Last night was a great gig in Hull: Beauty in the East.

So to keep it going I sorted a great playlist for this afternoon’s run, Paul Heaton all the way. Had a bit of Housemartins, The Beautiful South and some Heaton and Abbot, 

The run itself was a gentle jog around the woods, taking in the pond so that the dog could take a dip: 3.2 miles.

It’s been a good week all in all, I’ve run 6 of the 7 days. Just about on target for the 1000 miles this year: 420 miles done.

Total Juneathon mileage: 13.8 

It’s a Saturday, so of course, today’s run was Parkrun: Rutland Water Parkrun. 

I’m a big fan of Parkrun, I love the whole ethos of it. The free timed run, the community feel, the fact that so many fabulous volunteers get out there every week to ensure it happens. In fact, I’ve even put my name down to a bit of marshalling. 

Recently, Parkrun has been about plodding around at a steady pace; today was very different. 

A challenge had been thrown down: Mr Dave Marples was in town. I was now involved in the biggest head-to-head in recent history. Bigger than David and Goliath. Bigger than St George and the dragon. Bigger even than May and Corbyn. 

Dave’s underhand tactics were clear from the off. He arrives 1 minute before the off, in an attempt to rattle me. He was no doubt warming up and stretching out of sight, or more likely probably popping banned high performance pills.

At halfway we were still neck and neck, a pretty good sub 7.45min/mile pace, but things were starting to hurt. Turning into a head wind didn’t help, cue Dave’s sneaky drafting tactic. Even my constant weaving couldn’t shake him off my tail. He was following closer than a fat kid following an ice cream van. Like a fart in a Russian space station, I couldn’t escape his clutches.

A breathless few words between us with 500 metres to go proved to be pivotal, it went something like this:

Me: Not sure I can up the pace.

Dave: Me neither.

My tactics had worked. It had lulled him into a false sense of security. I pounced on Dave’s momentary lapse of concentration. I was gone. Like a rat up a drainpipe. 

Powering the last 100m meant I came away with a MASSIVE 6 second victory. It was hard work, very hard work, I even managed to avoid throwing up over the timekeeper on the line. Result. 

Congratulations to Mr Dave Marples on a good time. Rematch is going to be big. 

Total Juneathon mileage: 10.6

Who would have thought that day 2 would be so difficult. Physically, emotionally and spiritually. 

It was tough. I had to be strong. I had to be patient. It had been over a year since I’ve had a session like this. I was a mess; bits were dropping off me. At times I was a complete state. Left. Right. Forward. Back. Up. Down. At times I had to look very hard at myself. Tell myself over and over again that everything was going to be alright. Trust in the session. But I couldn’t help but question myself. Should I be doing this? Was this the right thing to do? What was going to be the outcome? It felt strange. Completely different than what I’ve been used to. But after 35 intense minutes I was finished.

My hair had been cut.

As for today’s run…2.5 miles in the woods with the dog.

Total Janathon mileage = 7.5

Here we go again. Juneathon: the challenge to run every day of June AND blog about it. 

I’ve been pretty busy recently with one thing and another, so the month of June has somewhat snuck up on me. In fact, although I knew it was 1st June, it was only when I was giving Facebook a cursory glance that I actually realised that it meant Juneathon was upon us once more. 

I’m feeling confident this time round, not based on any prior attempts, normally come 17 or 18 days into the month I’ve had enough. It’s just that this year is different: I’m attempting to run 1000 miles. So I’m already running quite a lot. Having said that, running ‘quite a lot’ is very different to running every day. In my head, Juneathon has come at just the right time, a bit of extra motivation to crack on and break the 1000 miles. 

I’m on 411 miles so far this year, which if you work out the average mileage, 2.75 miles,  you should do each day, and times that by 152 (the number of days we have had so far this year) you’d realise that I am 7 miles behind where I should be. You’d also clearly realise that I have become somewhat obsessed with the numbers. 

Anyway, moving on, today’s run was a hot sweaty 5 miles around the trails of Bourne Woods. 

Wish me luck on the rest of month.

Today’s mileage = 5

We signed up for this run bloody ages ago, and it would appear that it is suddenly less than a week away. In fact, the lovely people at Trail Outlaws have a handy countdown on their website, just in case you’re not quite nervous enough. This is what it looked like this morning:

If you know nothing of the Dark Skies Run Kielder, then let me explain:

• 26.5 miles (don’t even bother asking about the distance – no idea what it’s not the regular marathon distance)
• It is a trail race, run around a big lake, starting early evening and running in the dark. 
• It is held at Kielder Water & Forest Park. Kielder was given ‘Dark Park Sky’ status in 2013 – making it the perfect venue for the ultimate star lit running challenge (don’t bother asking me to explain – something about the lack of light pollution)
• There is mandatory kit you need to have with you: whistle, headtorch (with spare batteries), foil blanket, hats and gloves, waterproof jacket, water, emergency food and fully charged phone. Oh, I nearly forgot, and a freaking trailer to put it all in and pull along behind you.
• I think it may have some ‘hills’. After doing a trawl of the internet I found one lovely person describe it as, ‘certainly undulating’. The official numbers…

I’ve even had to buy a running back pack. Still to actually attempt running with it on. That may well be a job this week: get to the woods one evening and have a go. 

A group of five of us are running it, well when I saying running, it might be walking, walking/running, we don’t have a definitive plan yet. Run our own race? Stay together for a bit? Stay together the whole way? Still to be decided. Whatever happens it’s definitely going to be an experience. 

Wish me luck.

Managed a 17 day run streak. Then made a conscious decision, thanks in part to a parents’ evening, to throw in the towel. 

My 17 day run streak was then promptly followed by 3 days of non-running. It felt good.

Back on it tomorrow: parkrun.