20:20

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not adverse to the odd bit of cheese, the occasional corny ‘joke’ and, well, it goes without saying that everyone cringes in my company.

So I was always going to mark the new year with some sort of facepalm moment or gesture, something sigh inducing or even a basic, bog standard WTF?!

I didn’t sleep much on New Years’ Eve, I had a rattle in my chest that kept me up into the wee small hours so I napped for most of January 1st until I had to start work at around 2pm.

The next six hours or so were spent at my desk in front of my laptop. It was uncomfortable, my back was sore and so static was I that even walking started off with a limp.

Hardly ideal preparations for a run.

But, you see, I had decided that run I must. And not just any ordinary run. Oh no, this had to be a run to somehow mark the new year and all that malarkey.

So I had decreed that, despite not feeling like it in the slightest, that I must run for 20 minutes 20 seconds at 20:20 on January 1st. See? I told you it was corny, cheesy, cringeworthy.

No-one knew about it. I didn’t really need to do it but I had got it into my head that I simply had to do it.

It was cold, but thankfully dry, a lovely crisp evening actually. But I wish I hadn’t bothered.

Remember my niggles, aches and pains from sitting all day? They came back to bite me on the proverbial arse right from the start. Oh, and don’t forget my dodgy breathing from my overnight chest rattle. Not a good mixture.

Because I was only doing 20:20 I thought I’d use week one C25K splits and turn it into a little intervals session. My body had other ideas.

With about 30 seconds gone I was already struggling. This wasn’t going well, so I very quickly abandoned any idea of speed and just hoped to get through the next 20 minutes or so using run/walk. After all, I was already dressed so there was no point wasting the time it took to get ready so I might as well get something done.

Strangely, my usually slow to warm up left calf wasn’t the issue. It was the rest of me, mainly my back and my breathing.

It was pretty crap all round, but I got it done and out of the way and every run, however bad or however minor, is a tiny step back in my recovery.