This post was actually started at the end of 2012, and was originally intended to be a review of the year. I wrote a few paragraphs and then got distracted (that happens a lot) - in fact I think I probably went for a run :).
January - the month when rather than blogging, I ran a silly number of miles and made a running proposal...
I then decided to make it both a review of 2012 and a preview about what I had planned for 2013. Then I got distracted again, and went for a run, in fact I went for lots of runs, as in January I took part in Strava's Base Mile Blast Challenge. The challenge was simple: run as far as you can in January. So I did...
As usual, I got a bit carried away, so by the end of January I'd logged 54 separate runs, and managed to clock up 320 miles - far further than I'd ever run before.
Strava Base Mile Challenge results
I ended up finishing the challenge in 38th place out of 10,408 people worldwide who took part, and in the UK, I was 10th out of 1,990 - which I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with.
Also during January, Sarah and I got engaged! There was only one way to do it, and was on a run of course - and this is the run:
The run where I proposed to Sarah
I was lucky that the day I decided to propose, it was a lovely, sunny morning, and near the end of the run, on Wilford Bridge (one of my favourite routes to run / ride to and around work), I asked Sarah to stop running (that surprised her) got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. Fortunately, she said yes!
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| The view from Wilford Bridge where I proposed to Sarah |
So, I planned to write a review of January's running madness, marriage proposal and a post about my plans for the rest of the year, but before I'd got round to doing that, I'd managed to start another challenge. This time, it wasn't an "official" challenge of any sort, it was simply a fun competition between several of my Twitter and Strava running friends.
February - the month when rather than blogging, I ran a silly amount of hillage and set a new 5K PB
The challenge was again a simple one: run as much "hillage" (how much you go uphill) in the month of February - with the challenge being measured using Strava's reporting of "Elevation gain". The second part of the challenge, was to see who could run the most amount of elevation gain per mile, or "hillage/mi" during the month. The inspiration behind the challenge was Trevor @houndkirk aka #CoachWatson who's renowned for the amazing amount of hillage that he runs, week after week, and he was the favourite for the overall hillage competition.
In the second element of the competition, the hillage/mi favourite was Adam (@xplantrunner) who living on Latrigg in the Lake District, was able to run pretty much straight up into the sky, almost from his front door.
Over the month, many different Twitter and Strava runners got involved in the challenge, but it was clear from the start that in the overall competition it was going to be a head to head battle between Trevor and Twitter's Runstreak "Gaffer" Andrew, @mrafletch.
In the end, Andrew prevailed, just, with a total of 22,390ft of hillage, with Trevor only 0.2% behind on 22,346ft. I managed to pick up 3rd place, with 20,134ft - the most I've ever run, by far and over double the hillage I ran in January, so I was more than happy with that!
In the hillage/mi challenge, Adam, who managed a total of over 18,000ft in the month, trounced everyone else, with a total of almost 200ft/mi - over double my average.
A new 5K PB, a great family run at the Belvoir Challenge, and a recce of the Grindleford Gallop route with friends.
Also during February, I managed to set my first new PB of the year, improving my previous 5K time of 19:35 (from June 2012), getting it down to 19:17 at Northampton parkrun.
New 5K PB!
The week after that speedy run, came two much longer and slower ones, which in their own ways were equally, if not not more rewarding...
First up was the Belvoir Challenge - a hilly, muddy and cake-filled run / walk around the Vale of Belvoir. It was a brilliant event, worthy of a blog post in its own right, which my running friend David (@runrforlife) has handily written here:
David's review of the Belvoir Challenge
As well as myself and David, also running at Belvoir were Sarah, James and Kieran and my Conkers parkrun friends: Ainslea, Heidi & Robin. It was a really great event and definitely one for our diaries for next year.
The day after the Belvoir Challenge, I ran a recce of the route of the Grindleford Gallop, with Andrew and Trevor (the #HillageChallenge kings) and Simon (@mazymixer), who talked me into many running challenges last year, and who I ran almost every step of my first 2 marathons with...
The Gallop route is a challenging one (21 miles with 3,000ft of elevation) but the day of the recce the weather was pretty good, meaning we could take some time to enjoy the views.
Pictures of both the Belvoir Challenge and Gallop recce are here:
Belvoir Challenge & Gallop Recce photos
here are a couple of examples
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| Left to right: Andrew, Trevor, Simon & me... |
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| At the Belvoir Challenge, being chased by Heidi (pink Ninja) and Robin |
So that was February done, another really fun month of running, another silly challenge and still no blog post to summarise 2012, or look ahead to 2013!
We're two thirds of the way through March, so I'd better get on with finishing this post...
Rather than writing a summary of March, as it's not yet over, I thought I'd finally get around to sharing what my plans are for this year.
Whereas last year my goal was to run / walk and ride a total of 5000 miles, which I did on Christmas day, when I ran with Mum and Kieran:
5000 miles in 2012 completed on Christmas Day
this year, I've decided not to have an overall mileage target, or a running mileage target, but instead to have a series of smaller targets and one big goal race.
My smaller targets are simple (or simple to express at least) and they are to beat each of my running PBs that stood at the start of 2013, for every distance from 400 metres to 50 miles
At the start of this year, my PBs were:
400m 75 secs (approx, I've never raced or timed just one single 400 metres)
800m 2:45 (approx, again, I've never raced it).
1K 3:29
1 mile 5:52 (Bingham Track Mile race - only race I've ever won! :))
2 miles 12:23
5K 19:35 Northampton parkrun: June 2012: 4th place
10K 43:11 - Wollaton Park 10K - June 16th 2012
10 Miles 1:10:36 - Turkey Trot HM - December 2012
Half Marathon 1:33:43 Turkey Trot HM - December 2012
Marathon 3:44:36 - Manchester Marathon, April 2012
40 Miles 8:34:00 - High Peak 40 - September 2012
Of those PBs, the 5K, Half Marathon and 40 mile ones I thought would be the toughest to beat, but I've already improved my 5K time, so that's a great start.
One big goal race: the Highland Fling
My biggest single challenge for this year is to run the Hoka Highland Fling race at the end of April. The Highland Fling is 53 miles along the West Highland Way in Scotland, a far longer, tougher run than I've ever done before. It's now under 6 weeks away, and I'm excited and daunted in equal measure.
I'll be running the Highland Fling in support of Beating Bowel Cancer, and have updated my JustGiving page, any and all donations to this great cause will be greatly appreciated.
Mike's Highland Fling Just Giving page
I hope to blog again before the 'Fling, not least so I don't have to write so much!
Thanks for reading all this, apologies for how long it's been since my last post, and for how long this post is!
Mike
