Back on the road...

Well I might have passed 500 miles for the year, but my running continues - a couple of runs round Hyde Park during the week, and 9.27 miles in Greenwich Park today. Running 8 miles+ now seems pretty routine now, which is a measure of my progress since the start of the year.

Total for the year is now 528 miles - on track to reach 600 miles by the end of December...

Thank you

Having passed the 500 mile mark, it's time to say a few "thank you"s to the people without whom it wouldn't have happened:

Firstly - to my wife Sophie who ran many of the 500 miles herself, took many of the photos whichh appear on this blog, and has given me great encouragement ever since I started running. And not forgetting Sally and Phil whose enthusiasm for running spurred me on to set myself bigger targets

Secondly - to Michaela at Practical Action for her support and encouragement, and for the T-shirts and vests !

And thirdly - to everyone who's sponsored me so far. Your support really makes a difference - to me, to Practical Action, and, most importantly, to the people whose lives they help to change for the better.

Thank you.

511 miles and counting...

Well, I completed the challenge yesterday - 39 days ahead of schedule. Somewhere around Blackfriars Bridge on the first lap of my half marathon I passed 500 miles for the year.

I started out from Embankment around 09:50 on a grey but mild morning. Pretty soon after starting I regretted wearing a long sleeved top and tracksters - shorts and a T-shirt would have been a better fit for the temperature, and after a few miles I had to perform a striptease while running.

The early miles were pretty straightforward - I tried to keep my pace slow to keep something in reserve for later. However my pre-run preparation contained a flaw - the Thames path under Blackfriars Bridge is currently closed, meaning a quite sizeable detour inland, including crossing a busy road, which I hadn't factored in when I measured the distance. (This added 0.6 miles to my route).

By the time I started my second lap the crowds had started to build up on the South Bank around the Christmas market and the London Eye, making me start to regret my choice of route. I'd assumed that a grey November morning might be quite quiet in London but no such luck.

Oblivious tourists increasingly blocked my path forcing me to dodge and weave and occasionally just stop in my tracks, politely saying "excuse me" while swearing under my breath. It's one of those situations where no-one's to blame - they're just tourists being tourists and they have as much right to be there as I have. But it doesn't stop you wishing they could just be a little more aware of their surroundings.

Nonetheless there were a lot of good points about the route - in spite of it involving three laps, there was always something interesting to look at, and after the first hour the weather started to brighten up.

By my third lap, at around the 10 mile mark, I was starting to feel a bit leg-weary and uncomfortable. I managed to keep running until reaching Lambeth Bridge at 2 hours 7 minutes, but then I had to stop and walk for a while. I guess the dodging and weaving had burned up a few extra calories than I bargained for - and maybe I lost a bit of fitness during the last two weeks of relative inactivity. Anyway, I walked for just over half a mile to Parliament Square, and then started a slow, stiff and painful jog up Whitehall. More tourists to dodge.

At Trafalgar Square, the welcome sight of the Mall and the home straight came into view. As it turned out, thanks to Network Rail's Blackfriars detour, Admiralty Arch constituted the actual 13.1 mile mark, and I passed it in 2h 21m 16s which, considering that I had walked for 10 minutes, and probably ran quite a few extra yards dodging the crowds en route, isn't too bad for a first attempt at an (albeit unofficial) half marathon.

I gave Sophie a call on the mobile halfway up the Mall to warn her to be ready with the camera, and reached the "finish line", 13.76 miles from the start, in just over 2 hours 28 minutes.

After finishing - lots of photographs, a welcome drink, and then a slow walk into the West End for some lunch and a rest.

As a result of my stop for a breather after 12 miles, and according to the rules of the challenge, this constituted one 12.06 mile run and a 1.1 mile run to add to the total, which now stands at 511.03 miles for the year.

Some Hong Kong miles

Back from a week's holiday in Hong Kong where I clocked up just under 6 miles in a couple of runs along the harbourside in Tsim Sha Tsui.

It's always a pleasure to run along the waterfront in Hong Kong, in spite of the sometimes humid climate and the pollution (although the air quality seems to have significantly improved lately). There's so much spectacular city scenery to look at while you're running and you can follow your run with cheap delicious dim sum and then go for an equally cheap but very good massage.

I could have done more running whilst I was in HK but I was planning to save my 500th mile for this coming weekend back in London. So with the 6 Hong Kong miles and the 4 I did on the Thursday before I left on holiday my total now stands at 493.87 miles - 6.13 to go.

The plan to pass the 500 mile mark is:

- go out for one lunchtime run in Hyde Park this week for 4-5 miles

- then on Saturday or Sunday this weekend, complete the equivalent of a half-marathon by doing three laps of the Thames, starting from the London Eye, running to the Millenium Bridge, back to Lambeth Bridge, repeating a couple of times, and then on the third lap, heading up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, then hanging a left and running up The Mall to complete 13.1 miles at the Buckingham Palace gates.

At least that's the plan. And the beauty of the plan is that I'll pass the 500 mile mark early on in the run, so from that point on everything else is a bonus. But I've never run half marathon distance before, and it would be great to complete the challenge with a new "personal best"

Greenwich, Crystal Palace and Putney

I've fallen behind a little with the blog updates, but I'm still keeping up with the running:

• A long run at Greenwich on Saturday - four big laps and a smaller one. Total 9.26 miles
• A dash around Crystal Palace in the rain on Sunday morning - two laps for 3.75 miles
• A lunchtime jog along the Thames in the lashing rain yesterday - 4.12 miles.

So getting very close to the "finish line" now - less than 16 miles to go !

Next week we're off to Hong Kong on holiday. Will be taking the running shoes for one or two jogs along the harbour front - a spectacular place to run - but probably won't do more than half a dozen miles - so I'm still on target to reach the target on the weekend of November 21st/22nd.