I've bloody done it!!!! 31 of 31 - Lost in the woods on Halloween

Remember yesterday when I said I'd have to go for the 200km for the month goal? Bloomin' well did it too. Not quite in the way I expected though.

So I set off at a relaxed injury avoiding pace planning to do yesterday's loop in reverse which would just get me to the 200km. At some point I remember thinking "hmm these hills seem much steeper in this direction" still I was feeling good and 5k from the 200k goal I selfied it up...

That hill was loads steeper than it looks. The rather demented face is because I've just run up the other side of it. Had I realised I was about to head off on a random detour of hilly hell I would have looked even madder. Probably something like this

Anyway run challenge complete. Achievement unlocked. 204.33km run which is just shy of 5 full marathon distances.

Time now for a couple of days rest. To those who have supported my effort with a charitable donation I thank you, it really has helped to keep me going. To those who thought about it but didn't get around to it there is still time, just visit my Just Giving page, it's quick and easy to do. Click the logo below.

Although I'm not planning on running 5k every day for a while I do need to keep working on my running as I've signed up for a half marathon in February and a full marathon in April next year. I'm also wanting to see how much I can improve my local Parkrun time before the end of the year. If anything interesting happens in pursuit of these goals I'll post about it here.

And finally if anyone fancies trying something similar why not leave a comment on this blog, I'd love to hear about it.

Run 30 of 31 - One day left and a new goal

I went well beyond my 5k goal today as is generally the case when I head up into Swinley Forest for a run. I actually covered a 12.5k loop and recorded a 10k personal best in the process.

Now I've run just over 188km this month with one day left. If I do a similar loop tomorrow then I'll have hit a nice round 200km for the month. I'm going to have to do it aren't I?

29 of 31 at the spooky parkrun

Good news. Maps are working again which means it recorded my PR on the Bracknell Parkrun sprint finish hurrah! It was pretty spooky with little vampires and witches jumping around in the woods which might have had an influence on my time.

Also check out position 1 on the most miles run this week leaderboard for the Bracknell Parkrun group on Strava

That's right it's the only first place I'm ever going to see as a runner so I'm taking it. And in keeping with the halloweenie vibe look at that elevation gain.

Remember friends I'm not just doing this for the good of my health, well I suppose I am but also I'm hoping to raise a small amount of change for Cancer Research UK. If you can spare even a pound or two it all helps. Click on the Cancer Research logo below or in the sidebar to make a donation through my Just Giving page. Thank you for your support you lovely people xxx

Run 28 of 31! 3 to go!!!

Ran from Goodge Street to Shepherds bush. Garmin chucked a wobbly again though so no map and it looks like a treadmill run.

Top tip of you have a similarly afflicted Garmin device and you track a run but get no map showing in Garmin connect or Strava. Turn your watch off and on again. Good job I work in IT.

27 of 31 nearly done son

Wasn't feeling quite so fatigued today so I got to my usual run commute station at 5.2km and decided to see how far it was to the next one. Guess at that point my body just thought "oh ffs he's not going to stop I might as well shut up moaning and let him carry on" as the extra distance was a breeze.

Apparently I recorded it as a treadmill run somehow. No idea how that happened.

Oh bloody hell what have I done?

Despite how much of a struggle this running challenge is in the final few days I know myself well enough to realise that there are two paths I could take when it ends next week

1. I think "thank god that's over, what a stupid idea that was" and go back to barely running at all apart from the odd Parkrun.

2. I take a day or two to rest and then divert this newfound "love" for running into a new fitness challenge.

I'll take option two. Goals. I need them. Good news everybody, I've found them.

February 2017 I'll be doing my first half marathon, the Thorpe Park Half

And then a couple of months later in April 2017 I'll be heading down to Brighton to run my first full marathon!

Goals. I got 'em. This should be enough to keep me running over the winter.

26 consecutive runs and everything hurts

Legs hurt. Shoulder hurts. Going to finish this bloomin' thing no matter how slow I get.

Five left. That's twenty-five more k boffins.

Day 25 - the 150th Km

Took advantage of a day off and went for a 10km run in the woods as an antidote to too many London pavement runs. Getting slower by the day now but only 6 days left and then I'll be setting myself a different type of running goal which will allow me some rest days. Can't wait! How about a donation to Cancer Research to give me a final push?

I also hit a milestone today - I've now run more than 150km this month!

On week left. Will I make it?

Run 24 of the 31 day streak and I'm feeling really tired. So pleased I've only got one week left of this stupid thing. Pace was so slow but even if you'd sent a herd of knife wielding clowns after me I'd have struggled to pick up the pace.

In fact I was so slow a single zombie (proper slow Romero one not one of those supercharged living dead from mostly rubbish films) would catch and eat me. And on that note time to see if The Walking Dead can rescue itself after pissing off the entire internet with that S6 cliffhanger. I'm betting they ruin the Negan character but let's see.

23 of 31 - less than a marathon left!

Run 23 of 31 today and it is starting to feel like the end is in sight. 8 more days, 40km remaining which is just under a marathon distance. Really starting to feel quite tired in the legs now, when I started this thing plodding through a run commute with a backpack on at the end of a working day felt like I was running through treacle yet I was still around 9m40s per mile. Today in the middle of a Sunday afternoon in which I should be well rested staying in touch with a 10min mile was hard work. Really looking forward to seeing what I run like a week or two into November when I've had a few rest days though.

Today's run was a 7km loop which is my "just get a run done and don't think about it" route so I had a couple of familiar Strava segments, even managed to PR one of them. The thing about Strava segment times though is you need to take them with a pinch of salt. I've been cynical of them since it apparently clocked me doing 35mph on a Brompton folding bicycle when in fact I was scooting it along the pavement so I don't really pay much attention to them but I decided to have a closer look at the one I PR'd today. So the all time leaderboard I'm somewhere in the middle as you'd expect but the top ten is interesting. Actually the top 1 is interesting as we have a guy who has a PR some 2 minutes faster over the 0.8 mile segment than the guy in position 2. Looking closer at the session in which the segment time was recorded this chap apparently beat the world mile record 2 or 3 times during his 8 mile run. Fortunately I'm never going to be close enough to any segment all time records to really care too much but I know a lot of people are motivated by grabbing them but it seems to me that once you get closer to the top on popular segments the whole feature loses it's value as you find yourself competing with people who at best have accidentally recorded the wrong sport (e.g. recorded a bike ride as a run), or at worst are downright cheating. That said down here in the slow section I find that a 10 second improvement will get me 10 places up the leaderboard which is a nice little push for next time!

Edit: Found out how to report dodgy data and our world record holder is no longer on the leaderboard. 

Twenty Two is Parkrun Day

So I'm into single figures left on my 5k every day challenge. Thanks to those who have supported my efforts so far with a donation to my chosen charity. It really has helped to motivate me to keep at it. If anyone else would like to donate (and I promise I'll make myself suffer for it) please click on the logo below.

So day 22 and for the first time since I started this 5km every day thing I ran at my local parkrun which gave me a nice opportunity to benchmark myself as I've run it about 15 times in the past.

What I learned was I'm pretty tired. It was all I could do to get under 30 min, well over 2 minutes slower than my best time over the summer, and sub 30 today was only made possible because I really wanted to mug some guy on the final straight. So thanks stranger for pushing me.

I also learned that 125mph by New Model Army is quite a good song for running to.

Twenty One and still not done

Today my streak of 5k runs hit 21

That's right

Twenty Times. Twenty Times I've Run 5km Or More This Month

So here we are at 20 consecutive 5km+ runs. 31 seems a long way off.
I found a song to mark 20 btw. No idea what to use for 21. This song thing may be a shortlived streak.

Congratulations on reading the boilerplate. The best content is always down here. Most people probably just skim over it thinking it's the same old stuff about how it's more difficult than you might think to run 5k+ every day for a month and that it would be nice of you to donate a few pennies to Cancer Research UK but not this time. No indeedy. I shall use this bit of the page to tell you a rubbish joke instead. So Vincent van Gogh is in the pub having a beer and waiting for his buddy. His mate comes in and says "alright Vincent, can I get you a pint?", "No thanks mate" says Vincent, "I've got one ear". Badumtsch.

Run Streak N-n-n-n-NINETEEN

N-n-n-n-nineteen, nineteen
N-nineteen, nineteen


Anyone got a song for twenty? Maybe this one?.

If you've read this blog before you'll know that this bit of boilerplate text is a reminder what this is all about. I'm an averagely fit guy in his early forties who is trying to run at least 5km every day in October. I only started running earlier this year and I work the sort of hours that people often claim leaves them with no time to do whatever it is that they think they might quite like to do "if I only had the time". Leaving the house before 6.30am and not getting home until 8.30pm and still managing to get my run in every day might even inspire someone to do whatever that thing is. Maybe reading more books or learning to bake or mastering the mouth organ could all start here. But that isn't my real reason for doing this. You see some people think that not drinking alcohol for a month is worthy of sponsorship. Well for some people it is but not from the type of sponsors you find on Just Giving. Anyway this is my response to the Go Sober campaign. Running and drinking. Yay. Oh and donating to Cancer Research UK. Superthxbai.

Eighteen Eighteen Eighteen and I like it!

Day 18 of the 31 day 5km every day challenge for Cancer Research.

Yes I like it
Oh I like it
Love it
Like it
Love it
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen!
Eighteen and I like it

Day 17 of 31 - 5k in the rain

I'm a novice runner who went on a rant about the god awful Go Sober for October campaign and ended up pledging to run 5km every day for a month in aid of Cancer Research UK. Please consider donating to this fine cause and keep me running!

We're on day 17. Day 17 and it's the first time I've had to run in the rain on this challenge. In the UK in October I've managed 16 rain free runs. Hope it's not downhill from here.

New hazard today. Umbrellas. What sort of inconsiderate jackass thinks it's a good idea to wander down a London pavement with a sodding gold umbrella? I'd prefer it if the streets were full of killer clowns, at least their brollies are comically small.

2 run commute tips for the day. 1) Osprey backpack 2) Macbook Air

Run 16 of 31 - Halfway there!

I'm now halfway through my 31 day 5km every day October running challenge for Cancer Research and it all caught up with me a but this morning making today's run a hard work plod through the woods and deep puddles.

Mid point feels like a good time to post some stats though so here we go

• I've run for 7.6 hours
• I've covered 99 km (61.5 miles or 2.3 marathons) so far
• I've climbed almost 1000m
• I've run a km in under 4 minutes during 5 different runs and under 4m30s on 9 different days. After this challenge is over I'm going to try for a 24min 5k before the end of 2016 so it's pretty encouraging that I'm hitting this sort of pace during these runs.

Anyway job half done. Hope I can get through the next 15!

Day 15 - The Tough Sh!t 10km Obstacle Race

Day fifteen of my run streak and I doubled up again and ran the 10km Tough Shit Obstacle Race. These kind of events are the reason I started running this year as back in February I entered an event called Judgement Day and really enjoyed the obstacle aspect but was destroyed by the running sections. I have this vague notion that if there is something you hate when it comes to fitness you should probably keep doing it until it becomes less horrid. 8 months later and here I am running at least 5km every day and still getting destroyed by the running sections...just a bit less so.

So this event was a lot of fun with a lot of thigh burning hills and waist deep water sections (alright knee deep if you found the right route through. I didn't). It was so hilly in fact that you could have removed the obstacles and it wouldn't have felt out of place as a Brutal Run course. But of course they put 20 toilet themed obstacles on the route too in keeping with the Water Aid theme. Special mention to the marshall at the 5km mark who took such delight in welcoming everyone to an obstacle called the "Poop Hole".

I think the cheeky toilet theme of the event might have caught a few people out and they were expecting something maybe a bit easier, still for pretty much everyone the course seemed tough but manageable.

The bling for completing it was also rather special...

And here is the run proof. Almost halfway through this thing. My knees are holding up so hopefully I'll make it to Halloween. If I get enough donations for Cancer Research then maybe I'll run the final one dressed as a Killer Clown.

14 of 31. Double Trouble Friday Fun.

I'm lucky enough to be self employed and able to choose to keep most of my Fridays pretty clear work wise so I can take a bit more time and find the fun in my run. I know you are well jel right? But look at my Mon-Thu run logs for the trade off. On my current project I leave the house at 6.30am, don't get home until 8.30pm and the only way I can get my run in is to weave around pavement shufflers and bin bags while inhaling London fumes*. I deserve my Friday dammit!

Anyway today I decided to make the most of where I live and head off into the woods. Despite some pretty ugly hills this is definitely my favourite type of running as the variety stops me from getting bored. This probably explains why the only organised run apart from Parkrun that I've really taken to is the Brutal 10. And even my local Parkrun course has a hill and some woods.

I also decided it was time to change up my soundtrack so I gave the Spotify Heavy Metal running playlist a go. It didn't do a bad job of keeping me going mixing in some favourites like Maiden and Motorhead with some newer power metal stuff that I had no clue about. Thankfully it steered clear of that post nu-metal growly crap that clutters up current rock channel playlists and didn't decide I needed to listen to Steel Panther every other track which the Spotify radio algorithm tends to do. Fading into a different song mid way through an Iron Maiden guitar solo is unforgivable though. Still it kept me moving.

Oh and I got my best 10km time according to Strava so that was nice. Guess this run streak hasn't worn me down yet.

Tomorrow I tackle Tough Sh!t, a muddy 10km obstacle race set up to support Water Aid.

[* I've found that for my commute there is almost no difference in overall time if I run 5km of it or take public transport the whole way. There is also something quite delightful about repeatedly overtaking a Lamborghini on foot.]



You've probably read this bit already but blah blah novice runner me, average fitness, early 40s, proving a point by running a minimum of 5km every day for 31 days in October. I hope this challenge might inspire people to be a bit more active or guilt them into chucking a donation to my chosen charity Cancer Research UK. I can still drink alcohol and do my challenge too. In your face Go Sober October.

Lucky 13

I'm knackered. Here is the plot. Maybe I'll be more interesting in the morning. Please cure cancer.

Day 12. Still plodding.

I didn't get a place in the London Marathon. I did get my picture on the Guardian website. Also I'm halfway to my fundraising goal.

Had to do the beastly commute run again today. Trending faster apparently. If I look closely enough at the data I'm sure I can find the exact moment my bluetooth earbuds ran out of charge. Couldn't handle the power of Manowar clearly.

The Gods made heavy metal and it killed your bluetooth buds!

What's going on with this blog? I'm trying to run a minimum of 5km every day for a month. Why? Because I saw someone on my news feed tell someone else that they were doing some amazing challenge by giving up alcohol for a month for charity. I figured this was far better all round. If like you me think the GoSober campaign is a load of bs that trivialises the struggle true addicts have with substance abuse then why not sponsor me instead?

Third of the way through the streak! Run 11

Got out for an early morning run. Not a lot to say except it was cold.

Also spotted someone is trying to hack this blog and not doing an especially good job of covering their tracks. Not so much Mr Robot.

The Brutal photos are here!

I'm a novice runner going for a 31 day streak running at least 5km per day during October in order to raise money for Cancer Research. You can donate through my Just Giving page. On day 8 I ran a tough 10km cross country event called Brutal. Here are a few the official pics...quite the mudbath!

10 Day Streak

Ten days in to my run five km every day in October challenge for Cancer Research and week two of having to run the same damn London route 4 nights in a row in order to make sure I hit the target.

It's only Monday but it being my tenth consecutive run it felt a lot like this

Sticky stairs nightmare

But when my Garmin synced to Strava it recognised the route and told me I was trending faster.

Cool

Having to keeps stopping to cross the road is tiring though. Quite enjoy the bin bag hurdles mind.

Day 9 - Sub 6 but only just

Nine days in. Feeling pretty tired without the rest days. Still managing to get under 30min for the 5km which is alright for me but I don't think I'll be setting a new personal best any time soon unless I can find a nice long 5km downhill.

Days Run 8, Days Not Run 0. Brutal Pyestock 10km.

It's 8 days into my 31 day run streak and I completed one of the toughest runs I have planned for the month. This one was called the Brutal 10, a cross country 10km run through woods and streams and lots of mud.

This was actually the fifth Brutal event I've run this year. Through the summer the brutality came from the ridiculous hills but now we are into Autumn mud and water were thrown into the mix and it was a welcome change. The hills were still there but on this course they weren't quite as mad as on some of their other routes. What was properly mad though were the two craters, one full of freezing water and one full of stinky mud with the texture of porridge. It was gross but hilarious, can't wait to see the official event photos but in the meantime look at the state of me when I finished!

The rest of the course followed winding tracks through woods, in and out of ditches, along streams (running in the water of course) and on slippery muddy paths. Having to concentrate so hard on not falling over is cool as you don't have time to think about the fact that you are running and it hurts.

It wasn't a quick run (especially as the aforementioned craters caused some massive bottlenecks on the first lap) but it was loads of fun. If you are in the area I definitely recommend trying one of these.
Here are the plots
Funny thing about Brutals - I hate bananas right, can't eat them, probably as bad as sprouts in my book. I can even remember as a kid losing a "who is the biggest monkey" bit of one upmanship with my mate because despite my tree climbing prowess I wouldn't eat a banana. My protests of "but monkeys can eat apples too" were rightfully ignored. Anyway at the end of every Brutal they give you a drink, a banana, and a battle oats bar. And you know what I eat those bananas like I was the biggest monkey all along. I don't understand it. The only time I can eat a banana is after running up hills for an hour. It's weird. Oh and Battle Oats are really good too.

So day nine tomorrow. I've never tried running the day after an event like this so wonder how that will go? I'm guessing not well.

I'm a novice runner and average dude in his early forties who is attempting to run at least 5km every day in October. Hopefully by doing this I can encourage people to donate a few quid to Cancer Research UK (Just Giving link).

Seven Day Streak - Devil's Highway

I'm a novice runner attempting to run at least 5km every day in October for Cancer Research. I'm also blogging about it here. If you feel generous please consider donating through my Just Giving page. Want to know more then start with the first post or the why 5km explanation.

Today I ran for the seventh consecutive day. I celebrated by running up Devil's Highway and back down again. Back in the day Devil's used to be the venue for all manner of *ahem* unhealthy activity so it's nice that it can giveth what it used to take away.

Tomorrow I'm doubling up and running the Pyestock Brutal 10km. Those Brutal lot are fiends, this one looks like it's going to be an especially wet and muddy course. And when we say wet we may well be talking about waist deep water and mud. This will be my fifth one this year and they've all been unique so far so really I've got no idea. Although the picture they have chosen to illustrate this one is a clue...

Anyway here is the plot from today. Tomorrow expect to see a bloody great lake or quicksand or something.

Why 5K?

When I decided to do this challenge I set my daily goal at 5km or more every day. But why did I choose 5km and not 3, 6 or 10 or just commit to #runeveryday? Well here are my thoughts

• I had to set myself a goal. I'm very motivated by such things and have a tendency to half arse it and mug myself a bit without them. If I'd just said "I'm going to run every day for 31 days" you can bet there would have been a dozen or so 1.5km "runs" in there and I would have got to the end technically having completed the thing but I wouldn't feel much of a sense of achievement.
• It had to be something that I could fit into any day regardless of what I am doing. I often work in London but don't live there because I'm not mental so this means I have long commutes leaving at the crack of dawn and sometimes only have 3 hours at home before I need to go to bed. For me 5km is a daily commitment of about 30 minutes. When you look at it like that doesn't seem so bad does it? Anyone reading this who might be inspired but still thinks that 5km every day is a stretch too far how about trying 30 minutes jogging every day?
• I read somewhere (I think it was Reddit) that 5km is simultaneously much harder than you expect and much easier than you expect. It's definitely that way for me, I know that I can run non-stop for this distance on any day but it isn't far enough for my body to stop moaning and just accept that I won't be stopping for a while. This fits my brief of being both a challenge and being achievable.
• I'm a novice runner and I wanted to do something that might inspire other novice runners to give it a go without being terrifying.
• 5km seems like it might be a long enough distance to attract donations to my chosen charity.
• Five K Every Day rhymes.
• The domain was available.

All that said I have a few more "interesting" organised runs going on this month. Keep an eye on the run logs, 5km is definitely a minimum daily distance!

I'm a novice runner who is attempting to run 5km every day in October as a childish reaction to that bloody GoSober campaign. Please visit my Just Giving page and bung a few pennies to Cancer Research if you can spare it.

Run 6 of 31 - Final commute run of the week!

4th time running this approximate route. Strava tells me I've been getting faster all week but it feels slower each time because being essentially made up of two massive straights and a slight dogleg it's insanely boring. It also has a couple of deceptive inclines.

Going to have to find ways to change it up next week.

Well I guess this puts my challenge in perspective!

Good effort Ben, maybe I'll try this next October...

401 consecutive marathons

Run 5 of 31 - London Running

I'm a novice runner attempting to run at least 5km every day in aid of Cancer Research. Please consider making a donation through my Just Giving page. The karma boost you feel should last longer than my poor knees!

Here we are at the fifth consecutive day of running. That's over 25km for the maths heads (actually 26.54). It's also the third consecutive day of London run commuting from Goodge Street down to Marble Arch, across the north end of Hyde Park, and down to Holland Park station. It's a handy route because it's just over 5km and it gets me where I need to go just as quickly as it would if I took the tube the entire way.

Running the same route every day is getting super boring though.

Run 4 of 31

Did my run. More or less the same as yesterday. Driving home some tosslord decided to ram his crappy Vauxhall into my lovely car and then scarper. Raging I am.

My Running Playlist

I'm running at least 5km every day for the month of October in order to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Please consider donating through my Just Giving page.

And here are the tunes that are keeping me going. Special mention for Overkill by the almighty Motorhead - if you need a kick up the arse then fast miles are always Overkill miles. Also Lemmy (RIP) was playing this shit at seventy years old with cancer. Keep that in mind when you think about quitting and you'll find an extra boost. It's like audio Red Bull.

Run 3 of 31 - London Run Commute

For work I provide consultancy services to ecommerce businesses which means I spend a lot of my week in London. I don't live there because I like trees and stuff which means my commute can be pretty long and my starts early which could make getting the daily run in a bit of a challenge. That was until I discovered that one of the underground stations I go through is almost exactly 5km from my office. Run commute man go!

Running in London is really really annoying. If you aren't weaving round bimbling idiots you are stopping to cross roads constantly. I call it an urban fartlek. Then throw in the added hassle of doing all this with a rucksack...that said I've found some ways to make it bearable. I'll post about that another day though when I've got it truly nailed. At least only 16 of the remaining 29 runs will be commuter jobs. 4 day weeks yay!
I'm not giving up alcohol this month I'm running at least 5km every day in aid of Cancer Research UK. Please consider making a donation though my Just Giving page

Run 2 of 31

Yesterday was international Parkrun day. Unfortunately I couldn't partake as I was in the middle of nowhere so I went out and ran a couple of modified laps of my local course this morning instead.

2 down 29 to go.

Here are some stats...

I'm a novice runner who is attempting to run five km (or more) every day during October in aid of Cancer Research UK. You can follow my progress here and make a donation through Just Giving. 

Run 1 of 31

I'm a novice runner who is attempting to run five km (or more) every day during October in aid of Cancer Research UK. You can follow my progress here and make a donation through Just Giving. 

Today is the first day of my five K every day challenge and I couldn't have asked for a better start. Waking up on a narrowboat to autumn sunshine meant I was raring to go. Just a quick jog down past this flight of locks, a couple of loops at the bottom and back up should get me just over my 5km target.

Oh. Locks. Those things designed to get boats up and down hills. And we are moored at the top. So at some point I have to run back up. Oh well got to learn to love hills.

So here we are. The challenge begins. One down, thirty to go.

Garmin log of the run