Taking a moment to look back at 2022 has made me realise how much I’ve achieved this year. From marathon training to a parkrun PB with lots of buggy adventures thrown in, it’s been a busy year of running!
I kicked off the year with a New Year’s Day parkrun with my little copilot, and January also saw the start of my first ever marathon training block. Brighton marathon was my first goal to work towards in 2022 and I was so excited to be able to start ticking off those training runs. In February I ran my first race of the year, Goodwood Running Grand Prix Half, and I was ecstatic to come away with a half marathon PB and getting ever closer to that sub-2-hour time. As marathon training started to ramp up I was running further than 13.1 miles for the first time ever and I also ran my first parkrun sandwich, running from home to parkrun and then back again.
I ticked off the longest marathon training runs of 20 miles in March and was amazed at how quickly I was clocking up my yearly mileage, after running less than 100 miles total in the first three months of 2021. Suddenly it was April and time to give Brighton marathon my best shot. I was initially disappointed with my finish time but soon realised that crossing the finish line was a huge achievement in itself. I was officially a marathon runner, and just about recovered in time to celebrate Max’s second birthday.
In May I lost my motivation somewhat, having ticked off such a big goal that I had been working towards for the previous four months. But it was nice to relax my running schedule a bit and enjoy some buggy runs in the sunshine. By June I was ready to start building up a bit more speed at shorter distances and started a new training block aiming to run a sub-50 10k in July. But July was a busy month preparing to move from Portsmouth back to Bournemouth and on race day, although I still ran a 10k race PB at RunThrough Southampton Common, I didn’t quite manage to reach that goal.
In August, I ran my 100th parkrun on my birthday weekend and enjoyed more buggy running with Max through the school holidays. I was also training for my next half marathon. The New Forest Half in September didn’t turn out to be a PB race, but I absolutely loved the scenic course and returning to the place I ran my first ever 10k that ignited my love for running. September also saw my first time volunteering at parkrun, something I hope to do more of in 2023.
October was a brilliant month where I finally managed to run a parkrun PB, my previous one having stood for over three years. I also returned to Portsmouth to reunite with some local friends and run my first Great South Run which I absolutely loved. November saw me run my 1000th mile of the year, meaning I had ticked off three of the four goals I had set myself for the year. All that remained was for me to have one final sub-50 10k attempt in December. I also ran my 50th parkrun at my home location, Moors Valley, this month.
December arrived and I was so chuffed to finally run that sub-50 10k back at Goodwood Running Grand Prix, where I had run my first race of the year. I also loved running a festive Christmas Eve buggy parkrun. I hope to finish the year as I started it, with a New Year’s Eve parkrun with my not-so-little-anymore copilot. Then it will be time to start setting some new goals for 2023.
You can read more about my recent races, including Brighton marathon here. Or you can read more about my postpartum running journey by clicking here.
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