Week 1, Run 1: The Journey to Chicago Begins!

After taking a week off following Manchester 10km, today marked the first official training run on my road to the Chicago Marathon 2025. After successfully completing the London Marathon last year, I'm excited (and maybe a little nervous!) to tackle the Windy City. My goal is to cross that finish line in 4:45, a time I'm determined to achieve with consistent training and the right mental attitude..

My training plan officially kicked off today, and you can see the details of my first run on Strava. 

It was a short interval session, with 6 x 1 minute intervals at a hard pace. It felt like a good way to get started, the weather was overcast but not bad for running.

I'm following a Coopah training plan, which I'm confident will help me stay on track. The plan has a mixture of long runs, easy runs, tempo and intervals sessions. The journey to a marathon is never easy, but I'm ready to embrace the challenge and share my progress along the way. Stay tuned for more updates!

If you want to try out Coopah please us the following link for a free trial 

Great Manchester Run 10k

What a Sunday it was! The Great Manchester Run 10k always delivers an incredible atmosphere, and this year, on May 18th, it certainly lived up to expectations. There's nothing quite like pounding the streets of Manchester alongside thousands of fellow runners, cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd. They even played The Stone Roses just as we took our place on the starting line – it felt electric! This year was particularly special for me as I got to share the experience with my wonderful wife, Katarzyna.

The race itself proved to be a bit more challenging than anticipated due to the unseasonably warm weather. It definitely added an extra layer of difficulty to the 10k distance, but we powered through, navigating through the city centre and out towards Old Trafford before looping back to finish on Deansgate. There was an excellent crowd; every high-five from a spectator, every shout of encouragement, makes a real difference.

As for my own performance, I crossed the finish line in 57 minutes and 24 seconds. While not a personal best, I'm happy with that time, especially considering the conditions. It was a solid effort given the sun, and I'm pleased with how the run went. It's a testament to consistent training (I use Coopah training – feel free to check them out with my code!) and, of course, the fantastic support from Katarzyna both on and off the course.

Watching Katarzyna cross the finish line too, knowing we'd both pushed ourselves and achieved something great together, was a fantastic feeling. These shared experiences are what make events like the Great Manchester Run so memorable.

A huge thank you to everyone who organised the event, the volunteers, and of course, the incredible Manchester crowd for making it such an unforgettable day. The medals are proudly displayed, and the memories will last a lifetime.

Now, time to recover, reflect, and perhaps start thinking about the next challenge: Chicago in October!

RIP Skype

Skype logo

The end of an era Microsoft officially shuts down Skype in favour of teams. Back in the naughtiest after the likes of ICQ AOL Messenger and MSN closed down Skype came along to fill the void. For a while it was the go to for video and voice calling. I even owned a Skype wifi phone which allowed me to call from any WiFi network. This was before FaceTime (in fact pre iPhone). 

Unfortunately like many technologies which were ahead of their time they were bought out by Microsoft and became a bit stagnant while others came along and overtook them. It’s sad to see it go especially as I am not the biggest fan of teams.