We’re 20% of the way through the year and I haven’t really knuckled down on the weight loss again. Too many tasty things lying around the house since we started making packed lunches at the start of the year. Before I could rely on there only being lentils and goop around at lunchtime, but now there are hams, bread and chocolate biscuits. I need to lock everything up during the day so that I’m not distracted by the loveliness of it all.

So I’m down a few pounds on my weight before Christmas, but not as much as I’d hoped.

However, I’ve been gently getting back into the running since my chest-pain concerns at the end of January / start of February. It feels like I’ve not been totally on top of the running programme ahead of the Manchester 10k in May – although when I look back, I’ve done most of the sessions so far, so I must be basically sticking to it.

Today was the first 10k of the programme. Previous ones that I’ve done have peaked at about 9 / 9.5k a week or two before the run and then the sense of occasion is supposed to be sufficient to push you over the last few hundred metres. I don’t think this works terribly well, and I prefer this programme that has 10k early on and creeps up to 13k in a couple of weeks, alongside some faster runs. I was pointed to this schedule by a friend and the aim is to try and break the 60 minute barrier. I’ve been steadfastly in the 1 hour 10 – 15 minutes for most of the 10k races that I’ve done. Merrily bringing up the rear and feeling knackered at the end of it.

However, last year’s Manchester 10k didn’t go very well at all. By 4km I was unable to keep running and the remainder of the race was done by run/walking the route. The training hadn’t been great. A couple of months before I’d torn my calf muscle at the Milton Keynes half marathon — right at the end as I was sprinting for the finish. So my training had been short and half-hearted. I’m determined not to make such a mess of it this year.

The muscle tear last March is what finally got me going to the gym. Or more specifically, doing so badly in the Manchester 10k and then letting things slip through to the end of June made me resolve to finally do something about it. I started going to the gym and trying to lose weight at the start of July and I’ve been much better for it. So there is a bit of a silver lining.

I checked my old routes on walkjogrun and found a 10k that I had plotted out a while back — along Country Road, up Holborn Hill, then Long Lane and up Scarth Hill Lane. Then down Ruff Lane, back into town and heading home along Burscough Street / Road. Both Holborn Hill and Scarth Hill Lane are quite difficult. Holborn hill feels steep, but only for about one km. Scarth Hill Lane keeps climbing for about three km. The uphill route feels relentless for a while. When I first did the Holborn Hill run, it was hard to make up any time on the downhill because I was so knackered.

I headed out and tried to keep a steady, but brisker than usual tempo. I didn’t expect to maintain it for too long, knowing that the hills were ahead, but wanted to see how it felt. I kept at it and then tried to keep that tempo going uphill, while at the same time shortening the length of the stride.

I was listening to Jon Ronson’s new book about internet shaming to keep me moving, and the regular interruptions telling me the time, distance and pace were encouraging. Despite having slowed down on the hill, my average hadn’t gone over 6 minutes per km. At about seven km into the run I was just starting to go downhill again and my slowest average pace hit about 5:54 per km.

It’s not the hardest maths in the world — if I kept the average below 6 minutes then I’d be able to complete the run in under an hour, and was quite motivated by this. As I’d experienced in the past, the downhill was more difficult than I’d hoped. I was able to stretch my legs, but not as much as I would have liked. I picked up the tempo a bit, but by now I was just concerned that I shouldn’t do anything too stupid and just get home in a reasonable time.

My audio cues in Runkeeper are set for every five minutes, so at 55 minutes it told me that I had done 9.4-something kilometers. At this point I realised that I could walk the rest of the way and still come in under one hour. My initial internal cheer was then overwhelmed with a desire to stop and walk the rest of the way! Thankfully, Runkeeper also keeps the splits and I knew that the Gods of Running would pour scorn on me if I’d sneaked in at 59:59 and had walked the last 400 metres. I had no choice but to run it, and to give it a reasonable push.

It wasn’t anything anyone could call a sprint, but I didn’t need to. I came in at 58:19 and had beaten my PB by 11 minutes. I’d also hit a goal that I had set for May, nearly two months ahead of time. Yesterday I had explained my plan of running 10k under an hour to my Mum when we were out at dinner. It seemed ridiculous and I felt a bit of a fraud at the time. I know that it’s slow compared to many men in their 40s, but for me it seemed almost impossible.

I’m quite pleased.

I just need to keep up the rest of the training over the next two months and will try to make a reasonable go of the Manchester 10k.

I also went walking earlier in the day. I had made a plan for dinners for the next few days, which looked to be quite busy, and needed to walk to town to get some bits and pieces. I took Lily and Joel with me and we had a very pleasant walk to Morrisons and back. I try not to mix chores with the walking these days — I know that it displeases the Gods of Walk — but it’s difficult to get everything in when Jude’s away, and it’s just lovely taking the time to have a walk with the children. Even if it is along the main road into town.

The week is looking quite busy, with morning walks and runs and evening trips to the gym on gym days. There’s a lot to do. Fingers crossed I can get through everything.