Exactly one year ago today, I took my first tentative steps on an 8 week run-walk program. Having hated sports at school, especially cross country running, this was something strange for me! I was inspired to give it a go after seeing Eddie Izzard complete his 47 marathons in 50 days for sport relief- such an inspirational nutcase! If he can do that, then surely I could run a short distance three times a week?

If you had asked me back then if I would still be running next year, I wouldn't have been able to answer you (I would have been out of breath!). Now though, I am well and truly hooked and can't do without my 'fix'.

I feel that I have achieved so much in this first year of running - I have run 9 park runs, a 5K race (with real moustache!), a 10K race, and a 'personal half-marathon' from my front door to Windsor Castle and back, and just last week ran abroad for the first time in Berlin. I now run 5 miles three times a week before work, plus a long run at the weekend, and have clocked up 468 miles since I started. I have lost over a stone in weight, grown stronger and fitter, improved my balance, posture, confidence, and general wellbeing. 

Being an outdoor runner, I found I was able to really experience the seasons changing. I have run in blazing sunshine, bitter cold, in pouring rain, on snow, by full moonlight and by sunrise. I have watched a generation of swans grow from little grey balls of fluff into graceful white adults, and leave home. I have run alongside deer, dodged geese, ducks, and swooping herons, and had a majestic red kite land just feet away from me.  

I am not the fastest runner, and I still have a lot to learn, but looking back over the last year I feel like the luckiest man alive for discovering this sport. I am in good health, I have active goals to pursue, and have made new friends to boot.

My current goals are to get a 25 min 5K time, a 50 min 10K time, to run 800 miles in 2011, to run my first HM race, and to run the 14 mile "Race the Train" event in mid Wales in 2012!

Here's to the next year of what I hope will be many, many more.

To anyone who is considering taking up the sport, or has just started out and needs a motivational boost to keep it going, just imagine what achievements you will be able to look back on this time next year!

That sounds lovely- there's something about the crisp cold air that makes you feel really alive!

Good luck with the 10 miler. Forgive the ignorance, but what's a kilamathon?

I think my favourite run has to be when I ran under the full moon after a hard frost - it was very foggy and visibility was down to about 6 feet so it was just me and my shadow running in a small bubble of clear air, following a sparkling crystalised pathway.  I could see nothing outside of the bubble except the glow of the moon. It was quite dreamlike and surreal.  The fog lifted after a while, and it was amazing how much you can see in full moonlight, especially when everything is glistening with frost.

One thing Ian did'nt mention - you can run anywhere if you have your kit with you.

I have just had a family holiday in Queensland, Australia and managed to run four times:

Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas about 5 miles; Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Island about 4 miles barefoot on pure white sand; a local loop around Dolphin Head, Mackay about 6 miles and a new parkrun course in Brisbane along the Brisbane River - New Farm Park.

Just reading the names again make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my wife says I should start a "Beaches of the World Running Club" - any takers?