It’s been a bad week to be self-employed in the UK apparently as ‘Spreadsheet Phil’ moved to plug a gap in funding by targeting those who work for themselves.

But for me, being my own boss is bringing its own challenges – my running schedule has gone haywire.

Here’s why – when I was working for the ‘man’ getting into a regular running pattern was relatively straight forward, I’d run before my shift started.

Because my start times tended to vary, that gave me a good mix of running times from early mornings to lunch times and some evenings.

And then I got promoted so I was on a regular nine to five, and to be honest I struggled to get up early enough to make the pre-work runs, and as I often worked late, evenings were a write off.

But all I wanted to do was get back into a pattern of running regularly three or four times a week, I mean, how hard can it be..?

Instead, I got into a dreary pattern of running before work and early in the mornings at weekends – as I have young children, so couldn’t really clear off and leave the other half alone with them for long periods. Well,  could I suppose, well no, let’s get real… I couldn’t…

So when I took the plunge and set up my own business, I harboured dreams of running freedom – and looked forward to being able to heading out when I wanted, weaving work with running, as and when.

But I’m more Millennium Dome than Millennial so actually doing it has proved harder to stick to – despite all my hopes of setting running goals earlier this year and hitting my early year targets, albeit for a short duration, it seems.

This week, however, I’ve managed two weekday runs of 30-45 minutes each – despite the fact I have spent time working in Swaffham, which is a bit of a drive from home in Norwich.

Does anybody know any good running routes in Swaffham?

It occurred to me that I should take my kit with me and nip out for a run – but where to go? If anyone can recommend any good routes either in or around the town, I’d love to hear them.

And I’ve got another idea which I’m going to try out when I’m working from home – when I finish a task may be I’ll nip out for a run as a reward, or as a way to wrap up the day before everyone else gets home.

Application, effort, and reward – I suspect the answer has got to lie there somewhere.

But if anyone else has any ideas which can help then I’d love to hear them.

Otherwise I fear I might never break this pattern of ‘run one, miss one, run one’.