Hello everyone! Today is officially the 1/2 way marker for this year's Movember challenge, and we are very proudly sat at £550 donations now, just £200 short of our target £750!

Thank you so so much for all the support so far - the donations, the words of encouragement, those of you who are running and doing parts of my daily workout in solidarity.

This morning I have made a bit of a hard decision - today was meant to be a 15km run and a daily circuit, but I have ultimately decided that today needs to be a rest day. The last couple of weeks has been so much fun but, alas, today I am putting my own health and body first, knowing that from advice given to me by the awesome coaches at Good Condition Fitness and Remedial Centre that you need to respond to what your body is telling you - and today it's telling me it needs a break...

What does that mean though? Well... the 15km run I will now be looking to do tomorrow or Monday depending, and I will slide other runs around should I need to - then with the circuit, I will be looking to spread the reps over the next six days, starting Monday, adding ten reps on to each excersise across Mon-Fri. This is not ideal, and a part of me's frustrated at throwing a towel in today, but previous experiences of sports related injuries have told me that nothing is worth pushing your body in ways it shouldn't be pushed.

There will be excersise today, but this will be a lot of recovery and remedial work - so you might hear my groans of pain from rolling and stretching echoing out across the streets of Lincolnshire at some point...

See you all again soon!

So after an 11.5hr day at work, tonight's 10km wins the hardest run yet - I am hurting in places I didn't know existed, very much feeling the build up of niggles now, and still have the chuffing circuit to do!

BUT, and this is a very big but, there were over £100 on donations today, which is blooming insane - so the total is now OFFICIALLY over £400, and over 1/2 of the way to the target £750.

I am honestly so beyond words on the support, and so so happy to be where I am at the 1/2 way marker for this year's Movember!

Another 10km bagged tonight, and my first sub 50 minute 10km of Movember 2025 - coming in at just under 49 minutes!

Another circuit down, and we played with close arm, wide arm, diamond, and spiderman pressups tonight for added fun

That's it, week one of Movember down!

I am chuffed to say that I am at 50km of 150km run, 9 of 30 circuits down, and over 1/3 of the way to my £750 donation goal!

On the second day, I wore a bowler hat; so on the 9th day, I wore a top hat.

I am very much starting to feel it now - the circuits feel harder and the legs feel heavier, but the mind still feels motivated!

Another 15km Saturday run through the gorgeous city of Lincoln. Stopped off for a cheeky selfie with the lovely Cathy too!

An early start today for our first AM run! Another 10km, and 53 minutes - we're edging closer to that sub 50, but are still a way off from my adulthood PB of 41.37, and my Lincoln 10km time of 44.24. But hey, I'm not in my 20s anymore...

So after a bit of a headache induced blip yesterday, and a truly pants circuit that didn't warrant posting about, today was back to a respectable circuit, headache free...

Hopefully, tomorrow will be headache free too, so I can post a decent 10km time (we are aiming for sub 50 minutes, we shall wait and see).

But day five is done, and we are 5/30 of the days down, and 1/3 of the way to my donation goal of £750 - that is something worth celebrating!

So, not that I am competitive in any way shape or form, but here are some early into the month scores on the doors for this year's official UK Water Industry Challenge...

Anglian Water is currently doing admirably, sitting in 4th place at the time of posting, and yours truly is #6, believe it or not, in the individuals donations raised rankings, having officially raised 1/3 of my desired £750 goal (though superseding that by the end of the month would be bloody marvellous)...

However, I think that Anglian Water can hit top spot before the end of the month, and further think that I can weasel my way up the individuals donations raised rankings to a hopeful top-three finish...

But I need your help to get me there! Every donation made goes to the phenomenal cause that is Movember, and further spurs on my madcap venture to run 150km across the month, and complete my daily circuit, which would be an unfathomable total of 10800 reps, and 1800 reps of each exercise, for the month itself...

Well, now that the math's mathing, WTFF was I thinking when I signed off on this challenge...

So not quite the B-E-A-UTIFUL run I'd anticipated...

But that's the first country run done - a very grueling 10km in just under 55 minutes, and 1/6 of the way to 150km!

When I look back to 2019 and 10km times of under 45 minutes though - oh how the mighty have fallen...

That's better!

Day three of MOVEMBER, and I'm feeling fresh after having a bit of a trim...

The MO is back, and we have a B-E-A-UTIFUL day for a 10km run and our next circuit!

Circuit #2 done! With the shite press-ups from yesterday, I went for proper press-ups tonight, which meant donning the bowler... it felt fitting...

So not really the start I wanted, considering running + headache = a bigger headache

But just short of 15km bagged, and the first circuit done, albeit with some pretty shite pressups.

But hey ho, we start somewhere I guess, and surely it'll only get better..

It will get better... right?

We have reached that time, MOVEMBER 2025 has officially begun!

And as promised, here is my gruelling calendar for the month, kicking off later on today with a 15km run and the first of thirty daily circuits!

I've had a few of you message me to say you're doing all or parts of the circuit with me across the month, so thank you for sharing the pain (I mean fun... I definitely mean fun...).

Keep an eye out, because who knows where my 15km run will take me later on today!

#movember #MovemberChallenge #MustacheChallenge #MoveForMentalHealth #donationsmakeadifference

We are at that time already where we officially have 1 DAY TO MO!

Tonight was a grueling core session back at Good Condition Fitness and Remedial Centre, the last bit of excersise before we officially get the month going on Saturday.

The full battle plan for the month will be posted soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Tonight was a landmark to landmark run, up to the incredible International Bomber Command Centre, and then over to the equally incredible Lincoln Cathedral Uk!

Honestly just a all-round awesome run!

As Routes B & C would require a headtorch to run at night, and Route A can be "fun" running at night if the High Street is busy, we now have a safe night time run.

Route D is a 10km figure of eight (10.2km if you include the warm up run up to the cathedral...), that loops two of Lincoln's most iconic landmarks, the Cathedral and the Castle, five times!

With both being lit into the night, this is a lovely, albeit repetitive, run, that I'll be able to do late into the night without any worry of getting myself lost...

Monday night at the ever brilliant Good Condition Fitness and Remedial Centre for kettlebells, starting the build up ahead of the weekend strong, when it'll be game on!

Honestly a brilliant class of hard work, good company, and good fun - it really is true that teamwork makes the dreamwork

We have Route A (the city route) and Route B (the country route) lined up, now we have Route C (which is both). This route encompasses one of my favourite runs, with a loop around one of my favourite landmarks:

- It will start with a run down through town towards Brayford Pool, where I will connect up to the towpath that runs alongside the River Witham.

- I will run along this towpath to The Pyewipe Inn, where I will then invert and run back along the towpath.

- Once in town again, I will run along the length of Brayford Pool towards the infamous Glory Hole, which is where I will join the High Street.

- I will then run up the High Street, up Steep Hill, and into Castle Square, where I will begin the Castle Loop.

- I will then run around Lincoln Castle three times, before connecting to Spring Hill, and then Motherby Hill, which takes me home.

This run is just over 10.1km and will likely be the one I favour during the daytime - though bringing the old head torch back out does seem enticing...

So we've got a route in the city, now we have a route that takes us out the city. Again, this is a run I've done time and time again, and it will take me out along the River Witham towpath to the fringe of Washingborough. When I used to run this route a lot, I would normally stop for a pint or two in The Ferryboat before running back - I don't think I'll be doing that during Movember though