Feeling good after first run of 2013

You know that point where you are running, or jogging slowly in my case, but feel like the engine has finally kicked into life and instead of lurching and spluttering from one step to the next, you're actually purring along quite nicely. That's just how it felt last night on the first big run of 2013 and the start of training for the Edinburgh Marathon.
Having spent December doing nothing more active than growing a beard, as part of my fundraising for Decembeard (which was a huge success btw), I was a little apprehensive about trying to run for an hour on Sunday. But somehow we managed to pootle along quite happily for four miles or so in the dark afternoon along the banks of the Avon.
I think I'm feeling more optimistic about achieving some running goals this year than I have since 2010.
But it's going to be tighter than a Tory public spending policy to make the Edinburgh Marathon on May 26, but the recent new that my very good friend Kirsty Hemming will be joining me to take on the half marathon as part of her preparation for the Loch Ness Marathon in September, is a tremendous boost.

Based on little more than a bit of a hunch and past experience, I have devised the following rough plan to get me to the start line in Edinburgh. Any comments/suggestions welcome.

End of January - Be able to run 5 miles
End of February - Be able to run 10 miles
End of March - Be able to run 15 miles
End of April - Be able to run 20 miles
End of May - 26 mile marathon.

All seems quite simple sat on my hairy backside writing it out in a list, but there is so much work to go into achieving those five little goals.
However, what is really encouraging is the first run of the year was almost four miles and although we did stop a few times to walk a bit, it was a lot further than I’d thought we’d get.
Also, I’ve hit upon a great little app called My Fitness Pal, thanks to a recommendation from a work pal, which is helping me to count calories as I need to lose so much weight to make the running happen. Since my Christmas seasonal high I’ve now lost six lbs, which is great progress and means I’ll be able to access an entire wardrobe of clothes by the time the marathon comes round if that keeps up. In fact at six lbs a week I’ll be the size I was at primary school by the end of May, so I expect that won’t necessarily last, but it’s another good start.
Anyway, that’s all the boring stuff out the way for now, as there are so many running/weight loss/fat bloke blogs out there that there is really little point adding one more drop to the ocean. And besides, I’m boring the arse off myself writing this so I’d be buggered with a fish fork if anybody else is going to find it either remotely interesting or illuminating.
Therefore, as of the next blog post, I’m going to reflect more of the interesting bits to this mission, the sort of things we talk and think about while running, the thoughts we have while munching on a bowl of cous cous and salad while perusing the Mail online at lunchtime wishing we could look like Ryan Gosling, well, Ryan Giggs perhaps, or even just the person we looked like 15 years ago. I think that’s more interesting that calorie counting or talking about how many times I ran slowly round the Downs.
And also, most importantly, there are many reasons to donate to Cancer Research UK and St Peter’s Hospice, which I also want to share as cancer is something that has taken too many people I love, and I’m sure it’s the same for anybody reading this. So let’s see how we can make that difference.