Running, swimming, cycling 2019

Here’s my annual review of running, swimming and cycling, in the usual spirit of gratefulness, reflection and celebration.

Running – 953 miles
I’ve been slowly trying to regain the fitness I lost from that stress fracture last year. I got back up to half-marathon distance, and finished the year with my highest weekly mileage of just over 30 miles. I ran in Scotland, Spain, Palestine, Norway and France. 

I did 29 parkruns, 16 of them at new events for me: Foots Cray Meadows and Orpington in a New Year’s Day double with my sister Mandy; Finsbury Park on the day we sent out our Kickstarter rewards for Out of the Box Cards; Victoria Dock because I needed a V; St Helens when I was invited to talk about my book after parkrun; Jersey Farm on my birthday – 50th location and a J; Mile End parkrun because I had to do a trip briefing for Amos Trust one Saturday and that was the nearest parkrun; Eastville while in Bristol visiting my brother-in-law and sister-in-law; Wimpole Estate on the way to my mum’s annual family picnic; Catford on the way to visit my granddaughters; Mole Valley on a camping weekend with friends; Portobello while we were in Edinburgh for the Festival; East Brighton while visiting family; Upton Court on the way to the wood; Coldham’s Common on the way to my sister’s 50th birthday celebrations and Woolacombe Dunes while we were in Devon for Christmas.

Six races – Hackney Half, Tromso Midnight Sun Half (the only one where I finished under two hours), Ealing Half, Royal Parks Half, Perivale 5 and Osterley 10k.

Memorable runs:

• along the beach at St Andrews on a bizarre weekend where I was invited to speak in the university chapel.
• on Quantock Greenway while we were staying in a yurt in Somerset
• in Bethlehem while leading a trip to meet women in the West Bank.
• across Edinburgh to Portobello parkrun forgetting that Scottish parkruns start at 9:30am, so arriving remarkably early
• morning run through misty trees when we were camping in the woodland in September
• Eltham junior parkrun with Flo – 2k is a long way for a four-year-old
• every run in Menton but particularly the final run where I came second on a strata segment!

Swimming – 30km
I swam a lot less this year. I swam in Shepperton Lake once, and in Brockwell and Parliament Hill lidos a few times. We swam in the sea often in Menton in November apart from the day when there were hundreds of jellyfish. I had a quick dip in the sea on Christmas Day in Putsborough with my sister-in-law Ruth. I would like to be someone who goes cold-water swimming all year round, but I am definitely not that person.

Cycling – 740 miles
I had a place in Ride London this year but felt overwhelmed at the thought of getting fit enough to do it, so I deferred to next year. I didn’t spend a lot of time on my bike, but did have some fun rides:

• delivering Out of the Box cards to all the local people who supported our Kickstarter
• cycling some of the way to Somerset for our week in a yurt – I got the train to Swindon, cycled to a B&B in Marlborough, and then onto Wells the next day where I met Jonny in the car
• Amos Road Club trip to the Peak District
• cycling some of the way to the wood after getting the train from Waterloo to Haslemere.

It’s been hard to fit my fitness aspirations into this year of working full-time, starting a business and learning how to manage a woodland, but as always I’m incredibly grateful for all the miles I’ve been able to do, and I’m looking forward to next year.