Another year has, as they so often do, come to an end. Luckily, a new one has come along to replace it, although it was looking a little shaky for a while. So what will this year bring with it for me and my running?
2019 was a bumper year. I got married, I visited two new and distant countries and had a change of role at work that brought its own new challenges and rewards. For my running it was pretty eventful as well despite the best efforts of everything else to get in the way. After a slow start with the wedding and honeymoon (running wise, obviously the wedding was anything but slow), followed by a disrupted summer as my new job role had me spending a large chunk of time away from home, but I still managed a new 5km PB in August. The year finished strong with a double header at the Kielder marathon weekend for the run bike run and marathon, then the highlight of my running life to date in Nepal.
I did learn a very important lesson at the end of the year though. If you absolutely must get injured (and I don't recommend that either, just for the record), don’t do it in mid November. I am still not clear what my injury is. A pain in the joint of my little toe with an accompanying lump that seems to vary in size. The pain has gone when I run now and I am pretty much getting on with things as normal. But coming back from Nepal and resting it ruined any chance of a decent post marathon recovery. On top of that it meant I went into the hardest time of the year to maintain a routine, or anything resembling a sensible diet, having not done any running for weeks. Now as I am thinking about starting my training for the Yorkshire Three Peaks I find my speed, my endurance and a most of my mojo must have accidently got packed away in a box with all the christmas decorations. Closing out 2019 with hardly any running through December, it really was a year of all or nothing.
Consistency always is king for training, but it will need to be emperor this year if everything I have planned is going to come off without a hitch. I hope to scatter a few smaller fell races through the year around some milestone events. The A race has to be the Chicago marathon. At the moment I would love to crack the 3 hour mark but there is a lot of time between now and the October event so I will reassess my goal when I get into the training phase for it over the summer.
Up first though will be the High Cup Nick fell race. 15km with 450m of ascent it will be a punchy race and is an event whose reputation precedes it. Certainly one I am looking forward to. I don’t plan to do any specific training for it though, my training focus will be on the Yorkshire Three Peaks race. At the end of April the race is also known as the marathon with mountains. The route is around 25 miles, with 1600m of elevation gain, a challenge taken on by hikers and corporate challenges throughout the year with a sub 12 hour target. This is another race with a reputation that has teeth. My plan is to train for it as though it were a marathon with hill and off road training when I can. I have hiked one of the peaks, Pen-y-Ghent, a couple of times as a youngster with my dad, I don't remember ever attempting Whernside, but sharp in the memory are two aborted attempts to climb ingleborough, with bad weather stopping play each time. Some long unfinished business to address.
With the three peaks successfully bagged my sights will turn to the challenge for the Summer. More unfinished business, this time with a mountain marathon. My only previous attempt at a MM was the OMM in 2017 and that ended in a thick cloud somewhere between Glaramara and Allen Crags on day one. This time I will be tackling the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon and hopefully the July weather will be more welcoming than the October weather was for the OMM.
From there it will be all about Chicago… wish me luck!
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