I ran a 10k race at the start of March which meant a first long run nearly halfway through the month. However, I was in the middle of marathon training, which meant that long runs were longer than usual, with plenty of opportunity to run new roads.

Progress this month: 41.84% -> 43.09%

Run 1 - 2023-03-12

For my first run this month I once again used the Fallowfield Loop at the start of the run and ended at East Didsbury tram stop. My focus here was in three locations:

  1. Cleaning up a small collection of roads near to the roundabout at the top of Kingsway which I’d missed previously.
  2. Completing some roads just east of Stockport Road in the heart of Levenshulme.
  3. Some more roads east of Stockport Road slightly south of Levenshulme, which are in an easy to remember configuration.

I ended up also doing a small new-build estate on the way to the tram stop at the end of the run.

Usually I roughly plan which roads I’m going to run, but on longer runs it is very easy to lose my bearings (and looking at a map is cheating!). Splitting up the run into these three sections, which you can see below, helps with remembering where to go immensely.

Run on 2023-03-12
2023-03-12 run added 9.8km of new road, 42.27% total completion. Start on Fallowfield Loop and end at East Didsbury tram stop not shown.

Run 2 - 2023-03-19

This was the second longest run of my marathon training, with a total length of ~30km. In this run my aim was to clean up a few roads near to last week’s run, then complete roads to the east of Broom Lane between the Fallowfield Loop in the south and Barlow Road in the north.

After that I did some roads north of Longford Road West – complementing ones I did last month to the south of it – then followed Reddish Road and eventually Manchester Road. I’d intended to exit the big roundabout onto Belmont Way but lost my bearings and ended up running more north-west than I had planned.

Run on 2023-03-19
2023-03-19 run added 13.7km of new road, 42.84% total completion. Start on Fallowfield Loop and end at East Didsbury tram stop not shown.

Run 3 - 2023-03-26

This was the longest run of marathon training, about 2 hours 45 minutes in duration. I ran the whole length of the Fallowfield Loop both outwards and back, which is ~14 miles. In between I did some roads in Fairfield, an area which I’ve hardly touched so far.

The grid pattern of roads that I ran in Fairfield is one that makes remembering the route very easy.

Run on 2023-03-26
2023-03-26 run added 6.0km of new road, 43.09% total completion. Start and end on Fallowfield Loop not shown.