After losing my way a bit (a lot) with running last year, I’ve decided I need to set myself some achievable but challenging goals for 2020. Because, much as I hate to admit it, I’m way more likely to finally go on long runs again if I have something to aim at.
With that in mind, my goals are:
Run a sub-25 parkrun
Run a half marathon I’m proud of
To help honestly keep track of my progress, I’m also resurrecting my training diary. Which will look a bit weird for the next few weeks, while my principle is just “do something”, before I settle into a proper plan.
I have an actual diary and everything
Monday – rest day
I’d planned to do some strength work, but was just wiped so it wasn’t worth it.
Tuesday – 4.7 miles @ 11:03
Yay! A run! Managed to fit something in between various child-related commitments. Took it nice and steady for the most part, but still found it hard at the start as I really struggle running after work. Had to push a bit towards the end as I forgot I’m slower than I used to be, and so cut it fine to get back in time.
Wednesday – planned rest day
Thursday – rest day
Again with exhaustion
Friday – planned rest day
Saturday – Lydiard parkrun with Lani
Running a 5k parkrun with Lani isn’t the most strenuous of workouts, but it’s fun (other than fighting congestion) and definitely better than nothing. In future I’d like to try to tag some extra miles on when I run with her.
Sunday – Collett Park junior parkrun with Lani and buggy
This was more of a workout than it should have been as a) Lani is getting faster b) short sharp hills are tough with a buggy and c) I’m really not fit. It was a really nice place to run though. I’d intended to go out for a ‘proper’ run later in the day, but for various reasons it just didn’t happen.
Miles in the week: 9 Miles in January so far: 26.8 Miles in 2020 so far: 26.8
I’m not entirely sure how it’s the end of December already, but it is and so it seems a good time to reflect on the past year as I plan for the year ahead. It’s certainly been a strange year for me in terms of running, lots of meh but also plenty of spectacular highlights.
I didn’t officially write down any goals for the year, but in practice they were:
Beat my long-standing parkrun PB
Get a friend to run their first parkrun
Visit 12 new-to-us parkrun events
Do the Somerset Series
Make running a habit (again)
Beat my long-standing parkrun PB
Straight in with one of the undeniable highlights of my year. Right back in January I went to Burnham and Highbridge parkrun and somehow achieved what I thought I was still months off. The write up of that morning was also one of my favourite blog posts of the year.
Get a friend to run their first parkrun
Or even better, get more than one friend to run their first parkrun. I took some of my colleagues through Couch to 5k at the start of the year, at the end of which I was able to introduce them to Longrun Meadow parkrun. And they’re still speaking to me as well!
Visit 12 new-to-us parkrun events
We made it to 13, so definite tick here. More would have been nice, particularly with the momentum we had at the start of the year, but tourism is always a compromise in this house.
And what would tourism be without a family start line selfie?
Do the Somerset Series
This is where it goes downhill a bit. I tried to make this work, and worked with Ben to get a schedule that fit both of us. I pushed myself to do some races I normally wouldn’t consider, and even got a very painful 5k PB at Yeovilton. But skipping out on a few options early on left me needing to do the Mells Scenic 7 and Brent Knoll to get enough in, and I wasn’t well enough to run Mells. I would say there’s always next year, but I think this is a goal I’ll park for a little while.
Make running a habit (again)
Ohhhh wow. I failed so badly here. My monthly mileage chart looks bad enough, with its gradual climb through the year, but when you see the scale it’s flipping awful. As Ben has pointed out, in each of 3 months I ran less miles than he would consider the minimum for a satisfactory week. Total mileage for the year 337, and that includes a lot of running to assist other people.
Starting low and getting lower
Anyway, goal analysis out the way, here’s the other highlights from a year that had a surprising amount of good packed into its low mileage.
New 10k PB
I put a lot of pressure on myself to be ready for the Glastonbury 10k, and was a massive bag of nerves that morning. Everything clicked together at the right time, and the race that saw my first sub-60 back in 2015 got my new PB in 2019.
The angle of my front foot makes me wince
Sub-30 buggy parkrun
This was a huge milestone for me, as before this year I didn’t consider myself much of a ‘proper’ buggy runner. And my very first sub-30 was at the stunning Eden Project, which had the added boost of knowing I’d managed the hills well.
CiRF
Or Coach in Running Fitness for the uninitiated, which is what I have officially been since the start of June. Not going to lie, I found it tough going and decided I was going to drop out multiple times, but I’m glad I stuck with it as it’s really helped with…
Beginners Groups
Back in March I volunteered to take over running the beginners groups at my club (Running Forever Running Club). The two groups I’ve run so far have been a big confidence boost in a year where self-belief has been in short supply. And I love chatting to group graduates at club night or parkrun and hearing how their running is going.
Tamar Trails parkrun
I ran 36 parkruns this year, and every single one was an achievement or learning experience of some kind. But I need to single out Tamar Trails on my personal achievements for the year, because it’s something that 12 months ago I wouldn’t have thought I could do, and I did it at a crazy time. After a month when I’d missed parkrun every week, and really getting inside my head, I ran a tough trail course, with a buggy, in a storm. And when I finished that run I really felt like I could achieve anything.
Mini running buddy
I hate to end with a cliche, but some of my truly proudest runs this year have been running with Lani. There was her 10th parkrun at Severn Bridge, the “I don’t want to run” turned PB at Torbay Velopark, and the pure joy of running at her 50th junior parkrun. And set apart from the milestones, the girl who used to run at Heavitree every week in winter to avoid puddles became the girl who ran straight through near knee-deep puddles on Christmas Day.
Team Awesome strike again! (Photo from Longrun Meadow parkrun Facebook)
So, no pressure 2020, but your highlights reel has a lot to live up to.
Our trip to Rogiet parkrun took us up to 50 different events, so it seems a good time to reflect on my current parkrun goals, both short and long term.
Milestones
I’m currently on 138 runs, so my next milestone of 250 is well over 2 years away. Being on exactly 50 events means I have another 50 to get to the Cowell club, which will most likely take me even longer. So milestones aren’t exactly something I’m working towards, they’re just something I see as an eventual result of turning up at parkrun.
The black top just goes so well with Tikiboos…
Time
At the moment, my parkrun PB is 25:41. If I actually train at some stage this should be easily beatable. And, of course, I have a big goal of going sub 25. My ultimate ultimate time goal at parkrun would be 23:16, as that is exactly 15 minutes faster than my very first parkrun. I don’t know that I could ever get that fast, but that would be the dream.
Geographical areas
We’ve talked for years (literally) about trying to complete the South West region. We’ve made pretty good progress on the whole, but a few different factors are making us consider the feasibility. Firstly, the regions are becoming much less visible in parkrun, making it harder to track what goes where. Secondly, with two small children, one of whom gets car sick, there’s only so much distance it’s fair to cover at a time. And finally, while we’ve already been wondering how on earth to deal with the events on North Gloucestershire, someone has classified an event in Herefordshire as the South West. Which sort of makes a mockery of it.
So we’re looking at some sub-regions to focus on. We’ve only got one parkrun south-west of Taunton left to do, and obviously we’d also like to finish Somerset again some time (2, soon 3 left to go). Further afield than that, a few tourists use the idea of everything within a certain straight-line distance of where they live, but unfortunately for us that quickly includes a lot of Wales. As a result, we’re looking at creating our own line of virtual pill boxes to mark out our own South West sub-set.
Further afield
It would be nice to do a parkrun in a different country one day. It’s not going to happen this year now. A country that we absolutely love should be getting its first parkruns next year, so that will be very tempting. Longer term, it would be amazing to parkrun somewhere like New Zealand or Australia, but I wouldn’t want to make the trek over until the kids were old enough to appreciate it.
NT & FC
It’s no secret that I love both National Trust and Forestry Commission parkruns. Fantastic courses, and great places to have a family day out afterwards. Although I know that completing all of them is not in any way practical, it would be great to get through more of them. For the National Trust, Penrhyn stands out, but it’s a pretty long drive away with windy roads. For the Forestry Commission, Whinlatter Forest is on my radar, but it’s even further away. Definitely some proper planning needed here.
Moors Valley remains one of my favourite parkrun experiences (how small are the kids?!)
p-index
There are loads of obscure parkrun challenges out there, and the vast majority don’t interest me. The p-index is one that does, however, as it encourages visiting the same event multiple times. It’s calculated as the number of events you have done that number of times or more. So if you have done 2 events at least 2 times it’s 2, if you’ve done 10 at least 10 times it’s 10. My p-index is currently 3, as I’ve done Longrun Meadow, Burnham and Highbridge, and Minehead at least 3 times. I’ve also done Killerton 3 times, which means to increase my p-index to 4 I need one extra trip to each of Minehead and Killerton. Increasing to 5 would mean an additional trip to each of those and 3 or 4 trips somewhere else (depending on the event I picked). Definitely a long term project!
Volunteering
I have two favourite volunteer roles – marshaling at junior parkrun, and barcode scanning. Family life and a need to keep my balance means I don’t do either that often, but that’s just how it is right now. My current goal is to try out some different volunteer roles. I recently did a First Timers Briefing, which I really enjoyed. My current wish list includes Funnel Manager, Pacer and Results Processing. Pacer is something I can do at my second home of Burnham and Highbridge. Results Processing is a little trickier, as most people only let you do it if you’re in the Core Team, but I think I’d be good at it.
Miscellaneous events
There are a couple of parkruns that for various reasons I would really like to go to. Barry Island – In a straight line, Barry Island is 26 miles away from Taunton, and as such has often been our NENYD on the Tourist Tool. The actual driving distance is 90 miles, so it will be a pain to get to, but it would be worth it. Rushcliffe – Bit of a random one, perhaps. I see Rushcliffe Country Park every few months, but always mid-week during work trips. One day it would be nice to go do the parkrun, if only so it doesn’t nag me the next time I visit with work. Bakewell – Pre-kids, we had a couple of lovely trips to the Peak District, and I really loved the place. One of the highlights was walking on the Monsal Trail, and that is exactly where Bakewell parkrun takes place.
The Biggest Goal of All
The most important thing for me is to keep turning up at parkrun, keep creating precious memories with my family, and keep the focus on what it means to me. In the tourist world it’s easy to get sucked into other people’s goals and dangerous comparison games. But that’s not what it’s about for me. So I guess my important goal is to keep parkrun as my happy place.
A few years ago (okay, quite a few years ago), I wrote a list of “Things I want to do before I’m 30”. At the time, I imagine that the idea of being 30 was something akin to old age. Those episodes of Friends demonising the age probably didn’t help. I’ve lost that list, though I can remember a few of the things on it. From what I recall, many of them were expensive, and I’ve completed very few of them. But I’m not really worried. For one thing, turning 30 isn’t going to be the end of my life: I’m pretty confident that won’t happen until I’m at least 40(!). For another thing, I’ve still got a bit of time left before I turn 30; just under eleven months in fact.
Have child, tick. Get child obsessed with Lego, tick.
Here’s a few of the things I do remember from the list:
Get married, buy a house, have kids
Yes, yes, and mostly. I have one child, so I think I can call that a pass, right? Despite being a list that was mostly full of expensive adventure type things, I was pretty certain that I wanted to settle down and have a family. I probably didn’t fully realise that this wouldn’t help with the rest of the goals, as I was probably still in the heady stage of thinking that university graduates earnt gazillions. This was before the economy crashed after all. (And before I got my university results!!)
Complete a marathon and a triathlon
I ran a bit while I was at university (I had a three mile loop that I’d run about three times in one week and then not again for two months, but it was running, dammit!) So obviously, I wanted to run a marathon. Since I’ve started running “seriously” I’ve shunned running a marathon in the short-term, choosing instead to focus on improving my speeds over shorter distances. Now that I’m not barely old enough to legally drink, I’ve realised that I’ve got a while yet to build up to marathon distance if I want.
Climb a mountain, skydive
There were definitely more along these lines; pretty standard “once in a lifetime” sort of stuff I seem to recall. The main issue with all this sort of thing is the cost. I don’t really like spending money; I’m more of a hoarder I have to admit! I’m one of these sad people that will probably die with thousands of pounds in a savings account because I was too cheap to spend it. So maybe, just maybe, I need to start admitting that if I’m sensible, sometimes spending that money might be worth it for some life experiences. I also need to stop being so prideful. When we were on honeymoon in Hawaii, I knew that it would be an ideal opportunity to take a few surf lessons: who doesn’t want to say that they’ve surfed in Hawaii?? But… I didn’t, I was too worried about sucking.
So what am I going to do? Obviously it would be impractical, and stupid, to try and get all of this done before my 30th birthday next July. In addition, it would be completely pointless, as life doesn’t end at 30. However, I am going to make an effort to do more, and to move out of my comfort zone. It would be nice to get a couple of “bucket list” experiences squeezed in before my next birthday, and then maybe I can fully assess what I might want on my “lifetime goals” list.
