As dedicated as we might be to running, there are times when the last thing you want to do is put on your kit and head out the door. Races and personal bests are one way to stay motivated but bouncing from race to race with no time in between to just run for the fun of it doesn’t work for me. I like to have some periods when (to paraphrase a quote from Pretty Woman) ‘I say where, I say when, I say how much’.

Having my total mileage goal for the year as 800 miles has definitely kept me going through this cold snap when all I want to do is curl up under a duvet with a hot chocolate and watch Christmas films. But it still gives me the flexibility to say when, where and how far on any given day. To hit the magic number before 2010 is out, I need to do 48 miles. Most of the past few weeks I’ve been doing mental arithmetic in my head trying to figure out what the most manageable way to cut my latest target mileage is. That’s eight runs of six miles, or six runs of eight miles or… I could go on but you get the picture.

Thinking about how I’m going to fit in eight runs of six miles in over the next 23 days I had to spare a thought for fellow blogger Diane who is running 10k every day of the 24 days in the run-up to Christmas. Making that commitment to run every day is a tough one but – as running legend Ron Hill who has famously run every day for the past 44 years says – you’ve taken the question of whether you’ll run today or not away and have to just get on and do it. No um-ing and ah-ing.

So, I have no choice but to run 42 miles. I made the decision back in January and now I have to stick to it. Another commitment I’ve made is to Janathon. During January 2011 I’ll be running and blogging every day, so look forward to hearing about some short runs in some even shorter posts. I’ll be channelling my inner Ron Hill – not even illness or injury gets in his way.