Aim for the stars, if you miss you might get the moon. But it doesn’t always work like that when it comes to running. My marathon time was 4.31.30 – which I was delighted with because I’d not set myself a target other than to finish with under 5 hours being a bonus. Imagine how my joy at completing my first marathon would have been tarnished if I’d set myself the goal of getting 4.30.00. You might think ‘It’s only one minute 30 – you could probably have shaved that off if you were aiming for it’, but that would have changed my whole race tactics. I might have gone off too fast and hit the wall later on. I finished the race delighted rather than despondant.

In running, there is rarely a case where you’re happy with the moon when you’ve aimed for the stars. Just a few seconds can be the difference between another decent 10K time and a personal best. And being too ambitious in your goals can have a negative effect on your performance.

But largely we, as runners – whatever our level – do need to set ourselves targets. Samuel Wanjiru, the Olympic marathon champion, has set his sights on beating Haile Gebrsellasie’s 2:03:59 world record in January’s Dubai marathon. I hope it’s televised!

My target for this year is slightly less ambitious: sub-2 hour half marathon in October and to bring my 10K time down by another couple of minutes. 50 minutes would be ideal. One distance I can be guaranteed of a PB this year though is the 5K. It dauned on me that I’ve never raced a 5K and therefore don’t have an official time. So before the year is out I’ll be lining up at my local Park Run on a Saturday morning and aiming for a time somewhere around Jupiter.