A great way to start the year...

I'm definitely planning this post to be shorter than last night's, especially as I've already written most of an entry, only to have Blogger crash and lose it all!

This year got off to the best, most different start to any previous year for me - with a run!

I'd been pondering whether to go for a run straight after midnight, as some of my Twitter friends were suggesting they might. Then, whilst I talked to my parents in the closing minutes of 2011, my mum suggested (jokingly I thought) she'd go for a walk / run around the block where they were in Southern England, while I went in Scotland. That really tempted me to go for it, but the real clincher was when my younger son, Kieran piped up that he'd like to go with me...

Kieran's really got into running over the past couple of months, but hadn't run with me for about a week, mainly because he'd been having too much fun with his brother / cousins, so I was surprised and very happy that he wanted to come too.

We set off just after midnight and headed up the hill to the Crieff Hydro, both shattered, but buzzing from the unusual timing of and total eccentricity of running during the first few minutes of a new year...

As we headed back down towards the centre of the town, the light drizzle became heavy rain - which, combined with the close to freezing temperature, made the conditions about as unpleasant for running as any I've come across. So, as we got to a point where we could easily head back to warmth and bed, I asked Kieran if he wanted to end the run early or complete our planned 5K. He insisted that he wanted to do the run we'd set out on, so we headed down to the High School, at the very lowest point in Crieff. On our way we passed some drunken revellers who shouted "oh my God, they're going for a run" which made us both laugh and pretty much summed up how crazy non-runners (and probably most runners too) would view what we were doing!

After reaching the school, we headed back to my sister's house, almost a mile of non-stop hill climbing, which was tough for us both at that time of night/morning, but we made it and joyfully reached our goal, just before 1 o'clock and after just over 30 mins and 3.4 miles of running.

You can see the details of our crazy run (and all my other runs/walks/rides) here: http://runkeeper.com/user/mikew30

It was such a great way to start the year, and it got even better when my Dad sent me a text to say that my Mum had been for a run/walk around the block after midnight too! Three generations enjoying crazy exercise, at the same time, 500 miles apart!

A big thanks to everyone for their kind comments!

Yesterday's first post was a big deal for me, writing it was quite nerve-wracking, and I wasn't sure whether to hope that nobody read it, as it least then there would be no chance of embarrassing myself!

It turns out quite a few people have read my first entry, and from the many kind comments I've had, on the blog post itself, Facebook, Twitter and even on the phone from my friend Oly (who I'm sure will be mentioned in future posts)...

I won't name all the people who've said nice things about the blog, or my journey from Blobby to less blobby so far, but having that support means a lot, it also means I'll feel compelled to try to keep this blogging lark up - though hopefully with shorter and less wordy posts (I realise I've again failed to keep my promise of a short entry)!

Right, I'd better get this posted as I'll need to get some shut-eye soon, as to celebrate the last day before going back to work, I've got 2 runs planne tomorrow!

All the best and thanks again for everyone's kind words.

Mike

**Update. Kieran asked me to point out that he did run with me last week - on Saturday morning at the Falkirk Parkrun (Marcothon finale) under 24 hours before the run described above. #doh! ** :). To make up for my oversight, here are pics of Kieran (right, in red) and his elder brother James at our first Parkrun a few weeks ago - pretty much the start of both boys getting into running...