If you’re gong to run a long race, you need to run long in training. If you’re going to run a fast race, you need to run fast. If your race is on the road, you should prepare on the roads, and if your race is on a trail… yep, you should prepare on the trail.

Tomorrow I run the Flitch Way marathon. The Flitch Way is a disused railway that’s now a trail to be enjoyed by runners, walkers and cyclists. It sounds pretty nice, even though it’ll be cold and icy as we run along it on New Year’s Eve.

When I was back home in Peterborough the other week, I took my own advice above literally. I headed out for a run along a trail by a train track. From my parents’ house, it’s just half a mile to a path that follows an old steam railway. It leads up to a country park and I’ve run along this path many times, sometimes with my dad on his bike to keep me company.

I’d planned to run eight miles which would take me to the country park, round a bit of a lake and back. As the path forked away from the railway and towards the lake, I chose the other direction. I carried on tracing the railway path for another few miles, the path getting increasingly muddy and uneven the further I went.

I hadn’t planned to run this way and was wearing my road shoes which slipped about on the wet mud and leaves. But I carried on. I ran along a stream and across a field and, when I ran out of paths, I turned round and headed back. I got home having run 16.5 miles.

On Christmas Eve I headed out along the same path, only this time I had my trail shoes on and my dad on his bike for company. We ran and rode 10 miles and explored a new route.

Training for the Flitch Way has been an adventure. As well as the physical side of preparing for the race by running on the trails back in Peterborough, along the Parklands Walk in North London and Hampstead Heath, there’s been an emotional preparation too. I’ve learned to slow down, enjoy the scenery and have fun running with company.

I’m looking forward to signing off 2014 with a celebration – and what better way to celebrate a great year than with a couple of friends and a marathon to run. Also beer.

Happy New Year!