Still, that’s 160 days in the bag now. When I look at the numbers it’s an incentive to keep going, and thus far I’ve still managed to wear shorts for each and every run. That won’t last for much longer, though.

The last week’s splits (days 154 through 160):

I’ve continued to be a minimalist runner, often out of time restraints but mostly because the weather is pretty awful. It’s consistently in the low 40s now, often with icy rain, and the wind has been as much as 35mph, which makes for a really unpleasant workout. I’m getting slightly concerned about what I’m going to do if I wake up one day to a severe frost, or even snow. I think almost inevitably I’m going to have to finish some of this on a treadmill.

Still, it’s been enough to get me past the 600 mile point!

Sunday, October 26 through Saturday, November 1

Sunday, October 19 through Saturday, October 25 *

* There’s some overlap here with my previous update but rest assured I haven’t added the mileage to my total twice.

Since then, however, the weather has taken a turn for the worse and while it’s not winter yet - the temperate has typically been in the mid-to-low 50s each day - the wind has once again returned in force. Thursday’s forecast suggests it’s going to reach 35mph - wonderful!

I’ve also been having some problems with my Garmin watch - my laptop crashed on October 14 and I completely lost the data for that day. I knew approximately what I had done but there’s no official split there, which is quite irritating as I’ve got every day covered so far. I guess these things happen, but still: annoying. Since then, the connection between my Garmin and the antenna that links it to the laptop has been extremely flaky, refusing to work most days without endless reboots and stopping and re-starting of the software. I’m not sure what’s happened, to be honest.

Here are my splits since last time:

Today:

Yesterday:

Sunday, October 12 through Saturday, October 18:

Saturday, October 11:

Conversely, when the sun is very much with hat on, a 3-4 mile run becomes something to look forward to, as opposed to just another obstacle in your day.

Splits:

I also finally remembered to update my online running log.

Don’t worry, though - I’ve still been running every day. I just haven’t been blogging every day. I’ll be aiming to rectify that as soon as I get more settled. Right now, I’m finding myself somewhere between excitement and uncertainty over my new career venture, as there are still a few wrinkles there (some of them more like Grand Canyons) that need to be ironed out.

I’ve still been keeping my runs in the 20-30 minute window. Partly because of time restraints, partly because the weather has been, for the most part, really, really hideous in the UK of late, and partly because I’m still not ‘there’ mentally yet. Back there, that is. My motivation is better than it was 10 days ago, say - although when it was pouring with rain constantly last week I did struggle - but still a long way short of where it was in the middle of the summer. I’m confident it will eventually return, although I must admit that I’m not looking forward to taking on the winter weather. Unless it’s very mild - and my gut feeling says we have 3-4 months of wind and rain on the cards, so that seems unlikely - there’s a good chance I’ll end up doing a high percentage of my winter workouts on a treadmill.

Anyway, here are my splits for the past seven days:

Today (Thursday, October 9)

Yesterday (Wednesday, October 8 )

Tuesday, October 7

Monday, October 6

Sunday, October 5

Saturday, October 4

Friday, October 3

So, I decided to tackle some hills.

I don’t run many inclines, which is odd as it’s something I neither mind nor do I find enormously difficult. My biomechanics seem to adapt well to running uphill in particular. I’m less comfortable, perhaps oddly to non-runners, going down, certainly anything steep - it really can mash-up your quadriceps.

The hills in my hometown are notoriously steep and, indeed, plentiful - you’re really quite lucky to be finding yourself on any flat roads outside of the beachfront (which, naturally, is why it’s the running haunt of choice for most athletes) - so for probably 80% of my run I was going either up or down, usually on inclines or declines that were pretty severe. Still, it felt good and was one of the better runs I’ve had in recent times.

Splits:

This week is going to see my lowest mileage probably since my first week, but that’s okay - I definitely, absolutely and totally, without a shadow of a doubt, needed to take my foot off of the accelerator.

Don’t worry - I’ve been running every day, albeit in a very minimalist sense. My enthusiasm is yet to return, a circumstance not aided by some pretty nasty weather here in the UK. It’s sunny most days but the wind is getting up to the levels I had to endure a few weeks ago, and it’s all decidedly unpleasant.

I’m going to keep sticking to all doing these 20-30 minute runs until I feel motivated to push a bit further. Right now, anything much beyond that just doesn’t appeal. I’m usually squeezing my runs into my day as it is and while it’s always better when I get them done early, that isn’t always possible.

Anyway, here are the last four days worth of splits:

Today:

Yesterday (Tuesday, September 30)

Monday (September 29)

Sunday (September 28)

Well, I did just over three miles today, but that number became pretty important, as it moved me over the 500-mile total since all this began. That’s right - five hundred miles have now been logged in 118 days of running. That’s not too bad at all - it’s pretty quick, for starters, and all things being equal puts me above the 1500-mile mark when the full 365 days are complete.

My average for that 500, incidentally, is 8:04. It also means I’ve logged 400 miles or so with my Saucony trainers and they’ve definitely not got the support they had way back when.

It’s a nice slice of sunshine on an otherwise pretty miserable week.

Cheers for all your positive comments and well-wishes guys - means a lot. I’ll bounce back, because that’s what I do. But as a few of you have said, I definitely burnt myself out. In an ideal world, as Blaine suggested, I would take a day or two off, but that isn’t really going to work here. So it’s simply a question of getting back to basics and learning to enjoy my runs again. It’s definitely been better the last couple of days - getting out earlier has helped there a lot, but I’m going to think about some alternative run routes, too.

Today’s splits:

And running earlier in the day - even if it was still as late as 11:30am - gets it all done and dusted and stops life getting in the way from that point forward. From now on, wherever possible, I’m always going to try and get my run done as early as I can.

Splits:

I’m not somebody who throws in the towel easily, but as I said before looking back now this was a mistake. A big one. I simply wasn’t ready to move up to this level of mileage this quickly. One fifty-mile week - which I’ve just had - would have been fine. Two back-to-back, with everything else going on in my life right now, was quite a bit far short of clever. Even if everything else had been optimum, it would have been a bit of a stretch - as it is, the entire experience has left me feeling really lousy.

What was worrying me most was that two days ago I actually considered chucking it all in - that’s how bad I was feeling. Not just the mini-challenge - everything, the whole 365 days and all.

Something had to give - and it wasn’t going to be me.

I needed to get back to basics. I needed to remember what this was all about, when it all started, way back when. I needed to fall in love with running again.

So, it’s fairly clear that I’m going to fall a little short of my plan to run 100 miles in two weeks. I’m still going to log a reasonable number over this fortnight, and I’m pretty proud and happy of my first fifty-mile week that I just logged. But I need to get my priorities right. I need to get my head straight.

I’m in the process of not only changing jobs, but careers. Out with the old and in with the new. But with that comes great power and responsibility a lot of technical work (new email accounts, etc) and set-up (computers, accountants, salary stuff, blah blah blah). My days are getting eaten up. I want my run to be something that I not only look forward to, but a thing that frees me from the rest of the day. Not something that is as much of a burden with in it. In all honesty, and with no attempt to exaggerate or over-dramatise, it’s felt like a bit of a shackle this past week or so.

So, today, I took it right back to the start, and went out for a simple 20-minute run, trying to get a little speed back into my legs. Trying to feel good. Trying to get back how it used to feel.

Splits:

I’ll let you know if it’s worked in a couple of days. But I can tell you this much - knowing that I don’t have to run 8, 9 or 10 miles tomorrow feels pretty darn good right now.