2014 in Running

I’ve spotted this “Year of Running” thing going around the internet in the last week or so and thought I would join in to answer the questions and sum up what my year of running has been like. I did a similar thing for cycling in a post where I spoke about a few particularly memorable cycles from this year.

So this year was actually my first year in running! I had done a bit of running the previous year, the odd 5k but that was the longest distance I had run and putting my trainers on was by no means a regular occurrence.

It all started when I was working in Dublin, living by myself for two months. Heading out in the dark and the freezing cold after work, I would run for 15 minutes along the main road, and then try to get back to my flat in less than 15 minutes. A few mornings later on in the year (when it was a bit lighter) I would head out to the sea front and run alongside the sunrise, buffeted by the wind and cheeks glowing bright red from exertion and cold. In fact one of my only memories of being in Dublin when it wasn’t raining is of one of these morning runs!

Back to the UK and I began seriously training for my triathlon – cue longer runs, building up to the 10k distance, treadmill intervals, and park runs. Gradually my park run (5k) PB slipped from well over 30 minutes to 25min 40…. next year I’m gunning for under 25 minutes.

Runs got longer, and faster, and more fun. I’ve had numerous extremely enjoyable runs and lots that I just had to get over and done with. I ran around Canary Wharf and Mudchute Park, through Hyde Park, through Battersea Park and along the Thames Path (numerous times), over the South Downs and along a disused railway in Andalucia.

So without further ado, here is my year in running…..

Best race experience? I did a few races this year – two triathlons, two 10ks and a number of park runs. I really enjoyed the Nike 10k Take Back the Night – a women’s only 10k in Victoria Park with my little sister. Although she got a stitch early on and so we just jogged around slowly, it was lovely running and chatting to my sis and being surrounded by so many other women also running!

But my best race experience by far was the first Olympic distance triathlon I did. I can’t say I actually enjoyed the run – especially as I was timing the distance between mum and myself at the out-and-backs and she kept getting further ahead! But as soon as I crossed that finish line, knowing that I had DONE it, and then saw my time and realised it was my fastest 10k yet, I was ecstatic.

Best run? My favourite runs are those surrounded by nature and with other people – maybe because I usually run through the concrete jungle of London, with only Taylor Swift in my headphones for company!

One was on a summer morning with clear blue skies over the South Downs with my mum and her running group. They’re a really nice bunch at a range of speeds and so we ran and chatted over the trails, with some incredible views. Plus the fact that my legs felt strong and I was super-energetic, and it was a great run all round.

But for the sheer beauty of the scenery, the best has to be my run along the Via Verde in Andalucia, Spain. Not only was it lovely to spend an hour running and chatting with my mum, but it was just so beautiful. Having said that, my legs were feeling very tired and slow by the end!

Best new piece of gear? Well I didn’t really have any gear last year (other than my trainers) so there’s a lot of stuff to think about here! I’ve got a couple of new running tops and some tights that I love and wear constantly but actually the best has to be my garmin – I went for one of the more basic running watches with HRM and picked the Forerunner 210. I’ve used it on and off but especially as I’ve started marathon training – it is just incredibly helpful to keep an eye on my pace without having to get my phone out of my pocket all the time!

Best piece of running advice you received? I learnt a huge amount about running this year, from blogs, from magazines, from physios, from my mum…. The most useful bit of advice though was not so much about running, but more about the mental side of training for events. It was posted at exactly the right time, in the run up to my first Olympic distance triathlon when I was feeling incredible stressed about it all – a post by RUnladylike called train your brain to run your best. I liked it so much I even blogged about the effect it had on me.

Most inspirational runner? This is perhaps an odd one. This year the most inspirational runner for me was my boyfriend’s brother – he is not a “runner” per se but an Ironman who competed in Kona this year. Ironman is ridiculously difficult and I think perhaps people don’t realise how difficult until they start doing something similar. If you’ve never even run for ten minutes, or cycled for an hour, there’s no way you can quite realise the challenge of racing for 10+ hours (up to 17 or so hours). He started a few years ago from a pretty unhealthy background – think far too much alcohol and cigarettes to say the least. He says that he decided to give up and then, every time he wanted a cigarette, he would go for a run instead. Now he’s basically a health nut and after “retiring” from ironman after Kona, is training for an Audax from Newcastle to London – that’s a 300 mile cycle ride Following his journey to Kona from afar has made me want to do an ironman someday…. let’s get through this marathon first!

If you could sum up your year in running in a couple of words, what would they be? A revelation – running can be fun!

How was your year in running?