Thirteen months ago I was on the other side of surgery, not really knowing if the runner I’d spent a decade building was still in there somewhere. Last night, at the Mid Cheshire 5K in Kingsley, I ran 15:40. Quickest I’ve ever gone on the road, and level with my best ever parkrun.

The time itself isn’t really what I want to talk about though. On the drive home I ran it through my own marathon curve, one I’ve built and fitted properly to my own results rather than pulled off some generic chart, and it came out level with the marathon PB I set in London. In the one distance I’ve always struggled with most. That’s the bit that got me thinking.

In the video I take you through the whole race properly, how I paced each mile, why mile two mattered more than any other part of the night, what the power data tells me about running the hill the right way, and what all of this means for where I am heading with Valencia in December. If you’re coming back from injury, surgery, or just a rough year of running, this is the sort of video I’d have wanted to find myself thirteen months ago.

I haven’t missed a day’s running since 30 November 2015, and this one felt like it belonged on that streak more than most. Go and watch the full breakdown, it’s all in there. Just keep running.

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