August: My Record-Breaking Running Month

So, I picked up running again just like Rashford started to play football again after leaving United for Barcelona.

Well, slightly better, because I actually ran and put a couple hundred kilometres in the bag, unlike him in Spain. (And I wasn’t late for sessions.) Anyway, once again I had my fair share of injuries during those months, but I survived and managed to come back several times.

One year off

Yeah, that is exactly what had happened before this summer. Plantar Fasciitis.

If you know, you know.

This beast, you want to meet it like Ripley wants to meet the alien again. It hurts, sometimes you can’t even walk. Sometimes it works, sometimes you feel you are over it – only to realise you are back on Nostromo. And the worst thing is, there is no cure. Or at least so I was told. Try these, doctors mentioned to me:

go for a massage,
use an SMR roller,
use one of those medieval torture things disguised as spiky massage balls,
put ice on it, ’cause that is a general solution for everything,
if nothing helps, come back, and we’ll use STEROIDS.

It took a year to get over it – and I had to go to have a medical insole (if that is the right word) made specially for my foot. But that helped in about a month, I was ready to be back on the streets.

Oi!

Strong start, big setback

At the end of March I had two runs, in April, 10. April ended with almost 72 kilometres and that was the best month until August. Bright future ahead, right?

Not exactly. After that I had some minor injuries that prevented me from giving my all, and the next months were like a sad decline graph. Each month somehow worse than the last, like my motivation was suffering from its own plantar fasciitis.

August, you magnificent bastard

So, I decided to make August my best month in terms of distance. Now, how do you start it?

Procrastinating! What else?

So, I did not run until the 10th of the month. I don’t know how that happened, but when I looked up, it was the 10th and I was already late. I figured if I would run every 2nd day, I will need to do 8 to 10-kilometer runs. I had 20 days, minus the 5 we planned to spend in Genova, Italy, on family holiday.

So, this is how it went:

[Procrastinating]
10/08: Started strong with 7km (and immediate regret)
Several more increasingly desperate attempts
31/08: Final day panic run – 9km of pure willpower and fear
Full distance: 72,18 km (0,24 km longer than the previous one – what a success!)

Yep, it was a tough one, because I had to do a run after Genova on the last day of August. Imagine all those focaccias and pastas and Italian pastries in and on me. If you call that a desperate attempt, you are right. But I was up to the challenge.

And the targets for 2025

These are my targets for this year. Realistic ones, I guess.

First month with 100+ km ever. I haven’t managed to run that distance in a single month since (my) records began. Back around 2010 or so, I probably did it a couple of times, but not since 2019.
100+ kms per multiple months: repeat it more than once. Who cares about the cold and rainy weather of autumn?
Beat my 2020 personal best of 466km – back when I was younger, more foolish, and my knees hadn’t started their ongoing protest movement.
10-kilometer runs multiple times a week. I love it, when after 5-6 or 7 kilometres adrenaline kicks in!
I want my pace to be between 04:30 & 05:00 per kilometer for these distances – I love dictating tempo.
2026: half marathon. Somehow. Maybe on foot.

Now, as to dictating tempo. One accident gave me a new way to give a lesson to my knees about protests…

Hillside running

I am an urban runner. My legs and ankle won’t let me run in the field, but I am OK in cities. But the thing is, I don’t like the running tracks, the artificially created ones in parks.

So I usually run around a little bit, then do some rounds on the track in the park, then out again on the pavement.

And recently discovered the best option. My daughter left something at home and I was the one who had to take it to her school. But I planned running – so I decided to run there with the thing. The only problem is, her school is on top of a hill, so it is a nice and demanding uphill task.

But I loved it. It was on Monday, but come Wednesday, I did the same route, but a little bit earlier. Woke up at half past four, started at five and came back home after six. Running uphill? No problem. Downhill? That’s where my knees kick me in the *ss giving their daily protest and hurting like getting thrashed 7-0 to Liverpool. (God, I wrote that down again.)

And running around 5 is real magic. Empty streets, September’s perfect not-too-cold bite, sometimes wet pavement that reflects the streetlights, car lights. Some dog-walkers. The sun creeping up over Budapest’s hills while most people are still deciding whether to hit snooze again.

Anyway, all in all that is a lovely little morning exercise. Well, if you love beating yourself up a bit.