My next challenge was the Cambridge Half Marathon in March. I’d run lots of half marathons in the past, including the Cambridge half, and my previous PB was 1:34:30 in March 2021 (a lifetime ago …). I knew that I could get round a half fairly quickly, if I was in shape, but I had no idea if I was there or thereabouts.

On the morning of the race, the conditions seemed pretty good, and I knew that I was going to be well supported from the sidelines (see support team below!). My strategy, which I know you’re not really supposed to do, was basically: go out hard, see if you can stick at it, backing the fact that I had been running lots of longer distances as part of the marathon training.

Fortunately, it seemed to work. I got round in a new (official) PB of 1:32:08. One terrible blister was the low point (stone in my shoe early in the race), and the highs were the looks of surprise on the faces of people I knew as I zipped along. I enjoyed the fact that I ran virtually the whole race next to a 20 year old with roughly the same build as me, who blasted out Stormzy from his earphones the whole way round. We shared a nod of mutual satisfaction on the finish line.

Mission accomplished. Onto the next challenge!