made up for it this morning with another trip to Greenwich, where I did three full laps and one smaller one for a total of 8 miles. It was a cold, foggy start and while the sun was doing its best to break through it never quite managed, making for a rather strange, and chilly, running experience.

So the challenge-o-meter now shows a total of 928 miles. 72 miles to go, in 35 days if I'm going to finish before Christmas. Soon I'll have to start thinking about how I'm going to celebrate the end of the challenge - I think eating and drinking is going to feature quite heavily.

Approaching the final straight

It might seem odd to be talking about "approaching the finish line" when I still have 115 miles to run. But in a 1000 mile "race" it's the equivalent of passing the "3 miles to go" sign in a marathon. Which makes it seem a lot closer. Although fortunately I don't feel as knackered as I did when I reached the "3 miles to go" sign in an actual marathon back in April.

And at the current rate of progress my "challengeometer" says I should complete 1000 miles by 14th December. Which would be good since I don't really want to be out clocking up miles over the Christmas holidays. After 1000 miles and a year's worth of denial (not much alcohol, not many late nights, not much lardy food) it will be nice to just relax and put my feet up for a while. Also, if last winter is any guide, we might have a cold, snowy snap before Christmas, and while it's possible to run in the snow, and I did plenty of it last year, I'd rather not.

Actually I'm quite enjoying running without a training plan, now that I don't have any more races planned. No tempo runs, no intervals, no race pace runs, just gentle jogging and plenty of scope to enjoy the scenery. My four laps around Greenwich today were a real pleasure in fact - a cool cloudy day, a nice empty park (seemed like most folks were at home or preparing for Bonfire night) and, now that the trees in the park have lost most of their leaves, great, open views.

It was also a day of polite, friendly, people holding gates open for me - a spate of them in fact, including one other runner who waited quite a while for me to reach the gate, and an older couple who said to each other "hold on, we should let the athlete through". Not sure who they were referring to, perhaps someone behind me :-)

Tomorrow it'll be off to Dulwich Park for a few more laps.

Earlier in the week I completed my 150th run and my total for the year now stands at 885 miles. Not far now. Just the equivalent of running from my house to Bath. Fortunately not without stopping.

Quick update

A good week of running - couple of lunchtime runs along the Thames, a very comfortable 3 laps around Fairlands Valley Park for 7 miles on a beautiful cool sunny morning yesterday, and 4 miles around rural Hertfordshire this morning (the highlight of which was a couple of families out for a walk doing a Mexican wave for me as I ran past them).

Bringing my total for the week to 18 miles and for the year: 851.84 miles.