My first half marathon, and a finish inside the top 10%... I guess I have to be pretty pleased with that. When I decided to step up to half marathon distance, my notional goal was 'under 100 minutes', and I managed that - by a clear margin - at my first attempt. Official time is given as 1h 33m 32sec, and 904th position in a field of 9877.

We arrived very early, as advised - and found things more or less deserted. I had roughly an hour to kill, wrapped in my black bin bag, trying desperately not to shiver in the freezing wind. We got underway, and the first kilometre was much slower and more congested than I would normally like. But as we left the Green Park office park, things began to spread out, and I could find my own pace a bit more.

The first half proved to be very quick indeed... I reckon it was the fastest 10km I've ever run, a fraction over 40m30 - and that's with another 11 still to go after it. It all felt very comfortable, and very enjoyable. Lots of people out to watch, lots of space on the road, and familiar territory. But from the halfway point, as you'll see on the graph, the split times began to slip. The 16th kilometre was a real shocker, the 17th was a bit of an improvement (albeit mainly downhill!), but the rest were pretty disappointing. The dream of breaking 90 minutes was long gone before we reached the Madejski Stadium. But what a moment when you turn the corner, and drop down into the stadium itself. The noise, the crowd, the colour - and the sight of the finish gantry. An instant of real elation, and I can't think of many better moments in my running career so far.

I can't be too unhappy with the times. Looking at the data from my iPod, I didn't underperform compared to what I've been doing in preparation. Ninety minutes was just too much to hope for, especially when you add in the extra unaccounted distance - I ran 21.8km in the course of a 21.1km race. But it's close enough to 90 for that to be a realistic target next time. Next time? Yeah, almost certainly. But to be honest, given how I felt at the end, a full marathon still seems like a heck of a challenge.

Now, I'm sitting here nursing my right foot, which boasted the largest blood blister I have ever suffered. That's the last time I use Mizuno trainers; they were meant to be my special lightweight shoes for racing, but I should have stuck with my heavier, but better fitted Sauconys. I'll be walking quite gingerly for a couple of days as a result, and certainly won't be running this week.

We're now only a month away from my first half marathon, and it's all going to get very serious very soon, when the race packs arrive. Training has been going really pretty well all winter, with decent chunks being cut off my training times - apart from this week, when I've had a bit of a cold, and have had to spend most of the time nursing and/or entertaining Aimee.

Since it's my first crack at the longer distance, I decided to do a bit of research into the course itself. It has the reputation as one of the fastest half marathon courses in the country, which makes me confident of setting a good time. But then I traced out the course in Google Maps:

Yep, that's one heck of a climb in the early stages - and I understand it catches a lot of people out. Well, forewarned is hereby forearmed. Won't make it any easier though. After that it's all fairly steady in terms of climbs and drops.

My original target was 100 minutes... and that shouldn't be a problem. Realistically I should be able to do 1h33, which would put me in the top 8% of the field, based on last year's times. With a fair wind, and if I can avoid traffic in the early stages, that 1h30 'dream target' - and a top 5% finish - is surely feasible.

But I'm almost more excited at the prospect of racing against a few celebrities. With the London Marathon imminent, a lot of people use Reading as a warmup - and in previous years, quite a few celebs have done it too. I've already beaten Fatboy Slim twice round Brighton beach... who's the next victim?

It's been a while since I stuck anything up here... so here's a quick update. It's looking like I'm going properly consultancy, unless someone makes me a fantastic job offer very soon (and I mean fantastic). I think I've lined up a few very interesting projects of various sizes, with some very big-name companies, but it's just a question now of signing a few deals (etc). Until then, I'm spending a lot of time playing with various (mainly open-source) software products, really getting under their skin, and understanding how I could sell them to people as a consultant.

Another added benefit has been the extra scope to go out running. I'm gradually increasing my distances, with 10k now being considered a 'short' trip. I did my first ever half-marathon distance yesterday (21.1km), in freezing conditions, and surprised myself with the time. The agony in my legs last night was, er, less of a surprise. I don't want to get carried away, but I can't help feeling I'm capable of breaking 90 minutes, which would put me in the top 5% or thereabouts. That isn't a prediction, by the way. ;)

In other news... Aimee's obsession with ducks continues. Her new favourite phrase is 'It's stuck', which she uses any time something won't move in the direction she wants - whether it's actually stuck or not. The eyesight is still going great, after the operation: still one eye slightly better than the other, but only marginally, and certainly not enough to worry about. The asthma drugs are working, without really getting in the way much. And it snowed last night... not a lot, and it'll be a memory by lunchtime, but these days it's about all we get.

If you're going to be buying stuff from Amazon, can I please ask you to start at aimeezon.findless.co.uk instead of www.amazon.co.uk. You get exactly the same Amazon experience, and all the same low low prices... but we get a 'thank you' from Mr Amazon for passing you through. Everyone's a winner! (Shameless, I know...)

I haven't mentioned Aimee's development here for a while, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to report. Quite the opposite. We're really communicating with her now; she definitely understands most of what we say to her, and will respond to instructions and questions. Like, if we're reading her favourite book, and ask her to point to the eponymous hero, she will - and usually at the first attempt.

On the flipside, her vocabulary is beginning to expand. Her first word was 'Lucy', on her first birthday - but remarkably, we haven't heard her say it once since. Currently, her full repertoire of discernible words (as far as I can remember now) is as follows:

Shoes. Hiya. Duck. (Ba)nana. Yummy-yummy (ie. food). More. Bye-bye. Uh-oh. No. Baby. (Not to be confused with Bay-BEE, which seems to be the name of the doll she got for Christmas). Star. Fish. Dora (sounds a lot like 'duck', but she knows what she means). Woof (ie dog; and I only have my mum's word on this). Whee! Row-row-row (as in 'can we play 'row row row your boat...'')

I pulled all the data out of my running diary, to see how I've progressed over the year - and I have to say, I'm delighted with the results. The times over 10km* dropped consistently over the year - and in fact, since I started on the asthma inhalers, they're dropping even faster. I did a 10km training run tonight which (unofficially, of course) was an out-of-competition personal best by over 30 seconds. On the right course, on the right day, I'm starting to think I might even be capable of a time beginning with a 3. Hooray for (legal) steroids!

And so to 2007. So far, I'm only entered for one event - namely, the Reading Half Marathon at the end of March. I might try to squeeze in a 10k before then; and there's a 10k in aid of Asthma UK the week after, which I kind of feel obliged to enter now. After that? No idea. All depends what happens in Reading. If I don't get a time I'm happy with, or if I get a time I'm very happy with, I'll probably be looking out for another half somewhere (although they do dry up immediately after London Marathon).

* I suppose I should note that the 10km measurements were guesses until late June, when I got hold of the iPod thingy. And the iPod's timing was a bit dubious until a November software update. But I think the comparisons still stand up.

Just a quick note, cos I'm not meant to spend long periods in front of the computer screen just yet. Suffice to say, I had my laser eye surgery on Tuesday afternoon, and barely a couple of days later, I can see clearly without mechanical assistance for the first time in more than 20 years. All went smoothly; I felt a bit queasy, but only at the thought of what was happening, rather than feeling anything at all. The most memorable sensation was actually the smell: that unmistakable scent of burning flesh, mmm, nice. I'm glad the surgeon warned me of that beforehand.

I'm on medical eye-drops for the first week afterwards, and normal eye-drops for up to three months... but it's a small price to pay. Thankfully the protective eye-shields, to stop me subconsciously rubbing my eyes whilst asleep, can go after a week too.

With no good reason not to, and following news that a second acquaintance is also signed up, I put my money down this evening for next year's Reading Half Marathon. I'm already comfortable doing 10+ miles in training, so the step up doesn't hold much fear for me. It takes place on Sunday 25 March, finishing within the Madejski Stadium. Being my first attempt at the longer distance, my official objective will be 'just to get round'... but deep down, I reckon I can get under 100 minutes. I'd need to average 4'44/km, and I'm averaging around the 4'30 mark on my longer excursions. It'll be nice to race a few celebs too; a lot of people do Reading as prep for the London Marathon, just under a month later.