Last Tuesday represented the 40th anniversary of me commencing to log my running mileage on a daily basis. I remember that day very well. It was when I made the decision to quit professional football (I had played a trial game for South Sydney the day before) and start training for a marathon. In the 40 years since, I have run a total of 176,872 km, averaging 12.108 km per day, including days off. However, I haven’t had a day off now in more than 18 years.

On Friday I cracked 4 mins for a kilometre for the first time this year, just sneaking across the line with a 3:59. This is basically the same pace that I ran my fastest marathon at back in 1987 – in other words, I’ve previously run 42.2 km at the same pace I only managed 1 km at last week. A bit depressing, but at least I’m on the improve.

This week I think I might try my hand at a longer distance, perhaps 5 km. It will be slow compared to efforts of the past, but it’s all in the name of training.