October 2011

So October turned out to be a reasonable month, all things considered. Six runs, just over 50 kilometres, and 328 minutes of my life spent putting one foot in front of the other in the grey autumnal drizzle — which for me represents something approaching actual commitment. The elevation crept up to 514 metres across the month, which suggests I wasn't entirely sticking to the flat canal paths I usually default to when motivation is questionable. A personal record snuck in there too, which I'll take, even if I'm slightly suspicious of how it happened.

Compared to September, which if I'm being honest was a fairly modest four runs and 22.5 kilometres, October was a genuine step up — more than double the distance and well over twice the time on my feet. September's numbers are the kind that suggest a man rediscovering running rather than someone who actually does it, so the improvement is encouraging without being anything to shout about. The cooler autumn weather probably helped; there's something about not sweating through your kit before you've left the end of the street that makes the whole enterprise more bearable. So the direction of travel is good, and the slightly hillier efforts suggest I'm building toward something, even if I haven't entirely decided what that something is yet.

Summary generated by Claude