I’ve been clocking up the hours at work rather than in my running shoes, which has also meant limited blogging opportunities. Still, it’s worth mentioning that from a Septathlon challenge point of view I’m back on track, having just competed my fifth major event: the BUPA Great Capital 10k.

Again I was luck with the weather. The run was a very pleasant meander around Hyde Park, with the trees providing shade from the sun. Apart from the usual complaints about the shortage of loos, it was highly organised and the only real gripe was a lack of enthusiasm from the supporters, who were mostly made up of tourists passing by. I ran it in 57.37, which is way slower than last year’s Derby 10k, but if you saw the pictures, you’d realise that my paunch might have something to do with that.

The next event is the Nike 10k at the end of August, followed by the Experian Festival of Running (the dafted event name I’ve heard of), otherwise known as the Robin Hood half marathon, in September. It doesn’t leave much room for error to complete my seven events before the end of September, but I should just about hobble in and reach my goal.