So, the end of the year is upon us and I have been thinking about what I have achieved this year in terms of my running. Indulge me if you will whilst I run through some statistics I have retrieved from my running log:

In total I have run:

663 miles, which is enough to take me from Land’s End, England to Stonehaven, Scotland (20 miles South of Aberdeen), with the majority on the M6. I could drive it in about 11 hours, however have calculated that it has taken me 111 hours to run those 663 miles! My biggest mileage month was September when I hit 91 miles. My lowest was June with only 26 miles, which coincided with a broken bone in my foot.

68 races!! This comprises 38 x BPTT 5k’s, 2 x RPTT 5k’s, 7 x 10k’s (Goring, Chichester, Sutton, Elmbridge, Bognor, Lanzarote and Brighton), 3 x 10 miles (Thames Towpath Ten, Dorking and Cabbage Patch 10 , 2 x 8 miles (one slightly longer but what’s half a mile between puddles?), 1 x 7km (Wedding Day), 1 x 4 mile (Cabbage Patch 4), 1 x half marathon (Bedford), 7 x cross country of varying distances, 3 x 5.17km (Stragglers handicaps), 1 x 5k(Belgrave), 2 x cross country relays and an aquathlon (Lanzarote)!!

I have additionally won 4 handicap prizes!! Who’d have thought I would win anything? I’ve won the Belgrave 5k Handicap prize (£75 no less!), 2 Stragglers Handicap gold medals (August and September - I have retired now) and finally the Dysart Cup Sealed Handicap - not sure f I actually physically get anything for this though…will find out in March. The last prize was a lovely shiny medal and a rucksack from BPTT, thanks to finishing 7th overall in the women’s league for the year 2006-2007.

In terms of progress and PB’s, I started the year with a 5km PB of 32:01, which I reduced in October to 25:22. My 10k PB has gone from 71:40 in January to 54:45 in November, my 10 mile PB from 1:52:08 in April to 1:32:27 in October. I will have to wait until 2008 to see if I improve over other distances, as they are strange race lengths which aren’t raced very often.

I have had lots of fun over the past year with David, Kirsty and Danny travelling to races and training together (well, I say together, I mean in the same place at the start and end of a session!). I’d like to thank them for all their encouragement and cries of “sandbagger”! I also have had lots and lots of support during races from members of both our running clubs which is great, so thanks everyone for that. I went on a running holiday, which was great and something last year I would never have dreamed I would do. My life has changed immeasurably, as has my weight (I have lost 19lbs since the start of the year with not a diet in sight, combined with the weight loss in 2006 that brings me to 46lbs lost in total). My bank balance is slightly worse for wear, I am now on my 3rd pair of shoes, as well as having trail shoes and a pair of cross country spikes! I also now have more running kit than normal clothes (actually, that’s not true but I do have an awful lot!) which further accounts for the reduced bank balance…

So what’s in the plan for next year? Firstly I need to sort out my injury. I have been injured for over 3 months now and it is really starting to get me down. I can still run but occasionally in a lot of pain and generally in moderate pain. I am contemplating having January off with lots of physio visits, just to see if that will do the trick. I will be annoyed though as there are some great cross country races in January which I want to do but then it’s more important to get my leg better I think. I also have some time targets for a couple of distances but I won’t put them in black and white here, they can stay in my head (and some people know what they are).

I think that’s about it. This is like an Oscar speech, sorry! Final special thanks must go to David for encouraging me so much with my running. He has even come out with me at my pace from time to time, which I am sure must have been incredibly irritating for him - despite insisting that it wasn’t. See you all running soon…