Introduction:

I entered 2020 with a positive mindset towards my training and confident that I would be able to hit some of my big goals for the year. 2019 saw me miss a fair amount of training with injuries and also wedding planning, so consistency was going to be one of my main keys to success for 2020.

2020 Goals:

So, my goals for 2020 were as follows:

• Complete 10 events throughout the year (excluding Parkrun) – I’m hoping that my running club Grand Prix will help me reach this one!
• Reach 50 Parkruns – second year lucky?
• Run 1000 miles across the year
• Run a sub-25 5k
• Run a sub-54 10k
• Run a sub-2 half marathon
• Run a sub-5 marathon

There were a couple of those that would have been slightly optimistic, such as the sub-2 half marathon, but a lot of them should have been achievable. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the first two goals on the list were made unattainable as events were cancelled. Training had been going well and I was confident of getting a sub-5 marathon time… that was, at least, until the news broke that the London Marathon was going to be postponed until October. I had just gotten to the point in my training where I was going to start tapering and cutting back on my mileage, so it was a bitter blow after the hard work that I had put in. Still, I tried to turn it into a positive in the sense that I had more training time to hit my sub-5 goal in October.

Unfortunately, on July 22^nd, my younger brother took his own life, and my world seemingly fell apart. Running and training naturally went out of the window, as did eating properly. I also then found myself unemployed and separated from my husband… so quite a few changes to contend with!

Despite all of this, my total running distance for 2020 clocked in at 822.48 miles. The 1000 mile goal could have been achieved, but I took a lot of time away from running properly. I also moved house to the East Midlands towards the end of the year and started a new job, which had an impact as I had to adjust to a new work role and location. Since moving, my longest runs have been 3 milers. It’s pretty hilly around here and I have lost a lot of fitness. I’m looking at building back up, but ideally want to join the gym as I no longer have access to my treadmill or home gym equipment. With the hilly and muddy terrain, I think I’d struggle to do my long distance runs around here at the minute, but I am looking at transferring to a local club once we’re no longer under tier 4 lockdown rules.

I did run the Virtual London Marathon in October, but deep down I had already accepted that a sub-5 time was no longer on the cards. In fact, just completing the distance would feel like an achievement. I guess my stubbornness helped, along with some positive messages that my brother had sent me back at the start of the year, as I managed to complete it, despite the wind, rain and lack of crowd support. My emotions on the day made it quite challenging; I’m used to treadmill running and not having a clear finish line ahead, but I did struggle without the London crowds and spectators. In the end, I think I did around 30 laps of the local park to complete the 26.2 mile distance. To my surprise, I even got a personal best with a time of 5:03:17; my previous best was 5:06:22. To be honest, I probably set out too fast as I was expecting it to be a really rough day and just wanted to get it done. For a lot of it, I had been on track for a sub-5 time, but I just wasn’t able to hold the pace and the last few laps around the park turned into a lot of run / walk intervals as I tried to limp to the finish.

The remaining time-based goals were put on a backburner too as I was struggling to train properly. It’s hard to find the motivation when you don’t actually have an event planned. Plus it’s easier to push yourself harder in an actual event and you don’t have to worry about losing time to cross busy roads or planning an accurate route.

Plans For 2021:

It’s difficult to make too many plans for 2021 at the minute as we are currently in tier 4 lockdown. That means no gym or running clubs, and you can only meet one other person outdoors. Having recently moved to the area, I don’t actually know anyone other than my housemate who lived local to the area previously.

As there are no events to aim for, I think my main focus is just going to be building my base fitness back up and trying to get acclimatised to the hills and terrain. At the moment, I’m registered for the 2021 London Marathon which is scheduled for October, if all goes ahead as planned.

Overall, I’ll probably just rollover my 2020 goals and see if any can be done in 2021:

• Reach 50 Parkruns – third year lucky?
• Run 1000 miles across the year
• Run a sub-25 5k
• Run a sub-54 10k
• Run a sub-2 half marathon
• Run a sub-5 marathon

Conclusion:

So yeah, 2020… a year where I didn’t achieve any of my running goals. With that being said, I did get a personal best over the marathon distance. With everything that I had going on this year, I’m relatively happy with my total mileage for the year, even though I know that 1000 miles was still achievable. It’s been a tough year, and I feel like my fitness has slipped a lot, which I do kick myself for as I worked hard to get to a “good” level ready for the should-have-been London Marathon in April. Still, I’ve taken some time out and gone a bit easier on myself with regards to days off training and what I ate, so moving into 2021 I know that I need to get back into some sort of routine. With gyms currently closed, I’m not too sure what that routine will be, but just getting myself back out running regularly would be a good start.

How did 2020 go for you, and do you have any goals for 2021?