One hundred and seventy-five miles, more than a few smiles and a pocketful of fears (apologies again to BC for ripping this off).

It has been a challenging month so I thought it would be good to share my ups and downs through a month wordy witterings and pavement pounding.

First, the bad.

Taking my job home

In my current role, 7+ hours of each day are spent at a computer writing, copying and pasting, editing and re-editing.

There have been days where I have stayed late, gone in early and skipped lunch to do this and then faced the prospect of writing more when I get home.

You’ll be pleased to know that the material I produce at work is much, much more dry than my blogging efforts but it still means that for a massive part of the day I am either writing or thinking about writing.

The blog part reminds me why I liked writing in the first place. The work part reminds me how writing can also be very functional and dour.

Writer’s Block

It is nearly 10pm as I type this but I actually thought about the idea a couple of hours ago. This is the rarity rather than the norm.

Usually I am pestering my girlfriend or housemates for ideas of what to write as I struggle to think of original concepts.

When your whole month revolves around writing and running, it is hard to write about anything but running and there are only so many topics which can be broached easily when your daily run is 3 and a half miles round the same streets.

Deadlines

Starting to write at 10pm is relatively early given my form over the preceding 28 days. More likely I would be desperately typing with minutes to go before my daily writing deadline approached.

Then a frantic search for a picture and enduring interminable loading times before collapsing over my laptop as the beautiful words appear in front me “you have published a new post”!

It gets even harder when I have been unable to run during the day.

Running at 9pm followed by trying to think up something to write and then actually write it has nearly proven my undoing on some occasions and definitely the reason for some tardiness the following day.

But now for the best bits!

Motivation

It is simple enough. Write and run every day for a whole month. But actually having a reason to do so made me get out of bed early, run in the freezing cold, up hills in rainy Glasgow and nearly into a horse in London.

I feel fitter and healthier than I have in a long time, possibly ever and I have definitely shifted some of the “timber” I’d been carrying.

In terms of writing every day, I have reacquainted myself with metaphors and similes like a soldier returning from a tour of duty.

Just thinking about writing has stirred creativity that I thought was long lost under piles of structured, clinical and technical financial writing.

Hello world!

I started this blog to keep myself amused through the days of winter and the recovery periods in the build up to my first 100k.

What, in a slightly naïve way, has amazed me is the global reach of words typed on an old laptop in east London.

I am not saying that everyone has enjoyed it but the sheer fact that somebody in Sri Lanka, South Korea or Ghana has even read something I have written is mind-boggling.

Old friends and new

Facebook is a funny old bear. I honestly thought that posting my stories to my friends would result in a couple of token likes and probably a lot of comments from my mum (thanks mum).

But I have been pleasantly surprised that a) people have actually read what I’ve written and b) have got in contact with me to talk about it, even if only to say that running 100k is a stupid idea.

I’ve also gone for run with a friend who I haven’t really seen in nearly 10 years and made plans to meet with another.

For somebody who is naturally quite introverted, this has been a way to reconnect and I am really glad to have had the chance.

Conclusion

Firstly I would like to say thank you to Christine and Matt Frazier for starting this whole process. Secondly I would like to say thank you to the #writeandrun31 facebook group for being a source of motivation and inspiration. Thirdly I would like to thank my editor-in-chief, Victoria and my blogging counsel Melissa.

This month has been harder than I thought it would be and more rewarding than dreamed. It really has been a challenge but also a perfect start to 2015.

Day 31

Final words: 11,491
Final miles: 175.3 (282.1k)

#writeandrun31