January fitness push - no, really...

After a rather busy December which involved a lot of eating, very little running and no football training whatsoever, it's time to get fit again. I know it's what everyone says every January, but I really mean it, honest. Here's why:

December was the exception, not the norm, so getting going again shouldn't be too difficult
My brother-in-law Rich did The Grim Challenge in December, and after a casual remark about maybe joining him next time, I appear to have agreed to do it this year (loose talk costs lives, ladies and gentlemen)
My trousers don't fit any more.
I've gone and mentioned the Grim Challenge thing here now, so I really will have to do it...
So there you go: game on.

I don't have a problem getting fit again, but knowing how fit I am will be a problem. Normally if my jeans fit okay and I can play a full game of football then that's fine. If I'm going to do The Grim though, I'm going to have to know how far I can run, and how fast.

Of course, I could do the January thing and join a gym or get a personal trainer or some nonsense like that, but as we know, the Internet knows everything. That being the case, I asked my friend Nik, conveniently expert in all things running and all things Internet-y (add him to your Christmas card lists now, people) and he came up with gmap pedometer, a website that uses Google maps to let you map out a route and gauge its distance. So now I know that my standard hello-legs-remember-running route around the block clocks in at just over a mile.

Genius!

Of course I'm going to need longer routes as well, fancy going for a run Nik?