January is a month that needs its own training montage - I’m thinking vintage Rocky, of course. Perhaps with a few more calf stretches and a few less air punches. Full of good intentions in the post-Christmas period, many of us sign up for a race - or count the weeks until a big one - and decide to knuckle down. But my word, it’s a long old month, and it can seem like progress is measured in millimetres not minutes. So hooray for February, slightly lighter evenings, and signs of progress.

Yesterday I did the Cancer Research Winter Run 10km in Central London. It’s always a fun race, with volunteers dressed up as arctic wolves, penguins and polar bears, choirs by the road and of course the closed streets of London to race through. The volunteers in the yeti costumes definitely got the best gig - in those shaggy furs they were surely the only warm creatures in the area.

Having done quite a lot of miles recently, I was delighted to get a big PB - almost exactly a minute in fact. It’s always great when the training - even when it doesn’t make a good movie montage - starts to show. Having a coach, and being naturally (in running, if in nothing else...) prone to obeying orders, it’s heartening to see all those solo training runs/sufferfests turn into something more tangible. Plus, I got a warming hug from a polar bear and some malt loaf. Win win!

So, anyone else starting to feel a bit speedier now the darkest days are behind us, at least in the UK? As always, share your weekend highs and lows below the line.