Tag Archives: ian

During March, as part of my 2026 miles in 2026 project, I took in two races. Two very hilly races, and important milestones on my road to the London Marathon on 26 April.

The first was the Liversedge Half Marathon on 1 March, which also happened to be my 59th birthday. A birthday treat of 13.1 miles felt about right. The race starts in Roberttown, just up the road from Spen Valley Stadium, Princess Mary Stadium, where we compete for West Yorkshire Track and Field. It was the 30th running of the Liversedge Half and my first time doing it in those 30 years. It had a good community feel about it. Registration was in a village hall, the community had come together to host it, and although the roads weren’t fully closed, there was a closed start before opening out onto a mixture of road, pavement, and the odd grass verge. Challenging terrain, and challenging topology too.

I was back to 40+ miles last week of mostly easy running. It felt good to see the mileage return to something that would see me back on course for 2026 miles in 2026, although I’m not entirely back on track yet and will not be chasing any bigger totals just yet.

I’ve been full of a cold since last Wednesday when I led a 300-600-300 wave interval session in the pouring rain at Bubwith. It’s likely my immune system was under strain anyway due to back-to-back 40-mile weeks and a 19-mile-long run the previous weekend.

As a result of the cold, which has been accompanied by a fever, I have had to curb all running, including missing the last of the PECO cross country race on Sunday. Running would have been reckless, and this year is supposed to be about thinking longer term for me — towards London in April and, more importantly, towards longevity of fitness and health.

I’m attempting to run 2026 miles in 2026. I’ve never managed to run the year in miles before. The closest I’ve come was in 2022, when I ran just over 1,800 miles — that also happened to be the year I ran my sub-3 marathon at Boston. That was a good year, but I’ve never actually broken 2,000 miles across a calendar year and would like to make a serious attempt in 2026.