SO that's another season of running complete.

Last week's Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run was a high point, but the final one of 2014. A long winter will soon set in. So what beckons for 2015?

Well, among what will inevitably be a packed year, one event now already stands out.

A few days ago I learned that I have been accepted for the London Marathon 2015. I missed the general ballot but am part of a charity team - of which more anon.

The main thing is that just as 2014 was lit up for me by the Belfast Marathon, 2015 will see me running the 26 miles on an even bigger stage - not better, as I so much enjoyed my trip to Northern Ireland - but the London run is one of the very biggest in the world race calendar.

Already I am planning ahead. My son Jonathan lives in the Big Smoke as a trainee lawyer, and will no doubt cheer me on from some vantage point along the historic route.

The First Lady and I will head down south on the Saturday to get ensconced in the town, and on the great day I will make my way to the start in Greenwich Park among the tens of thousands of runners and hundreds of thousands of spectators and supporters.

I have watched this festival of athleticism so many times on television that I almost feel as if I am there already.

On top of that, the FL and I have visited London a couple of times a year over the last few years to see Jonathan and now know the city pretty well.

It will be a procession from one historic site to the next.

I promise I am not making any political point when I say that London is a huge draw for all Brits, indeed it is an international destination for people doing business or enjoying leisure.

Doctor Johnson, a writer somewhat better than I, said "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life".

That may have been hyperbole, but I know what he meant.

When I was President of the Law Society of Scotland I spent a fair amount of business time there.

I love Glasgow in my soul, but London is a feast for the eyes.

So looking over the route on the t'internet, there are so many sights.

The Houses of Parliament (I will try to run smartly past the discredited and bloated Westminster Elite), The Thames, Canary Wharf, Green Park and lots more.

And all packed with huge crowds.

In Glasgow and Belfast, there are stretches where it is one man and his dug that claps you by. In London, they are at least eight deep almost everywhere on the route.

TV coverage is comprehensive, and you never know, I might get a chat with Clare Balding as I run by Shadwell.

As with Belfast, I have no particular time pressure.

Running the miles and breasting the finishing line are my totality of goals. But unlike 2014, I hope to be unhampered by injury - you may recall that up to the night before this year's race I was actually limping.

Thankfully Doctor Theatre took over on the morning of the race, and by a combination of excessive ankle strapping, good luck and the energy generated by 15,000 Northern Irish folk, I managed to run normally. Next year I intend to be fit, ready and slim.

Slim is the one adjective that is still eluding me.

FROM my start in January, I ran up to performance level, I put in the miles of training, and on the day my head was entirely in the right place.

I finished the marathon and lived to tell the tale. The two things that eluded me and continue to be a challenge are shape and weight.

Yes, I have lost poundage from my previous excess size. I am now not obese. But the long-distance lawyer is still overweight.

And that, I suspect, is where London comes in. I am not a footie person, but I regard the chance to run the London Marathon as being my Hampden Cup Final appearance as a league minnow.

We will all be on the biggest and most visible stage in the public running world, and that in itself makes me determined to be ready to the Nth degree.

Indeed although I was hesitant about looking so far ahead this week, the reality is that the big race is only six months away.

That's 26 weeks give or take, and at my age and weight, there is no leeway or margin for error. Week 1 is this week.

Training starts NOW.