1095miles – how I'm running the recession

What is 1095miles?

Well it’s three miles a day for a year, which is the running challenge I have set myself since being made redundant in September 2009 from my job as deputy features editor and travel editor of Metro, the free morning commuter newspaper in London. It’s also now this running blog where you will be able to read a summary of my daily run and follow my progress thanks to my Garmin Forerunner 405 GPS watch. Every detail of every run – map, distance, speed, calories burnt and beats of my heart per minute – can be tracked by clicking on each  link on the running blog.

Why 1095 miles?

I’m not quite sure either. It was a bit of a whim at first. When I left my job, I sent out an email to all my contacts. It ended:

‘For the time being, I will be blogging at my travel blog worldofjames.com, tweeting on twitter.com/worldofjames and offering my writing, editing, training and consulting services on a freelance basis. I’ll also be launching a website with Kieran Meeke (who is also leaving), concentrating on the book of my post-tsunami Sri Lankan experience and attempting to run 1095miles over the next year (that’s 3miles a day!).’

In retrospect, I’m pretty sure it had something to do with my drama queen tendencies, the big flourishing sign off, but I am also the kind of person who needs some structure in my life, something to retain my focus. Up until now it’s been work, my life framed by 10 hours a day at the paper and working hard.

Now with a new career to carve and a generous redundancy cheque in pocket, I know that unless I do something to keep things in check, I’m as likely to spend the next year sitting in front of the TV doing very, very little.

So I figure, get up early, run, exercise, shower, drive my other half Laura to the station and come back to the house, write, write, write. And at the same time, try and figure out how I am going to run the recession.