Well done Catton Park Run 200! But alas another run fail for Mr Nearly Ran

8.10am – Wife: ‘Aren’t you going for a parkrun this morning?’

Me: ‘Urrgghh – yep, going on my way’

Exit for kitchen, sound of kettle being switched on.

8:21: Me: ‘Cup of tea, for you’

8:34: Me (shouts upstairs to bedroom): ‘Where’s the keys to my bike lock?’

Wife: ‘What bike lock?’

9am: 200th Catton Park Run starts

A little bit of Unthank Road atop a Welsh Brynn and why I didn’t run the Swansea Half Marathon

I’ve just come back from a trip to Wales – Reynoldston in Gower, South Wales, to be precise.

It was great, we stayed in Hills Farmhouse a lovely farm cottage with views towards the bays, somewhere beyond the mist and clouds I think, and the in-laws were there, too, all of them.

It was great…

But actually, I’ve learned something on these trips, when it feels like there are too many people under one roof – take your running kit and head for the hills!

How interval running around Chapelfield Gardens helped me run my first marathon in under four hours

Feeling unfit as he neared 40, Jon Welch, pictured above right, took up running. Fast forward five years and Jon, who lives in Norwich, has just run his first marathon and sub four hours, too.

Running less was key to it – as well as some lunchtime interval runs around Chapelfield Gardens. Here he tells me how he did it.

Was this your first marathon? What sort of running had you been doing before that and why did you decide to step up?

Yes, this was my first. I’d done seven half-marathons before this race, plus a couple of 10Ks and handful of Parkruns. A marathon seemed the logical next step, I suppose.

I remember the London Marathon launching when I was a kid. It was a massive event that seemed to capture everyone’s imagination. Even then I thought it would be great to be a part of something like that, and a real achievement to finish. But it was no more than an idle dream, really – not least because I didn’t run and didn’t have much inclination to start. Much later, once I’d run a few halfs – which once would have seemed impossible to me – I started to think a full marathon might be within my grasp.