I’m really pleased with the progress I’m making. Today I ran for 45 minutes continuously, and at a faster pace than I have for months. Admittedly, it wasn’t fast compared to my old days, but it’s all relative. The heel was sore during the first kilometre, but after that I could hardly feel it. Each day I’m becoming more and more confident of making it to the starting line of the Oxfam 100 km Trailwalker, which is important for many reasons – not the least of which is not letting my team mates down.

On This Day: one year ago was my last full day of running in Germany, from Karlstein to Oberviechtach in the snow, before crossing into the Czech Republic the next day. Two years ago I ran a long 63 km from Cortez to Durango in the Colorado Rockies, finishing amid a heavy snowfall. It seems snow was the common theme for April 3 during my world run.