Running every day isn’t a big deal to a lot of serious runners, but it is to me since I generally only run a maximum of three or four days a week. I don’t like to feel like I’m cheating a challenge, so usually set a minimum distance of four miles a day. Due to the long-distance runs I had planned before the marathon, I set a minimum of a two mile run if I ran at least 18 miles the day before. Risking injury while running on sore, over-used legs wasn’t desirable!

Apart from the obvious being tired every day, the month went well. No serious injuries to report; chafed armpits being my worst ailment. No blisters, sunburn, falls or dog bites. I rock.

Total distance for the month was 175.24 miles. Total running time was 21 hours, 38 minutes.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the marathon run. It wasn’t an official race, just me running around the streets of Swinton, Clifton, Kearsley, Farnworth and Walkden several times until I hit 26.22 miles on my Garmin. On my birthday of all days. When I had to get up at 6.00am. Last year on my birthday, I ran a 5k parkrun. Next year, I’ll be back at Heaton Park!

My youngest brother, Simon, cycled the route with me, providing great assistance with drinks, gels, replacement sweat bands, and taking photos of me flipping off one-legged pensioners. My other brother, Dave, had a nice lie-in.

My official marathon personal best time, set in Las Vegas in 2009, is 3 hours, 21 minutes, 53 seconds. I finished this run in 3 hours, 18 minutes, 49 seconds, a full three minutes faster than the mostly flat Vegas marathon. Anyone who ran the Swinton Half Marathon will know that course was quite the up and downer, so I was very pleased to set a new unofficial PB as my route took in most of that course – twice.

Supplementary marathon training info: I’ve ran 10 miles or over only 9 times this year. My long run training for the marathon started on 20 May with a 14 mile run. Subsequent runs of 16.5, 18, and 20 miles followed each weekend until the big one. I’m not sure if this disproves the ‘many long runs are required’ marathon training theory or not, but I’ll very likely do a few more long ones as I build up to the Chester Marathon in October.

Thanks go out to Si for his marathon support, and to everyone who has offered support, best wishes, and Facebook ‘likes’ over the month, especially the guys from my club, Swinton Running Club. It was really appreciated, cheers all!