1 Year, 1,001 Miles

[sTrongFuse]

I realise that there are still a few days left, and I need to squeeze in a 30 minute challenge run before the year is out, so my total will probably edge up a little further, but yesterday I hit the 1,000 mile mark for running in 2020.

It has, for all of us, been a very different year from the one we were probably looking forward to at this point last year. For me, I suspect running is one of the things that has helped most in getting me through it.

Back at the start of 2020, I set myself some goals:

- See how much lower I could take my 5k PB below 28:38

- Get my 10k PB below one hour from 1:03:49

- Get my 10 mile PB below 1:45:00 from 1:49:29

- Get my Half Marathon PB below 2:30:00 from 2:30:23

- Complete the equivalent of John o' Groats to Land's End (874 miles) by the end of the year.

As the year passed, my runs increased in length and duration, and I ticked the goals off one by one so that they now stand at:

- 5k - 26:36

- 10k - 58:19

- 10 miles - 1:34:29

- HM - 2:05:46

- John o' Groats - Land's End completed 22 November

In the absence of Parkrun and organised events, it's been a year of virtual challenges and races, of online communities and virtual running buddies. It's been a year that has challenged and pushed many of us to discover capabilities that we didn't know we had. For me, yesterday was another one of those achievements. I didn't believe that I'd manage 1,000 miles this year; it was always something I thought I'd do "some day". Even at the start of December, while I knew it was possible, it still seemed unlikely. A fortnight ago, it started to look like, if everything aligned, it might just happen, then yesterday, it did.

It's been quite a journey and I'm interested to see where 2021 takes me (and hopefully it takes me beyond the boundaries of my village and local surrounds so that I can discover some new places to run in).

In the meantime, I hope everyone had a lovey Christmas and that 2021 brings you health and happiness.

As always, stay safe.

[Hidden]

I love this! What an enormous sense of achievement you should feel. All those times are terrific (especially the HM one) so a really big 'well done' from me. I've enjoyed reading your posts and hearing about your progress. Many, many congratulations to you on a quite epic running year 😊👏👏👏

[David_G]

Wow, lots of fantastic results and achievements there sTrongFuse!🙂👍

I haven’t improved my times for anything this year but I did get over 1,000 miles of running this morning 🏃‍♂️

I’ve run over 530 miles towards LEJOG, so about 340 miles to go. I’m also starting the Route 66 challenge on 1 January. At least I’ve got 2 years to complete it.

Good luck with 2021, let’s hope it’s a much better year!

[Oldgirlruns Graduate10]

Well despite everything sTrongFuse, you’ve had a terrific year - you must be feeling really proud of your achievement! Well done!