Well, Jantastic has come to an end, and for me, its been an unequivocal success.

Last year I didn’t see the campaign through to the end due to a knock in January, and as I used a Joker I basically threw my toys out of the pram and gave up, like a real man! This year I have been a lot more pragmatic, and used it for what it is designed for – motivation.

There truly were some evenings where I really did NOT want to go for a run. It could have been the weather, the dark, the fatigue from the elevated mileage… But there was no way I was losing my 100% record. This kept me running consistently and I have been reaping the rewards.

Chasing the badges has also been a good addition to my training, particularly with the Strava integration. Firstly, it made me more accountable. I wanted to be able to justify each of my runs logged to Jantastic and remain 10% transparent about the process. By adding badges like “Mountain Goat” I went out and deliberately ran more hills. With the “Speedster badge, I deliberately went out for a fast 5k parkrun just to win the badge.

The other thing its helped me do is acknowledge when I’m tired, to run easy, and when I’m REALLY tired to take a rest day. It’s really helped me listen to what my body has been telling me.

If I was “old school” I’d need a rapping of the knuckles when it came to my “timed run”. I smashed my target by 2 and a half minutes. I genuinely thought the target I set myself was a good stretch and I was anxious that I may not actually achieve the goal. This is something for me to work on next year, but while I should really have been penalized, its real proof that Jantastic, and specifically consistent training, has on running performance. I’ve got a 6 minute half marathon PB (And soooo close to sub 90 it hurts), a 5k PB (And hopefully on Saturday my first sub-20) and this magnificent haul of badges to show for it.

Bring on the Magic Mile, and bring on Jantastic 2016. Thank you Marathon Talk.