Category: Blogging

Posted on

I Ran 1000km in 2022

Running track with 1000 written on to signify the fact I run 1000km in 2022

I started running at forty-two and on telling my wife about my new soon-to-be obsession, she laughed at me! The idea of me running was funny but my wife should have known better. As per the title, at the time of this post I have run 1000km this year.

The beginning

The first two years did not go well. I ran around 200km in 2020 and the same again in 2021. I wasn’t very consistent and even though I got a little faster and hit some self-set milestones, I didn’t feel like a runner.

This year came with a change of mindset, I decided to become a runner. This was a me problem, everyone that runs is a runner. I ordered a new watch (Garmin 945 – thank you wife) and decided to start taking things more seriously. I was going to up my mileage and follow all the advice – run easy, build up gradually, warm up, you know the drill.

The new goal

I decided I needed a goal, so I set myself a goal that was challenging and yet seemed achievable. I was aiming to run a total of 400km in 2022, so doubling the mileage of the last two years.

I did not follow all the excellent running advice, none of us do. Slow easy running does help but I’m terrible for wanting to always hit a new personal best.

1000km of running

As of today, I’ve run 1000km, well 1067km. I’m well on target to triple the goal I set for myself at the start of year. I’ve taken 6 minutes off my 5km time, hitting 24 minutes and got my 10km time down to 52 minutes. The impressive part, to me at least, is that neither of those times are race times, they were set during training, and both started off easy. I’ve no idea what my go for broke times are.

I’m forty-six next year and before I get there, I’d like to get my 5km time down to 21 minutes and my 10km time down to sub 48 minutes. Both targets seem achievable and according to my watch I’d be able to hit those times today given perfect race conditions, so we’ll see, I guess.

Next year

Next year I don’t think I will be able to reach the same mileage. I’ve been freelancing this year and am free to run when I choose to as I can do my work any time of day. I’ll be contracting next year so it will be slightly more difficult to fit the runs in.

I’m aiming to enter two ultramarathons next year, both 50km. That’s a new challenge and I’m really looking forward to them. It’ll be a big step up for me as the longest single run I have done so far is 20km.

Early next year I will write a progress post explaining how I got on this year.

Posted on

Returning to Costs to Expect, finally!

My own projects have taken a back seat whilst I’ve been busy working on a freelance project which scaled well beyond the initial scope, that project is almost over and I suspect I’m going to be free for a little while to work on my own projects again. I can start pushing towards the soft release of the Costs to Expect API and App.

The API

The API has been feature ready for a while, its issues are unnecessary complexity. When I started adding new “item-types” I opted for a little too much abstraction. I’ve been designing the budgeting system (on paper) for a while, it is not going to work in the same way as the existing “item-types” so I’ve been busy removing all the abstractions and in general refactoring the shit out of the API.

I didn’t look at the API code for a year, that time gave me a fresh perspective, I’m simplifying the majority of the “item-type” code, there is no need for everything to extend from a base class if there is going to very little overlap in functionality.

In addition to the refactoring I’m moving our tests local, rather than relying on a Postman collection I’m moving all the tests to PHPUnit. I can replicate every test in the Postman collection locally as well as test things that could never be caught by only looking at responses. I expect I will keep the Postman collection around because there are tests that a simpler to do with it but having everything local is going to be a major benefit and of course necessary for the official release.

I have 11 stories left in my tracker, the API will then hit our soft release milestone. This milestone has been a long time coming, I still can’t quite believe we are this close.

The App

The App needs more work, there are 24 stores in my tracker, my wife and I are yet to pick the App apart, so, more stories will get added. App development tasks are simpler, the API does the heavy lifting, the majority of the work on the App is presentation.

The App is closed source, the API is open source, we handle each slightly differently, with the App we are focused on the features and not so much the overall design, assuming it works, with the API, the design takes a front seat as it has to potentially be maintainable by more than just us. The reality is, I develop everything so I’m not really switching styles, we just might approach the backlog in a different way.

Official release

Once the App and API both hit their soft release milestones, I’ll cry, no really, this has been such a long time coming, I’ve been planning the budgeting and forecasting system, forever.

There might be a slight detour whilst I develop another App rather than get on with the Budgeting and Forecasting. As mad as that sounds given how long it has taken to get here, it can be thought of as an experiment/proof of concept. The budgeting and forecasting will not behave as per anything else in the App so I need to test the API and my front-end skills.

The next four months are going to be full-on, all we can do is see where we are in September and go from there.