JAMES BLUNT

The morning started as many have with a coffee and a dog walk and a commute to work. I got to the bridge and on the steps passed another runner. He looked like a runner. Around half way over the bridge he eased passed me and I stayed with him. I was in no mood for a race, but figured I'd use him as a pacer and get a little above my usual plod. After a while I pulled alongside him and started a conversation. I told him I was in no mood for a race and asked if he was training or commuting. He was commuting and he asked me the same question and I told him it was a bit of both, with Juneathon thrown in for good measure.

And then he told me that 100km was about the shortest distance over which he raced. And he'd been invited to run La Ultra High. Only 10 people were invited to run it, and if you take a look at the course - a single stage 333km through the Himalayas - you'll understand why. It started to dawn on me that this guy, Jason Dunne, was one of those people that you read about but don't think really exist. In his training he was averaging a marathon distance a day and even managed to knock out an overnight 100km before going to work the following day. He is off the end of the bell curve. Nice guy though, if you met him in the street you'd not pick him.

So, have a bit of James Blunt "High." Let it be known that there are no guilty pleasures, just pleasures, and I quite like James Blunt. So there.

The run home was just another commute, but it saw me scrape back to a 20km/day average and tick over 520km for the month to date. I'll take that. The sunset was quite a stunner. Mostly cloudless with a deepening blue sky leading down to an orange that became a red on the horizon.