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.