Ilkley Moor in spring time

It's been a beautiful day today and Stef and I walked on Ilkley Moor this morning with Rob, Hilary and Sophie plus Richard and Jan.  We were out for around three hours and met Tussock and Sophie's visa pals Walter and Archie too

Stef is doing the Highlander MM in June and we're mixing up dog runs with running everyday. I had a lazy few weeks after my last (132 day) streak but I'm enjoying being out immensely at the moment. It's not difficult on days like today

Hardmoors 30

Stef and I ran the Hardmoors 30 on New Year's Day. It was our third time, but our first with the new start (and finish) at Robin Hood's Bay. We set off steady near the back of the field and stayed there for over seven hours. To be honest I'm not a massive fan of the course (it's way too runnable for me) and if it hadn't been for Stef I would have probably dropped out at 15 miles. However we got round, which considering how little running we've done recently is good. Ironically my feet were probably the best they've ever been after an ultra and my streak hasn't been affected although Saturday's recovery shuffle was at a very sedentary pace

Longest run in a long time

Stef, Tussock and I ran over nine miles yesterday with the Prices from home. It was a perfect day for a run out; Tussock's longest ever, and me and Stef's furthest in a long time. Thankfully the floods had abated making it possible to return via the Dales Way

Martyn showed us his latest UTMB video and we had fun planning and scheming all kinds of plans. Martyn seems quite keen on the Frog Graham, while I spent a bit too much time looking at the PTL footage 

One hundred days

It felt a bit of an anti-climax but tonight's two miler with Tussock around the village in the rain brought up one hundred days of consecutive running. I've lost probably 10 pounds in weight and feel happier in myself for returning to running properly. My plan is to chug on until New Year and then see how I go from there. My new job is demanding, with long days and a lot of driving, but I've got this far so lets see how long I can continue 

Racing!

Tonight's outing will be my 70th run in 70 days, and will make for a new streak pb of ten days. Stef and I have already entered two races now for next year (the shorter of them is a marathon), and the other is already over-subscribed. There's talk of a 50 mile plus event in the spring and even collecting UTMB points. There's also talk of some more structured traing and a new streak for Stef. Things are getting serious!

Day 64

I'm about to pop out into the cold and mist for my 64th run in 64 days. I'd forgotten how tough it is to "streak" after the clocks go back and last night was the closest I've got to not getting out.  In fairness it was the first day when I really didnt want to run and then mainly beacause of a 13 hour day at work. Ironically, and as is often the case, my run (a mile and a half on tarmac), was fine and I felt quite good

I set a target of running everyday until at least the end of the year but now I'm taking it one day at a time. Without being flippant that's how addicts cope with their addictions and it feels much more achievable than "I'll run another 50 days" or whatever

Streak on

My streak continues and is up to 46 days now. The good news is the couple of mile road runs that felt tough a month ago seem routine so pushing on to longer outings will be on the cards soon. The challenge is this coming week I'm away in Germany training with work (I started a new job a fortnight ago). My hotel is relatively small and I doubt if it has a gym so headtorchers either early morning or later in the evening will probably be on the agenda

Forty plus

Stef failed to get out one night earlier this week and broke her streak but I'm still going. Last night and this morning I took Sophie vizsla (she'd been staying with us all weekend) out for a short run, swapped her for Tussock and nipped out again. Today in particular went really well with the section of Dales Way by the vicarage being great because of the autumn foliage on the trees

29'er

Stef and I continue to run every day and have done so now throughout September. We havent run much more than a long hour but have both lost weight and feel better for it. It's been interesting for me because we have run everything i.e. no rest breaks or hill-walking. There is real no target regarding the streak (well, except to beat mmy previous best of 60 days), but sub-6 at the Hardmoors 30 on January 1 would be nice (weather depending)

Running away

Six in six

We've run every day in September. Until today our runs (Stef and I have run together each day) have been a mixed bag of trail but mostly road runs with the longest being around 55 minutes. Today we ran round Thruscross reservoir with Sophie vizsla. It was a perfect sunny late summer morning morning and warm enough for vest and shorts. Warm enough too for an ice-cream on the way home 

Streak #3

After more come-backs than Elvis and Frank Sinatra combined it feels like Stef and I have finally got running properly again, after what's been the best part of two years. We've run the last three days and have targetted (entered even) a couple of races for the first half of 2016. There are medium to long term targets for us in the Alps and the mountains and lakes of Cumbria and the races are stepping stones towards them

Streaked out but happy

Our streak ended after 9 runs in 8 days but has kicked started more training and much more importantly, re-kindled a desire to get out and enjoy the outdoors generally. We ran yesterday evening and benefitted from a free fire-work display, then this afternoon we've been for a walk by the river. The highlight of this was undoubtably seeing a dipper close to the caravan park weir singing his heart out!

Twice in a day!

Our latest streak is now getting established. Most of the runs have been 20 minute savers but yesterday after doing a saver in the morning we nipped up to the trig point above Haw Pike farm in the evening. We'd arranged to run with Richard earlier in the week but then forgot, hence going out early. We only got lost three times in the dark, but we did find what I think was a small flock of snipe roosting in a meadow. Tonight we're off to the Lion for what should be nine runs in eight days 

Jackson 5

Streaking again

We've been out for a twenty odd minute jog round the village this evening. On January 1st we're doing the Steeles' Hardmoors 30 and some training is necessary. Weight needs to be shed too. I've done two streaks before. The first was 52 days (it ended the night I found out my mum had cancer, January 22 last year), and the second ended after 60 days around this time last year. I've time for a streak pb before the 30 but I'm not setting a target (yet)

Too fat, too long

I've been fat and lazy all winter. Wedding planning has been a convenient excuse for not running, but wasn't really ever all invasive time-wise, and is coming along well now with around nine weeks to go before our big day. Therefore my pre-wedding streak started on Monday. I have long enough to (a) shift some lard and (b) beat my previous longest effort. Two short road runs have been done and my Hope is fully charged for tonight's headtorcher. Streak on!

Properly engaged

Ten days ago I bought Stef an engagement ring. A very good friend (who's been married for four years and now has two super young children) said buying an engagement ring felt a very 'grown-up' thing to do and he was absolutely correct, as is often the case

Last night after work I collected the ring and nipped into Costa for a quick coffee. I was going to go for a pint but was still feeling grown-up so came home. The ring fitted perfectly (it'd been off to a retired jeweller appropriately on the edge of the Lake District for adjustment and a 'clean and polish'). Stef, who's been right off it with a bug for two days, perked up amazingly on recieving it!

In the evening we had a lovely dinner at home plus a bottle of wine and I decided my streak (59 days at that point) had come to an end. Around 10.15 we were off to bed and as I was undressing found myself pulling running kit on almost without realising what I was doing. Stef said you'd best go out and do your run and away I went. I felt dreadful (it was probably the rich food and wine) but I managed a loop of the village and my streak lives on

Update

I'm still running every day and did my 55th consecutive run today. Life is very hectic at the moment with our wedding to plan. We've settled on the Satuday of May Day Bank Holiday weekend (May 3) next year and have actually made a huge amount of progress with the church, fell race(!), reception etc already booked or organised

Stef is away this weekend and I am going to the Swan beer festival tonight and meeting my old pals Dave and Sara tomorrow evening for a Strictly Come Dancing night. A run up Dave's local hill (Pin Haw) is planned in the afternoon and I hope the weather is better than it was earlier tonight when I got half drowned on my Friday evening 'saver'. A saver is a short run done to 'save' the streak and everyone has their own rules as to what constitutes a minimum run; typically a mile or 15 minutes etc. My rule is if I get my kit on and stay out long enough to break sweat then it's very much game still on

Day 44

I'm still running every day and tonight's very steady 15 minute plod around the village was my 44th run in 44 days. We did 20 minutes on the treadmill on Friday, around 8 miles from Mardale on Saturday and the vast majority of the Fairfield Horseshoe yesterday, so I have had a good weekend's training really