Year in review
As the year end approaches it is an opportunity to look back and take pride in what I have achieved. It has been another twelve months when I have pushed myself further and higher; my strongest performances so far.
I had high hopes for 2015. The goals I set were ambitious. I wanted to see what I was capable of, mentally and physically. 2014 had been an impressive year with PB's at all distances and some strong performances. Now a year older could I push myself to an even higher level?
The day came and conditions were perfect which just added to my nerves but I was determined to give it my best shot on a flat course made for a PB attempt. I ran hard with the determination of three months anticipation behind me and came in 1:28:25 well under my 1:30 goal for the year. It was well worth the migraine I suffered on the drive home.
My confidence was sky high and I carried that into parkrun two weeks later. My aim was to start at the front and see if I could get close to 19 minutes, my goal being to break this during the year. Imagine my surprise when I crossed the line in 18:48. Two goals achieved and it was only the beginning of March.
My strict training programme continued with another 100 miles in February and 100+ in March. My next challenge was to break 3:30 in a marathon and Manchester was the destination. I felt good and arrived in the city confident. I was right to feel that way as I smashed the target with 3:24:30.
With the two longest distances and parkrun records in the bag I could now focus on my final two events, the 10K and the mile. Despite the fact that both these distances require speed over stamina I was enjoying my training runs and April and May continued the 100+ mile trend.
Then the surprise and highlight of the year a parkrun hat-trick. Where this came from and how I did it I will never know. The results looked like this: (Date Run no. Pos. Time. Age Grade PB)
| 13/06/2015 | 163 | 7 | 18:27 | 73.44% | PB |
| 06/06/2015 | 162 | 8 | 18:42 | 71.93% | PB |
| 23/05/2015 | 160 | 11 | 18:47 | 71.61% | PB |
My PB was now down to under 18 and a half minutes. It nearly killed me but again it was worth it. Over the summer I struck a rich vein of form with a run of eight top ten finishes in nine weeks. This year I also managed my highest ever position of 5th.
The next week I volunteered at parkrun and entered the Magic Mile. I managed to achieve a 5:38 while taking first place. Another PB and leaving just the 10K to go with only half the year gone.
At the end of June we took a family holiday for a fortnight which resulted in my mileage slipping to 75 for June but my body deserved a good rest. A week after we returned I entered the Pitsford 10K. A PB here would mean I would have achieved my aims for 2015 by the middle of July.
My goal had been a PB but a sub 40 was always in the back of my mind and it took a strong finish to duck under that by just 23 seconds as I finished in 39:37.
The final months of the year were less intense as I simply enjoyed my running and continued to push myself. I didn't manage to reach the heights of the summer as the cooler autumn weather arrived but another four sub 19 min parkruns were encouraging.
I ran the Northampton Half in September and the Lode Half in November. These have become annual events for me but unfortunately this year neither went particularly well. On both occasions I hit a wall at 10 miles and struggled across the finish line. Despite this a fast start meant that I still managed a 1:30 in Northampton but Lode was a disappointing 1:41.
Although I didn't manage to reach 1000 miles for the year I did beat last year's total of 837 clocking up just over 900 miles. So a great start to the year was followed by a less inspiring finish but it was always going to be hard to top the first six months.
I'm now looking forward to a rest over Christmas and then upping my training again over the winter months. I won't be setting any PB targets for next year but I will turn 40 in June and my eye will then be on the Vet category records.
