New Year’s Resolutions

2016 New Year’s Resolutions:

1. sub 2.30 marathon – PASS. 2.26.26
2. weigh under 10 stone – FAIL. Got down to 10st 0lb 8oz just before Christmas
3. do 1 drawing every week – FAIL. Did about 7 drawings in the whole year

2017 New Year’s Resolutions:

1. sub 2.20 marathon – FAIL. 2.20.20
2. weigh under 10 stone – SEMI PASS. Spent about 2 months of the year under
3. do 1 drawing every month – SEMI PASS. I did 12 drawings, but not one a month

2018 New Year’s Resolutions:

1. sub 2.18 marathon
2. sub 60 seconds for 400m
3. zero drama!

A fantastic year for me. Although I was 21 seconds off my A-Goal of a sub 2.20 marathon, I had tried my absolute best on the day, and the weather was awful, and it was still an improvement of over 6 minutes, AND it did give me my highest ever position in the UK rankings.  “Stretch goals”, “bullet train thinking”, that stuff really works.

I learnt a lot about marathon training, and racing, and my own limits this year. I found new depths of fatigue. But I also discovered that if I eat well, and sleep well, and have an incredible family to support me, I CAN run 100 mile weeks while working as a builder. My job has actually helped me a lot this year. It is CrossFit all day long, keeping my body strong and useful. Also the routine helps my running, either I get up at 6am and go for my run before work, or there is no run.

Training and racing wise, I will be looking at replicating  what I did last year, consistency is key. I don’t think I will ever be in a position to train much more than 100 miles a week, with the kind of work I do. When I say I want a year of ‘zero drama’, I mean no falling off motorbikes (read post here) or slicing up my knee (read post here). That goes for my marathons too, I don’t want all the excitement of having to stop with a stitch in London Marathon (read post here), or being forced to do something worse in Berlin Marathon, you know what I’m talking about (read post here). This year I want to run a really boring marathon, where I set off at my target pace, and I hold that pace for the whole 26.2 miles. The End. It will make for a terrible blog post, but hopefully a superfast PB!

Highlights of the year:

• being interviewed in Marathon Talk (listen here)
• Having an article AND illustration featured in Like The Wind mag (order it here)
• Doing a talk and being involved with Bangor University ‘Born to Run‘ project
• Starting a little Track Tuesday squad at Bangor Track. Really helping me to have guys to train with

 

Favourite movie 2017:

The Work. Can’t stop thinking about it. Group Therapy in maximum security prison USA.

 

Favourite boxset 2017:

Last Chance U 2. The second series in a documentary following a college American Football team, of incredibly talented players, who have all been thrown out of their DIV I colleges for different infractions. One guy, Isaiah Wright, can do unbelievable things on the field, but his life is just falling around his ears. The stakes are so high, pro-baller millionaire or hoodie gangbanger.

 

Favourite song 2017:

Do it – Rae Morris. Recommended to me by my sister, became our household theme tune for the year. Great tune and the chorus’ lyrics are genius…

“Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it.”

Sometimes you just need to hear that.

 

Favourite book I’ve read this year:

Butchers Crossing – John Williams

I have always wondered, watching Wild West movies, when all these cowboys and Indians are running around killing each other, with duels and stake-outs and six shooters; what is the average guy doing? How is he getting by? Well, this is his story.