2026 running

Run note for January and February 2026

01 Mar 2026 • 3 min read

Total ran in 2025: 1,611.5 km — the most I have run in a calendar year.
Exceeded the 1,200 km target for the year by 411.5 km.
229 runs.
Assuming one run on any day that's 62.7% days I ran.
Average of 7.0 km per run / 4.41 km per day.
Average of 31.0 km per week. Best week was 58.3 km in mid-July.
July was the biggest month at 200.8 km. June was the quietest at 77.6 km.
Most common distance bracket was 5–6 km (97 runs, 42%), followed by 6–7 km (29 runs) and 7–8 km (28 runs).

A run on the Wirral to start the year. Fresh air.
An early scoot in Liverpool before Agile in the Ether in February, a peek at Everton's new stadium.
A squelchy Saturday morning plod near Newby Bridge in the Lakes before a day in Barrow.
The Leeds Marathon on 11 May — 42.6 km in 4 hours and 55 minutes. Horrible. That hill at Otley. Did bring up 500 km for the year though.
Brighouse 10k in April — 50:34, just short of a PB.
Exploratory runs in Brussels, Paris, Dublin, Lisbon, Porto and Madrid.
A sweltering weekday evening run in Greenwich.
Ilkley Half Marathon in July, a couple of days before getting married. Genius / potentially foolish.
Royal Parks Half Marathon, 12 October — 1:50:48, a personal best.
Leeds Abbey Dash, 30 November — 49:17, a personal best.
Took the underground out to Tottenham Stadium in September and ran 10 km back to King's Cross.
Ran the length of Regent's Canal across the year in chunks, about 14 km in total — including getting the tube out to Paddington and running back to King's Cross past Lord's.

1,800 km for the year lol. (1,400 km will be fine.)
Knock off the last two Thames bridges I haven't run over: Chiswick Bridge and Kew Bridge.

59 days.
28 runs — 13 in January, 15 in February.
106.0 km in January. 106.0 km in February. 212.1 km total. Spookily even, with no design whatsoever.
Average of 23.6 km per week. Average of 7.6 km per run.
Biggest week: 43.2 km (w/c 12 January).
18 runs of roughly 5 km. That's nearly two thirds of everything. Most of which will have been plodding out to Bingley from Saltaire and back.
One half marathon along the canal into Leeds. In heavy rain. Just because.
Three health events: respiratory illness early January, right knee and Achilles late January, suspicion of diabetes related loss of feeling in my right foot mid-February.
Current weight: 87 kg. Down nearly 3 kg since new year.
Best week was 43.2 km (w/c 12 January). Three weeks came in under 12 km. The 43 km week shows what's possible. The quiet weeks show where the discipline needs work.
Three blank weekends out of nine. Where the distance is being lost. The long weekend run that not time boxed in by Having To Get To Work is the engine of any decent weekly total and I kept leaving it out.
17 of 28 runs were in genuinely bad conditions. Six runs with a feels-like temperature below zero, the worst being –6°C on 4 January and –3°C on 3 February. Six runs in winds above 15 mph. What a slog.
68 km behind the pace needed to hit 1,800 km for the year. March needs to be different.

31 days.
24 planned runs. 7 planned rest or no-run days.
Target of ~186 km for the month. (161 km is the monthly target needed to hit 1,800 km for the year. This plan goes beyond that.)
Weekly targets of 36–46 km, which is a step up from the 23.6 km average across January and February.
8 gym sessions planned. Resistance work and rowing. Getting serious about this.
Current weight: 87 kg. Down nearly 3 kg since new year. Target of 84.5–85.5 kg by end of March.
City exploring in Seville on the cards.
The knee, Achilles and foot problems need watching as the weekly distance builds.
Biggest challenge in March is the early alarms. Most of the plan depends on being up at 6:15. Where this will be won or lost.