I’ve published a Medium post about the story behind why I’m running the marathon this year and what I’ve learnt so far. Check it out - link is on my Instagram and Twitter (@stef) and I think you can google “medium.com stef marathon” to find it.

It’ll be lunch at my desk today so I can fit in a run. Based on the marathon plans I’ve seen I should be trying to increase my shorter runs a little each week. So, an extra bridge today!

Hips felt a bit dodgy towards the end so I slowed it down. Lovely blue sky over some classic views too!

I’ve shifted up my days this week, so on Saturdays I’m still planning on doing Parkrun but Sundays will be my long run day.

I’ve found that getting lost or knowing where to go can be a bit frustrating, so I downloaded RunGo, which lets you draw out running routes. When you run a route it has voice-based turn-by-turn instructions. I tried it out today and roughly it worked okay. It’s janky in places “Turn right onto Mispronounced R D B 34567” isn’t that helpful. And it doesn’t do well with parks. “Turn left. Turn right. Turn right.” actually means keep going straight.

Anyway, found some new places on the way and connected a few dots “oh, so Brixton starts on the other side of this road that I already run on!”

Plus, it felt like I could go longer, so I’m feeling even more confident I can do the half marathon I’ve signed up for!

Looks like my hip is okay! No pain today for Dulwich Parkrun. And it was gorgeous out - bright and frosty.

The new shoes gave me a bit of a boost too - I can really feel the difference.

But the big news - I broke 22! And I didn’t feel like I was killing myself in the process. So that’s given me more confidence that the 10k event I’m doing with Jon is going to be good in three weeks time!

99 days to the marathon. Eek!

I’ve been reading about having the right shoes and wasn’t convinced with the gait analysis I’d had when I first started running. So I went to a different shop yesterday and they said “whoever gave you these shoes didn’t know what they were talking about”. Great. Rather than pronating I’m apparently supinating.

So today I tried out my new Altras. They seem pretty good!

Also, my hip is still causing me some pain and I’m a little worried I’ve hurt myself, so I ran slowly to just see if it felt okay. I think I’ll be going slowly for a few runs and possibly skipping Parkrun this weekend. Really don’t want to start out on this marathon training adventure with an injury!

I’ve been grabbing a few spare moments to work out a training plan for this slightly overwhelming challenge I’ve just taken on. The Slow Run seems to be a big part of any good plan, so today I slowed down from my must-go-faster thing I’ve been doing and jogged round at 5.30/6 pace.

My hips are feeling pretty unhappy still, so planning on doing a daily stretching session to sort that out.

Some news! I’ve got a last minute London Marathon place 🙀🎉

It’s at the back end of April, so I’m getting prepared with a plan to get me fit enough to be able to do it. All of the plans I’ve found seem to be based on doing a long, slow weekend run. My wife, Emily, gave me some advice - don’t go too far too quickly. So this is an experiment to extend a little bit on last week’s ten k.

I really enjoyed being in “explore” mode today. I discovered a place called “Hilly Fields” complete with a mysterious Druidic stone circle?!

I got repeatedly lost in graveyards for some reason, but thank goodness for Google maps!

My hip is a bit painful, so I’ve got to keep an eye on that, but otherwise, I reckon I can do this. Quite an exciting thing to aim for to start a new decade!