Yesterday, I finally made good on a long(ish)-term goal and ran through the countryside to a village that sits a little over 26.2 miles away from me. It was awesome. Ok, maybe not that awesome, but I did it.

Bearing in mind I'd been out for a small party the night before and woke up marginally hungover at about 8.30, by 12.00 I'd flushed a few pints of water through myself and was ready to run. A lot of my running so far has involved a certain amount of reading and research (a good deal of it with you fine chaps), but a whole lot of just making mistakes for myself and figuring it out as I go. This was never going to be anything different - starting from the basics up, I made sure I was carrying enough water, enough food (but not so much as to shred up my insides), I taped up my nipples (properly this time) and made sure I was layered enough for the bitter cold... all lessons I'd learned previously.

Lessons I was to learn on this run: However much you plan a route, it's difficult to tell whether a mapped 'road' actually leads through an impassable private farm, forcing you to add a few km to the journey. A shorter route will often turn out to be a muddy, rocky, steep incline that leaves you wishing for the longer, paved option. Some farm dogs are not friendly and will chase you a long way; being chased by a farm dog is a great adrenalin boost when you're starting to flag. You can never wear too many layers in early December.

Luckily, I also learned that I can run a marathon distance on my own as a training run. I learned that as long as I run, eat and drink right, I can do it and feel reasonably ok the day after; I also learned a bit more about what my own determination can make me do, which was kind of cool.

Although the first 10km or so were pretty flat, the rest of the route was nothing but hills and mud - including, apparently, two category five climbs. I got to the end in about 4:45, having anticipated about 4:30. On that note, this was also the first time that I'd been out running on my own for that long - weirdly, it didn't feel like a long time at all; there was always something to keep me in the moment. How very zen.

Anyhows, so that was my first marathon-length run. Eh, onwards and upwards!

- Ben

To get the negative stuff out the way in the first line, I can't do either of the two races I was signed up for this month and I'm gutted. A miscommunication with my friend about transport for one and a trip to see my brother on the weekend of the other has left me at a bit of a loose end.

But, onwards and upwards - I've been doing a lot of good running over the last couple of weeks. At this time of year, running after work means running in the dark; luckily, there are a lot of small country roads around where I live, so I can often find roads where cars are pretty uncommon. I'm starting to enjoy running in the dark a lot more now (not that I ever disliked it) - I think this is maybe because I've had so many good times involving some aspect of wandering around in the dark, but that's a more philosophical discussion best reserved for the inside of my head at around mile 10.

Instead of racing yesterday, I plotted out and ran a course of about 28km around the local area. Any kind of run around home is going to include a fair number of hills and this one was no different - apparently it included two category 5s and a category 4 - but I had a really good run of it. I think it took me just shy of three hours, which was pretty much what I was aiming for and apart from one climb towards the end that absolutely destroyed me, I managed to keep a pretty even 12km/h pace. Ooh, I've also found out how far I can run without needing to tape up my nipples too. Well, I've got a pretty good idea, at least - it's definitely less than 28km.

Overall, though, I feel like I'm getting stronger and better each time out. I've started paying a bit more attention to my diet (but not going crazy) and I feel like I've got more energy for it, but we'll see how that works out. I think I'm also getting a better handle on fuelling around and during longer runs, which is nice if only in that it seems to be offsetting any major toilet issues afterwards.

Right, next weekend I'll be running around Bristol (instead of racing), so I'll be trying to persuade my brother that we might be able to go for a 10+ miler...

- Ben

Things have been kind of quiet on the running front for me for the last two or three weeks since I've been resting to shake off a couple of niggling injuries. Last week I was strong and secure enough to go out again, though, for a good couple of 5-10km trips before a great off-road race yesterday.

I didn't have any real worries going into the race, since what running I had done the week before had felt great. It did make me realise, however, how much my fitness had been affected for having a forced break. The race route itself was just over 7.6 miles of real muddy, hilly 'multiple terrain' and at around the 2-mile mark, there was a good steep uphill climb through a field. I'd run the first section pretty strongly up to there without really holding back, so I attacked it how I would have tackled a similar incline previously. Unfortunately, my body was having none of it and that hill pretty much took it out of me - I had to take a moment at the top (I realise this is sounding a bit melodramatic for what was quite a short-distance race) before continuing and it wasn't until around the halfway mark that I had chance to fully find my rhythm again.

The plus sides of the race: I ran (for the most part) more confidently than I have in ages. I found I could tackle some pretty uneven terrain without too much trouble or loss of speed (I've invested in a pair of aggressively-treaded Vibrams, which worked perfectly in the race conditions). I also comfortably explored some of my 'layers of effort' that I dug down to for the last two miles or so.

I'm also feeling fairly strong today - no real aches in my legs or feet, so hopefully I should be able to actually get on and get my fitness back up to scratch quickly (in hindsight, I should have been doing some rowing or something to keep my fitness up while I couldn't run, but it weirdly didn't cross my mind).

In terms of time, I finished in 59:08, 39th out of 128 finishers, which I was very happy with (especially considering the problems I had). I recorded the route as I ran and I discovered that my pace was around a pretty much consistent 12km/h for the whole route - uphills, downhills, on/off-road, the works. Is this good? Bad? Weird? Should I be trying to vary my pace to use the terrain more efficiently, or should I be aiming to keep my pace this constant? Who knows? I'll definitely be trying it out over a few more off-road races soon; getting muddy is fun.

- Ben

Yesterday I ran the Bristol Half Marathon, after a few weeks of niggling, persisting injuries and frustration at being unable to run for any length of time.

Because I'd been having some problems with shin splints, I've spent the last couple of weeks working on my legs in the gym, with the idea of strengthening up the rest of the supporting muscles. I think it paid off - during the couple of runs I managed last week (the first after about two weeks of no running at all), I felt really strong and felt like I had a good, easy technique down. This may have had some kind of psychological connection to the amount of reading and general thinking about running I'd been doing while I couldn't actually get out to do it.

On the day, I ran with my brother (who doesn't run really very much) and neither of us had any specific time goals in mind; we just wanted to finish the race without keeling over! Joe lives in Bristol, so we just walked down to the start line from his apartment with his keys and a tenner tucked into the belt of my shorts. I realise this next sentence might sound incredibly pretentious, but: I got a weird kind of satisfaction that we ran the race with minimal baggage, surrounded by a crowd of people with heart rate monitors, water belts and Kinesio tape... I know all of this stuff has its place, it was just nice that we ran like it was any other Sunday run that I'd do at home (although a lot flatter!).

When we run together, my brother and I both run slightly faster than we would do alone - probably a slight brotherly rivalry, I guess - so we really tried to restrain ourselves pace-wise for the first few miles. Obviously, with it being a fairly large race, we spent a bit of time turning up the heat to get past slower runners by hopping up and down pavements etc., but generally we tried to conserve as much as possible. We got to the halfway split with a time on the big LED clock of just on one hour, so in pretty much the only race-tactics move of the day, we figured we should get a shimmy on for the second half. The majority of the course was pretty flat, so we didn't have to consider pacing on inclines, which helped.

When we got to the last three miles or so, Joe (who'd been struggling with his own calf injury recently), really started to flag and need a bit more encouragement to keep going. I stuck with him and the race switched from us laughing and joking along the way to a steady stream of 'come on mate, not far now' and 'you've got this'; it got to the point at the finish line where I felt like although we crossed the line together, he'd run a much harder race. We crossed the line at just over two hours, cementing our big rookie mistake that had started at the halfway point - because of the number of runners, we'd crossed the start line about ten minutes after the clocks had started, making our actual time 1:51:20.

I'm dead happy with this. A couple of people have asked whether I think I could have run it faster without running it with Joe (I was feeling good and strong right to the end), but the answer is that I don't know - although the last part of the race was definitely slower because of his injury, I might not have paced myself as quickly for the first part had he not been there. I'm glad to have finished my first competitive race in a respectable time (I think); I'm also glad that I feel pretty much ok today, apart from some tightness around my ankles - I might have mentioned this before, but I've definitely noticed that running in the Fivefingers, I don't really get any leg trouble from my knees upwards any more.

Now, it's onwards and upwards. I've entered for a shorter, off-road race at the end of this month and will be entering for at least more half marathons in the coming months, while I carry on running further than that around home - this is for enjoyment, rather than competition, after all :)

- Ben

Shin splints in my left leg, sniffly nose and sore throat. No running. Not happy - and dosed to the eyeballs on anti-inflammatories and cold compresses. Ugh. Check back next week.

- Ben

I've taken a pasting this week. I took a week out to go to Reading Festival over last weekend and through a combination of too much drinking and partying, boy did I feel it when I came to run home on Thursday. I think I'd even picked up a small bug, just to add that into the mix, but I still ended up having a pretty decent run - I think mainly because I tried setting myself a strict cadence to work to.

I got hold of a metronome app for my phone, turned it up loud at 182bpm and carried that with me. It was strange at first and definitely made me realise that my cadence has been slightly too slow previously; at first it was a bit of a struggle to rein my stride length in to keep a reasonably slow pace (considering how difficult it was feeling to run at all!), but eventually I clicked into it and had a surprisingly good time of it - this was running 10km on a pretty flat route.

Then, today, my brother and I set out for a hilly 20km in kind of over-preparation for the half we're running at the end of the month. We're thinking if we throw in a good few hilly routes as well as having a session along the actual route next weekend, we should be more than prepared for what is quite a flat course.

In spite of my continued and fantastically in-denial 'I'm not a runner' stance, I went and upgraded my bum-bag to a Camelbak-style backpack for longer routes and tried it out today - well worth the investment, even if it does make me feel like I'm starting to take this a bit more seriously... 

- Ben

Night-time running rules. On Saturday night/early Sunday morning, I went for my second night-time run, this time with my brother. He's only just starting to run longer distances, but he's definitely got the right attitude - I guess that's more important when I need to persuade him that a 3am start for a 30km run to the beach and back might be fun.

After loading up on coffee and toast, we set out along the same route that I went on my last night-time jaunt; past the clubs as they were kicking out and along a flat first 10km following a nearby river. I'm still focusing on keeping a good upright posture, as well as (following discussions on here last week) keeping a slightly quicker cadence than previously; even though this meant I was keeping an eye on my form the whole way, it was so much better (compared to last time) having someone to talk to and keep pace with.

I was a bit worried that my brother wouldn't 'get it' when we got to the beach, but as we got there with the sun just rising, he started mentioning how awesome the view was and how tranquil it all felt - mission accomplished. He often complains that he gets bored while out running any kind of distance, so I want to try and get him to find reasons to do it and I think this outing might have given him an idea. You never know.

We ran back along pretty-much deserted roads (pulling the Mo-Bot for any surfers that were driving past at that time of day) and clocked the place where we passed 13 miles - with an eye on the half marathon at the end of September. After we eventually made it home, we pretty much spent the day chowing down on replacement calories and stretching out so that we weren't both completely useless the next day.

For my own part, I was very happy with how I ran. To echo what I said last week, I think I'm starting to get it a lot more naturally now, which is nice. I'm looking forward to the point where it becomes natural enough that I don't have to even think about it any more, but step by step I guess. I was especially pleased that this 30km trip came after a week that saw a flat 10km and another hilly 13km. Who needs rest weeks? :)

- Ben

My brother, as we'd just run up from the beach to see the mist sitting on the dunes.

Today is a good day. I've been out for about a week with some tendonitis on the top of my right foot, but yesterday was the first day with no pain and so today was the first day out running. I went out for a hilly 10k (apparently with a category 4 and category 5 climb thrown in, but who's counting?) and I got it.

Since I haven't been able to go out, you know, actually running this week, I've been thinking a lot about it. Watching technique videos, reading all of you lovely people's thoughts and activities, mentally going through drills that I want to try, soaking it up (I'm still not a serious runner though, ok?). 

I hit the road and although I started out treading carefully on my right foot, watching out for any hint of tendon pain (I'd decided I'd stop the minute I got any - I'm not sitting out another week), I was pleasantly surprised and seemed to be running stronger than I was at the end of last week. My confidence boosted, I shoved my hands around the back of my head, as I think Eric mentioned somewhere on the site recently, and got myself into a good, upright stance. I've been doing a bit more core work in the gym lately and running like this I felt, I dunno... solid, I guess. I got myself used to that position for a few minutes and then managed to carry it through with my arms back in a regular position - and it felt good.

The same thing happened when I shifted my attention to making sure I was 'running with my groin'. I'm fairly sure my knee-lift's been ok up to now, but focusing on this really made it happen with a lot less direct effort and concentration (I hope that makes sense). This worked especially well on a couple of the long uphills in the first half of the route, even if I did have to pull myself up a couple of times and remind myself of my posture. On steeper climbs in the past, I've almost felt like I was running with my shoulders too much (picture a computer game character climbing a ladder), but today my upper-body stance stayed pretty constant across the different inclines.

Then, at around the 5km mark, the 'getting it' happened. Everything clicked into place - I suddenly realised I was in a good, strong, upright stance; my breathing was controlled and regular; I nailed a good cadence and I was definitely driving from my hips. Totally in the zone. I'm not sure I'll be taking a week off from running intentionally any time soon, but I read somewhere that mentally practicing, running through drills etc, can be as effective as physical practice - it definitely seems like there's some truth in this.

Aaand, in other news, I've entered my first competitive race. It's a half at the end of September and I cannot wait.

- Ben

So, is anyone else enjoying the chance to watch how a load of other people run, watching the Olympic marathon?

Since the last time I wrote a blog post, I've luckily managed to avoid destroying my big toe from it dragging underneath my foot (any tips on any specific thing I might be able to do to avoid that would still be very appreciated!) and gradually been creating more consistency in the distances I'm running each week. I'm now running around 30km most Sundays, with a couple of 10km runs normally thrown in during the week - is it bad that I've kind of stopped enjoying (and therefore setting out to run) shorter distances? I'm wondering if it's maybe because I don't properly settle into my pace until around the 5km mark, so for shorter runs I feel as though I'm stopping before I've properly started... I don't know whether that's something I can work on or not.

I haven't done any more night running since the beach jaunt I wrote about last time, but I've managed to find a few really nice routes of a similar sort of distance - it's strange, but I feel like I'm now seeing routes that were there all along, but have only just 'opened up' to me, as if I now subconsciously know I'm equipped physically and mentally to take them on. Maybe. That seems a bit deep for a Sunday morning...

A Sunday morning where I'm laid up staring at my feet hanging over the edge of the sofa, waiting not-so-patiently for some tendon pain in the top of my right foot to abate. I tried a bit too much of a sprint finish to the 10km home from work in the middle of last week and although I'm not certain, I think that was probably what knackered it. It's similar to the tendon pain I wrote about way back in the mists of time (one that I haven't experienced since then until now), so this time I've been straight on the ice and proper rest to see how quickly I can get ready to get back out again.

Hey, at least there's some of that Olympic action to inspire a speedy recovery :)

- Ben

One quite nice running experience this week - yesterday I decided (sort of spur of the moment) to take a run out early this morning. I wanted to go along the first section of last week's route to one of the nearby beaches in time to catch the sunrise, again in the kind of vein of 'something to do and running is how I'm going to get there'.

It meant leaving the house at around 3.30am (after only eventually getting to bed at around 11.30), fuelled up by some wicked-strong coffee and a few slices of toast. It was a major, major psychological effort to get out of the house as my flatmate was returning from the same night out I'd joined him on a few hours earlier, but I eventually got started out.

It was the first time I'd run in the dark and it was quite interesting to be constantly running into a small pool of light from the torch; I found I couldn't switch off at all, I was constantly focused on my running form (slower and more cautious than usual) and it was an hour and a half to the beach that was split up into every individual second spent thinking about what I was doing.

It was great to finally arrive at the beach with perfect timing for the sunrise (I'm coming to anticipate my pace a bit better), then the run from there back to home along one of the routes through the hills was amazing - definitely one of the most tranquil experiences I've had out running. I eventually got back home at around 7.30 and promptly fell back to sleep pretty much straight away :)

The only thing that wasn't so great about this run was that I repeated an injury I occasionally experience - in my FiveFingers I sometimes catch the top of my left big toe on the ground, dragging it under and over-extending the knuckle. It's only been really serious once (turning my toe an attractive shade of purple and causing a fair amount of pain for about a week afterwards), but when it happens it often knackers my form and confidence for the rest of the run. I'm pretty sure the answer is just that I'm occasionally not lifting my left foot as much as my right, but if anyone out there has any further insight, then it'd be very much appreciated!

Anyway, now on to figuring out the next place-to-go-while-running :)

- Ben

I think it's been a pretty good week for my running this last week. I managed to give myself a couple of days' rest (in the face of some suprisingly tough temptation) after the last blog post and felt good for it, so that the regular 10k run home felt a lot fresher than it has before - both in terms of fitness and attitude. Maybe there is something to the whole mental and physical rest idea :)

Mid-week a friend of mine suggested visiting one of the beaches a little further up the coast from where I live for their annual charity sandcastle competition; it's always a good day out and when she mentioned it, out of nowhere I decided I was going to run there. I then spent the next few days labouriously figuring out a safe route to get me there (using a fair bit of the local coastal path, since there are some pretty sketchy blind corners on some of the tighter roads around), looking at elevations and trying to get an idea of timing so that I'd arrive around when my friend did.

I'd like to mention at this point that this is the most effort and preparation I've ever put into a run, ever.

Armed with a total route that worked out at around 28km inputted into my phone and a bag stashed full of clean clothes and some supplies left with my friend, I set out at around 9.30am. It was the first time I've had to really think about pacing - the first nine or so kilometres were along my route to work, so there were times when it was all too easy for my legs to start assuming we were only going to be going about 10km total, but I think I kept a pretty good handle on it. My phone's GPS gave out at around the 9km mark, so from there on in I was relying on what I remembered of the route (and my own knowledge of the area) - this kind of worked out though, as it immediately started to feel less like I was doing The Run and more like I was just out exploring on foot.

I took a slightly wrong turn on a local golf course that backs onto a long beach, meaning that I added around 2km to the total journey, and there were a couple of points on the coastal path so muddy and on such a steep descent that I was practically sliding down them on my backside. I got to around the 20km mark before I started to really feel it (coincidentally at the point where I had to climb the last point on the coast, round into my destination), but I actually got a weird sense of satisfaction from the guys I passed on the way up the footpath encouraging me with semi-sarcastic 'keep going buddy's - since I think I'd probably come further than they might have imagined. The last 5km or so were all downhill from the point to the beach, but then the beach is around another 2.5km long to get to where the sandcastle competition was being held (and being able to see the other end of the beach in the distance, apparently never getting any closer, was pretty tough).

It turns out I'd been pretty close with my guess of how long it'd take - I arrived in around 3hrs25, just in time to be met by my friend. Who'd forgotten the bag of gear.

So, I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now - I know I can at least tackle running for about two hours more than I have before (and over pretty horrendous terrain, at that) without being in too much of a state afterwards. I'm going to try and find some more similar-length routes around the area, to go and do some more exploring.

- Ben

P.S. If anyone's interested, the route I ran goes from Barnstaple in the UK, up around the coast to the North, along Saunton beach, across Croyde beach, then round the point to the far end of Woolacombe beach.

This running malarkey is getting larger claws into me and I feel like I need to maybe be careful about what I'm trying to do - in the last few days I've run 10k up a 629-foot hill and back down again because I was bored between work and going out for drinks, then the same route again just to show my friend the view, then 15k along god-knows-how-many hills to get to the next town over to go for a cheeseburger (the shop was closed), then another quick jaunt around town tonight to work out a little stiffness... 

I need to not go running tomorrow.

For someone who still considers running something that I am not going to get 'super serious' about, I also surprised myself by buying a bit of kit to actually help with it - a lowly £3 bumbag. This meant that the 15k outing was also the first time that I'd eaten while out running (bumbag-fresh jellybeans at around the 10k mark) and it was fantastic - I actually felt a real difference for having the sugar and had a very smooth final 5km afterwards (I realise that 'eating is kind of good' is sort of an obvious point).

I guess we'll see what happens from here - I think the next lesson I'll learn (pretty quickly) is exactly how far I can push myself in terms of not resting between days. I know I need to rest, I really do, but the temptation to get back out there is pretty strong...

I need to not go running tomorrow.

Ok, so I'm at week 13 of my running quest and a fair bit has happened since the last time I recorded something here (for one, I've had a bucketload of final professional exams to study for, taking up a fair bit of my time).

I think last time I wrote a post, I'd just picked up my FiveFingers (if I didn't put that last time: I picked up some FiveFingers) and I've been gradually pushing up my distance in them. I think I've already written about my experience running completely barefoot - which felt great and free and all, but destroyed the soles of my feet for a few days - the FiveFingers have done what I guess they're supposed to do in letting me experience that feeling without all the cutting-up-and-blisters from before.

I think my technique has improved a load over the last few weeks - forefoot striking is natural enough for me now that I don't have to think about it consciously and whereas before this was making the tops of my feet ache for a couple of days after most runs, that's now less and less common. I only tend to get aching feet after a longer or harder time out, or if I run a lot over a few consecutive days.

That in itself is becoming more common for me and it's probably the change that I'm happiest with so far - I'm wanting to run more than I ever did before. I've started actually integrating running into my life a lot more naturally - on the trip to some of my theory exams, I got on the train in my running gear and ran through the city to where I was staying; I also spent a few days staying with my brother in his home city and saw more of it than I ever have before through pre-breakfast runs. 

So that's kind of where I am right now - I'm still not too concerned about times yet (although I know I've just now brought my be-FiveFingered-10k time back up to around where I last was in trainers, about 47 minutes), for the moment I'm still just concentrating on working on my technique and getting 'easy' right; the goal after that is to enter a half marathon in my brother's city at the end of September.

- Ben

Well... after last week's barefoot escapade, my Fivefingers arrived earlier this week :)

I'm still breaking them in (or breaking myself in, more like it) and probably ran a bit too far in them the first time I tried them out, but otherwise all good. After enjoying running barefoot as much as I did, it's nice to have kind of just eliminated the whole 'pain from battering your feet against rough terrain' bit, while still being 'forced' to run properly by the lack of support.

It's kind of feeling a lot more natural to be forefoot striking now, to the point where I'm having to concentrate on it less and can settle into it a bit more. It's nice that I'm starting to run how it feels right, instead of using up brain-space concentrating on running how I should be running.

First 10km race is coming up in the next few weeks too, so I need to either get more comfortable running further in the Fivefingers, or make sure I can transfer the skills across to running in my other trainers. We'll see, I guess!

This week I've been for a couple of 10km runs and learned a bit, I think.

Although I'm not exactly aiming at becoming a solely barefoot runner, I figured I'd try and work some barefoot miles into my routine to try and force myself into running the right way. I've been struggling to nail a comfortable forefoot strike (I think I've been naturally running with a midfoot strike, not exactly a full-blown clonking heel strike) and since I haven't been running properly for a huge amount of time, I want to get it right now, before settling in to any bad habits.

At the start of the week, I ran the 10km home from work, setting out without shoes and with the idea to only run as far as was comfortable. This turned out being pretty much most of the way, barring a couple of stretches of rougher terrain. I won't be doing this again for a long time; I know that I need to gradually work up to running that far barefoot and I did end up with a few blisters and pretty much tenderised soles (although no aching or stiffness in my legs, interestingly). This was more a case of trying to find the line that I shouldn't cross, I guess.

I definitely got some good out of it - it was probably the most enjoyable run I've had in a while, once I settled into a comfortable speed (this probably contributed to me getting so far); I also noticed that for the stretches where I put my shoes back on, I managed to keep a good forefoot strike going for a while.

Although that run put me on tender feet for a couple of days afterwards, I was pretty much back to normal today and ran the same route in reverse (in shoes) - and kept my forefoot strike going all the way without any problem! This is like, the smallest first step, but I'm pretty pleased with myself. I kept actively remembering the feeling of running barefoot for about the first 3km, but after that it became a lot more natural and I could relax into it.

Although I'm not too bothered about time, I was pleased to see that the run only took me about ten minutes more than I'd previously been running it (around 55 compared to 45). Ben's goals for the next couple of weeks: keep a good knee-raising, log-hopping stride going and do not run 10km barefoot again!

After nailing my first 10k last week, it turns out a friend of mine is also considering entering a local 10k race next month; I asked him if he wanted to take a trial run and managed to rope in another of our friends too.

On the plus side, running socially was great fun - we managed to set a good pace that we were all happy with and could still hold a conversation (so, I hear, we had it about right..?). On the middle of the good and bad side, I felt like out of the three of us, I wanted to be pushing on with less brief pauses to catch our breath, like I was finding it a fair bit easier. On the down side, one of my friends had some real problems with his hips, so we had to cut the run short at around 7-8km.

We had a good run and I was stoked that I'd managed to almost no-effort the distance we DID cover, but us cutting it short stuck on my mind. I was really restless all afternoon until about 8pm, when I decided to do it again.

Without going all philosophical on y'all, I don't think I've ever experienced a real 'pull' to do something like this before (and I wrestled with the idea that I might just have been being overly-compulsive), but I couldn't sit still with the nagging feeling that I could have run much further if I'd have been on my own.

The run to the next town over is bang-on 10km and I knew there would be no buses back once I got there, so the run there was committing me to 20km total. I figured if I set out assuming I'd be walking back, then that 'accepting failure' would get me out the door - and it did.

I ran the first half in good time and felt great, rested up for maybe five minutes and set off back home. I ran around the first 5km back at roughly the same pace, but then had to drop back to a walk when my knee started hurting on the outside. Fatigue-wise, I felt absolutely fine, but I didn't want to push myself on to an injury. I got home and felt really, really good!

Having bored you all with this, if anyone can give me any pointers on a couple of things, I'd be really grateful:

What should/could I have been doing in the middle five minutes in terms of resting/stretching/eating etc?

I'm guessing the knee pain is related to technique, rather than fitness or strength, but does it sound any different to anyone? Like am I pushing the distance up too quickly?

If anyone's got any ideas, then as I say, I'd be very grateful - I feel like need to get my legs, heart and attitude all firing at the same rate as soon as possible!

- Ben

Today I ran home from work, which is just shy of 10km. Never run that far (properly) before, it took about 45 minutes. Physically, the insides of my calves feel pretty done in and I'm not sure how much actually walking/standing upright I'll be able to do tomorrow, but mentally I'm feeling really pleased with myself. I've been stretching out as much as possible and if I'm not too bad over the next couple of days I'm going to start running back from work more often.