******caution, long post alert perhaps make a cup of tea first******
I’ve been thinking of writing this post for some time
now. A review of my 2013 and the goals I
set for the year. Its 5:27 am, and
although I had planned to go for a run this morning, I hadn’t planned on being
up quite so early. I’ll need to wait at least
an hour for some light, so am getting on with writing this instead.
January
Inspired by the winners of the Asics 26.2 competition, and
one in particular, @mia79gbr, I properly set a goal that had been in the back
of my mind for some time, which was to qualify for the Boston Marathon and I
started this blog. 2012 had not been a
good year running wise for me, and my times were a long way off what is needed
to predict a 3:35 marathon. At the start
of the year, my pbs were: (5k: 24:01, 10k: 52:50, Half: 1:59:03, Marathon:
4:33:57) and most of these were set in 2011 or 2010, so I was even further away
from the apparent goal. The times I need
to get to are in this post: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/past-races-and-what-ive-learned.html
February
Last winter was a long cold winter with snow on the ground a
lot. Marathon training last winter was
certainly character building, and I’m sure had I not had this goal to focus on,
I wouldn’t have gone out to run so much. What I
remember now is that I was still rehabilitating an injury I had sustained in
2012, which was a torn calf muscle. One
of my first long runs shows the struggles I faced with my ankle seizing up
after the run from compensatory muscle use: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/my-bodys-trying-to-tell-me-something.html
March
This month saw my first races of the year, and a check on
whether the new training regime was working.
http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/colchester-half-marathon-new-pb-and.html
- Colchester Half marathon saw me a 3 minute pb, and a nasty blister. What I can tell the difference from that race
and now is how much better I recover after a hard effort. I could barely walk after this one and
certainly couldn’t jog, and had to be driven home, despite the finish only 1.5
miles from home. I also did my first
cross country race. Typically cross
country races are around 3-5 miles... this one was 15, and is generally known
as one of the toughest cross country races there are, so while despondant about
my position on the day, I probably should be proud that I managed to make the
cut off and wasn’t the last runner: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/orion-15.html
April
Parkrun and a trip to France. Many of my new found friends on the runner’s
world forums had their target marathons in April – Paris, London and The Great
Welsh. They all did incredibly well with
both @Malcbarbour and @mia79gbr achieving huge pbs. Their success served to inspire me and I did
my final 20 mile training run on the same day as the London and Great Welsh marathons, but I was in the
foothills of the Pyrenees staying with family, who lovingly planned a running
route for me with some incredible views, and even joined me in the latter
stages as a support crew: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/faux-training-camp.html April was also the month we started parkrun
in Colchester. Something I’m very proud
of and another source of friendships.
May
This was the month of my marathon, the Halstead and Essex
marathon. Some lessons learnt and a 15
minute pb. It was nice to do a marathon
that was local and not in the big city, and I certainly think the focus on
local racing this year has helped with my achieving my goals: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/halstead-and-essex-marathon.html
June
I’d done road running, I’d done a tough cross country, so of
course the next challenge was a bit of fell running... well true fell runners
wouldn’t call this a fell race I’m sure, but to a humble essex girl, running up
and down Latrigg fell in Keswick was pretty tough. http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/karrimor-great-trail-challenge-22km.html
But it did give me a chance to visit the Lake District, which is my favourite spot
on the planet!
July
In July I achieved 2 new 5k pbs on consecutive weekends at
parkrun, and a 10k pb, but what stands out for me is meeting all those folk
from the Runner’s World forums who had become great friends: @mia79gbr, @malcbarbour, @Tiggeradcock and
@clivekelty amongst others. We met at
TR24, an even in which I ran in near tropical sunshine, a thunderstorm and a
boggy mess all in the space of 24 hours.
We’re signed up to do it again in 2014, and I truly hope it becomes a
permanent feature of my race calendar as a chance to meet up with these fine
people each and every year: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/tr24-great-weekend-with-amazing-people.html
August
In August, I did a 100 mile bikeride, which although a nice
enough event, the training for it and the faff of doing the race made me pretty
sure I’ll be best sticking to running (although I still can’t quiet that voice
in my head suggesting I do an ironman).
I had a less regimented approach to run training, focussing on sessions
specific to the 10k, and I did a few double workout days as well. However, I think the runs along the Essex Way
in the humid heat of this summer are what define my August. Its an 82 mile route from Epping to Harwich,
and I have run on just over half of it.
September
As I had to cancel my October marathon for family
commitments, @mia79gbr took my place, September was my final month of road
races. The local race calendar turns to
cross country after the autumn marathon season, and I turn to having a bit of a
rest and some base building. I did Bacchus Half this September and It
really was a treat. That and meeting
Colin Jackson at the Ipswich half http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/ipswich-half-marathon.html
October
This is the month I felt the lack of autumn marathon the
most as my friends did their own.
@mia79gbr in Bournemouth, and @malcbarbour and @tinyrunner85 amongst others
in York. So of course I went on a
marathon entering spree, and received one of those congratulations magazines:
November
Whilst losing my running mojo a bit in November, what with
the lack of daylight and stresses of the year, I did actually complete some
pretty tough workouts in my long buildup to the Manchester marathon. I’m quite proud of this one in which I did 2
mile repeats: http://longroadtoboston2016.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/quite-possibly-hardest-workout-i-ever.html
December
Well, its the end of the year and despite December being
such a busy month what with Christmas, I have actually achieved my highest
mileage month to date. Garmin connect
has me on 108 miles for December, and I’m currently sitting around waiting for
daylight to take that upto 118, and putting me bang on 1000 miles for 2013 J At parkrun, I have met
a group of runners called the Commando Runners, which is much more my type of
running club, and pretty much involves lots of banter on facebook alongside
runchat, which is great. I look forward
to connecting with them more in 2014.
And, I’m giving
back. I’m a mentor for one of the Runner’s
World forum threads for a lady hoping to achieve a sub 4:30 London marathon.
2013 has been a great year for my running achievements, as
measured by my new pbs: (5k: 22:33, 10k: 48:05, Half: 1:50:20, Marathon:
4:18:42) but the best outcome has been the new friends I’ve made. You know who you are and I love you! Here’s to 2014 and beyond being even better
than 2013.
Happy New Year
x
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