Pub landlord Mike Hall has been raising the bar this month.

The 46-year-old runner, landlord of The Pelican Inn in Gloucester, has set a couple of PBs this month and he is hoping to add another in the Gloucester 10K in 10 days’ time.

Hall took up running only during Covid – he joined Gloucester Athletic Club a couple of years ago – but his times have been improving at a rapid rate.

He is targeting 37 minutes, 30 seconds in the 10K on Sunday 29^th June, and the way he’s been running he’s got every chance of achieving his goal.

“This month I’ve run 18.14 for the 5K and 37.45 for the 10K, they’re both PBs,” he said with obvious pride.

He’s also got a best time of 10.55 for the 3K and two hours, 16 minutes for 20 miles, and he’s planning to run his first half-marathons – the Bourton Hilly and the Stroud Half – later this year.

“I didn’t do any running until the pandemic,” he told The Local Answer. “When the pub was shut, I got a bit stir crazy.

“I drank all the beer that was left in the pub and I was getting big, it was no good.”

He ballooned up to 13st 7lb - he’s 5ft 5in - but is now three stone lighter and he continued: “I thought, ‘I’ve got to do something’, so I started running and I loved it.

“I was doing parkruns and then my wife Louise entered me in a 5K at Gloucester. She entered my daughter Emily in the 3K on the same day.

“We knew we would get battered and we both came last but we loved it.”

Hall ran 19.58 that day and he joined Gloucester AC soon after.

He does a lot of walking – about 30,000 steps a day – and he enjoys being part of Gloucester AC, saying: “I love the club, they’ve really helped me.”

And he’s been helping himself as well because he’s adapted his lifestyle to fit in with his running.

“In the past I did drink too much,” he admitted. “I still enjoy a beer but I don’t do it as much.”

The Gloucester 10K starts at 8.30am and takes place in Gloucester Park.