2024 - Looking back at the year

2024 was a year that always going to be a big one. I'd steadily improved for a number of years and knew with a bit of extra training and commitment I could enter the bottom of the M50 category and be competitive.

I posted in January that I was going to give everything and see where things would end up.  

Looking back on the year - I PB'd ever major distance apart from 10k - which is something I'm very proud of. In terms of rankings across the M50 category - top 10 in the North East region and there or thereabouts top 100 in the UK.

Best achievements and rankings

Best races

parkrun was where my love for running started. So getting a sub-17 (16:57) at the 5k distance was something I was over the moon about. Averaging 3:29/km on the way out but conserving energy tucked into a group running into the wind I knew I had something in the bag for the way back. 3:21 and then 3:16 for the 4th and 5th km was something I didn't think I had in me - but the adrenalin and slight tail wind definitely contributed to what was probably my best ever race.

Three half marathon PBs in a row (Brass Monkey, then Sunderland, then Redcar) were memorable - especially finishing 5th overall at the Sunderland race - top 5 for city centre HM :)

Two marathon PBs (Manchester, then Chester) were also races to be proud of. Putting in hard training blocks and building on previous work and knowledge of how to run marathons turned a 2:58 PB into 2:54 and then 2:52.  

Best achievements

Getting an England vest for M50 marathon at Manchester is something I'll look back on for the rest of my life. Then the experience of being with some of the very best age category runners in the country at Chester was awesome.

Winning a major North East M50 event was a dream also - a few disappointments at 5k and 10k (see below) - but I got the North East Masters 5k trail win 17:22 on an undulating trail surface. 

Disappointments

4th place in the North East Masters 5k on a very fast course in Sunderland was a disappointment for a number of reasons. (1) The winning time was 17:00 and I'd done a 17:01 parkrun a few weeks before - so 17:10 on a faster route with a taper was not good enough. (2) Shaking off a cough which will have had a small impact and (3) running a bad race getting sucked into running a (albeit downhill) 3:15 first km was just stupid.

Not getting a 10k PB was a slight disappointment. Messed up the first lap of Darlington 10k when in great form just letting the race slip away and then lost fitness after the second marathon for Brighton 10k - great conditions/fast course and field - but just couldn't finish the final 3km off at target pace.

Then not getting England M50 vest at HM or 10k after getting the Marathon one - but not too disappointed here because the fields were so strong that it meant 6th and 5th positions respectively where I needed top 3. 

Training reflections

Marathon is all about getting the training miles in. Really putting in two very hard days (Tues and Sun). Reflected on it in this post:
Doing two marathon blocks for Manchester (Q1) and Chester (Q3) were huge efforts.

Then building on the Manchester marathon training by shortening everything up and making sure I did lots and lots of 200m/400m interval sessions to concentrate on the 5k and 10k distances. Reflections on this here:

Overall it was 4,400km for the year which worked out as over 80km every week. So (a) get the distance in and (b) alternate easy-day/workouts with full determination - even on holiday in Italy for two weeks - get up and do the sessions - no excuses.

2025

Not sure I have the same determination to go as hard again - so I am not planning on a 2025 marathon. So I think I'll do more trail races and more social running/training with the club. Just focus on good health and enjoying some interesting runs. A few weekends away too combining a mini holiday with a race.

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