And the Award for "Best Song to Run To ever" goes to...

Now that I've done a couple of longer runs (i.e. over an hour / an hour & a half) I'm starting to notice that there's a certain process you go through on every run.

First 5 mins - feel v proud to have left house and hope you warm up soon

5-15 mins - hate it, wish you'd never left house and wonder if there's any way you can justify going home for a nice cup of coffee

15-30 mins - wonder when your legs will stop feeling so heavy

30-45 mins - constantly think about how much further you have left to run

45mins - fall into a stride, start to enjoy it, realise you might be able to actually do this

It's actually rather strange how I seem to go through this process of every single run. Having spoken to a couple of friends who also run, it encouraging to know that I'm not alone in this.

And from the 45 min point onwards, the run suddenly seems do-able and you feel quite proud to be out and running.

But there are still some things that you can count on happening at some point during the rest of your run.

1) You'll get trapped behind 2 or 3 people who are doing a spectacular job of hogging the entire pavement / pathway and are completely oblivious to the world around them or the red faced puffing runner trapped behind them

2) Despite having watched you run towards them for the last 30 seconds, a bunch of people at the bus stop will make zero effort to move or make any space to let you through but instead will stand gormlessly in your way.

Let's take a few moments to consider how annoying these people are. Look; here are some specimens:

Moving swiftly on...

3) a dog will chase your heels (sometimes embarrassingly)

4) you'll get distracted by a fellow runner coming towards you who's much faster than you, has a bigger stride, looks like they have run further, has snazzier running gear and is generally finding it all much easier.

5) As aforementioned runner passes you, you will trip and stumble. (This is the law of Sod, and is particularly applicable if the runner is a hottie)

6) You iPod shuffle delivers a spectacularly awful 'running song' your way and all of a sudden the ache in your butt, back and feet is worse, your lungs are tighter and your legs feel like jelly

7) Your iPod shuffle delivers Your Disco Needs You (live in London) by La Minogue, and all of a sudden you could run for another ten miles, no worries.

Think I'm going to officially submit this track as Best Song To Run To ever.

Or is that just me? Suspect it might be...

Either way, I'm now doing just over 10 miles in 1hr 50, and I'm pleased with that.