It seems that the Classic Quarter and fog go together, whichever direction you go...

Despite spending an hour de-clogging the bike last night, it still regularly refused to go onto the top chainring, and eventually gave up altogether... Otherwise everything went well and I was soon speeding past Penzance. The weather wasn't much better in Marazion...

I decided it was still too early for a pasty, and pushed on to Helston, where Mother's kindly treated me to a bacon roll, when they knew the reason I was caked in muddy road-spray was to raise money for ShelterBox -- thanks folks!!

Having refuelled, it was on to Lizard Point. A westerly wind had swung round to the south (of course), so I was treated to a headwind yet again. Feeling the end was in reach was enough to keep me going though, and it was soon time for a snap at Britain's most southerly point:

The legs were starting to feel a bit leaden at this point, but the thought of a bath and a beer kept the crank spinning and I eventually pulled in at home. By the time I realised I should probably have taken one last photo to mark the end of my 2011 miles journey, I was already recuperating with Radox....

So, 2011 miles, then. Or 2014.6 as it turned out.

Despite some of the kind comments I've received, I'm not pretending it's a massive achievement. At least, not on the scale of what some people do, and it's certainly nothing like the achievements of the good people at ShelterBox. But I feel very proud to have completed something that would take me a whole year, and forced me to get out and run/cycle when I would much rather not (thinks: ice, rain, night, occasionally all three!). And I'm enormously proud to have helped raise some money for ShelterBox, and had some great fun. I've also been massively impressed by my 'little' brother, as I mentioned a day or two ago.

The inspiration for raising money for ShelterBox came from my son Jesse, and a friend of his, who sold home-grown vegetables at the end of our garden path to raise money. This was when Jesse was just four years old, and his friend even younger. They even drew their own posters! I can't remember how much they raised, but it doesn't matter, really. Their efforts, and the fantastic response they had from the ShelterBox team when they took the money into the office, was enough to make me promise myself I'd do something too. Of course, I had no idea then that my lunatic brother would come up with the 2011 miles idea....

Next year, I think I'll join Jesse and sell vegetables instead!

Thank-you Jesse and David for the inspiration, Katharine for a year of unstinting support, ShelterBox and The Cornishman for their encouragement, along with dozens of Janathon runners, Twitter followers and blog readers. And thanks, of course, for the many donations, which I hope will still roll in for a day or two.

I know I've said it many times, but if you haven't donated already, here's another chance... (link).

Happy New Year to everyone reading this, and I hope you've enjoyed our little blog.

Fingers crossed bro.... Onwards and upwards in 2012!!!

Just think this is peanuts compared with the Ridgeway...!!!

Thanks to all who commented, read and sponsored us this year. I'm sorry if anyone feels like I messed it up, if you sponsored me I'm happy to give you a full refund. (Terms and conditions apply...)*

Happy New Year!!! 

Just been having a round up of where I am and how far short I was this year and came to the conclusion that I really should have done this in kilometres!!

Running total = 769 miles (TBC after tomorrow)

Cycling total = 903 miles (TBC after tomorrow)

Total = 1672 or in laymans term WELL SHORT!!

However, changing it to kilometres makes for better reading! Total = 2690 KM!! You kow I could have stopped ages ago!!

More stats that make for nice reading.

133 runs for the year (average run = 5.78 miles)

143 cycles for the year (average cycle = 6.32 miles)

Total of 276 different entries into the 2011 spreadsheet which i'm pretty pleased with.

Considering that the average run was nearly a 10k, and that when I started running 2 years ago just doing that distance once would have been unthinkable makes me feel pretty good.

The best bit of it all is that I now feel like a runner. Albeit a slow one, but none the less its a good feeling!!

First of all, commiserations to David for not quite getting to 2011 miles...

I hope he won't mind me saying, but despite any disappointment over the overall challenge, David's achievements this year have been amazing. From being a virtual non-runner a couple of years ago, he has transformed himself into an accomplished marathoner, with two under his belt in one year. Not content with that, he's planning another marathon on 2nd January, and another, and another... If you want to see what he's planning to get up to, and follow his progress, do check out his new blog at 12in12.

I finished up a 25 mile day today with a long loop home in the dark in 20mph westerly winds, squalling rain, and on unmarked roads. Not thinking to check the wind, I decided to extend my usual route home by heading out, you guessed it, west! Having to stand on my pedals to make progress on the flat was not my idea of fun. Continuing into dark, hilly, bendy 'roads' pitted with invisible potholes made for quite a hairy ride!

So I'm left with 73.2 miles. With a day off work on Saturday, it is all feeling very 'doable', though if this wind keeps up it won't be easy by any means...

The Cornishman ran a little piece on my efforts last week (link), and the story ran again in today's West Briton. Hopefully this will prompt a few to donate.

Which brings me to my appeal...

I can think of several reasons not to donate: it has been a year of cut-backs, we've barely got over Christmas, and maybe we have a little 'charity fatigue' -- it's barely a month since we were all donating to Mo-vember. However, if you have a few quid left in your pocket, if you have ever thought "I'll sponsor him nearer the end", or want to atone for the guilt of overindulging in chocolate over the last week, then please please donate. It's ShelterBox after all -- they do fantastic work all over the world, and are invariably among the first on the ground, helping disaster victims start to rebuild their lives.

Donating is simple - just click here. If you're in a position to Gift Aid, the goverment will chip in a few quid too... I had my first donation in five months today (thanks Caroline!) -- I can't tell you what a boost it is to the motivation.

I look forward to tweeting out my final ride and run on Saturday, and letting you know when my 2011 efforts are complete!

Well it's clearly been looming for some time and now is the time to chuck the towel in...

Unless I run 36 miles a day for the rest of the year (4 days) and then cycle some more again on top of that i'm not finishing the 2011. It has been an awesome year of running, and the main idea for it back in December 2010 was to maintain a motivation throughout the year for running, and to get fitter and lose some pounds...

I might well chuck in a proper round up and stat attack for posterity sake, but the important things i'm going to take away from it all are;

• Marathons 1 and 2 completed (Shakespeare and Snowdonia)
• Half marathons 4, 5 and 6 completed (MK, MK NSPCC and Bedford)
• 10k PB smash up at MOvember
• 5k PB's throughout the year and am now a minute per kilometre quicker than last year

PB's came down all over the place, and more importantly i've been really enjoying the whole thing. Lowlights were the painful long runs in preparation for Shakespeare and the massive blue funk I was in after the completion of that event in what I thought was pretty poor form. The June, July, August months of summer holidays and running malaise were probably where the wheels started to come off if i'm honest.However, the mojo came back well and truly with a series of 5k's in MK and some good speedwork (comparatively speaking). I'm really grateful to everyone i've run with through the year at club, and friends, and family. And I hope that we do it all again in 2012.

The year highlight has to be Snowdonia though. Undertrained and overwhelmed by what i'd let myself in I got round, PB'd and all through the wind, wet and hills of Snowdon had a great great time... I'll be back there for sure to do that again.

I really hope Jules completes and he's very close now despite having injuries and an inability to run for some time. It's been fun reading and writing the blog. not sure if we still have a captive audience, but in the early part of the year we were pretty well read. Hopefully, people enjoyed reading and that we raised some awareness for Willen hospice and Shelterbox.

Onto 2012, and plans for the year. Partly this is why I held back on completing in December and killing myself in the process. January is Janathon again, and includes Marathon #3 on January the 2nd. With marathons 4 - ?? coming through the year. There will also be a step up into Ultra territory for me assuming the legs hold up!! I will be blogging again, and on twitter still should anyone want to keep in touch!! 

Merry Christmas and a Happy new year to all....