There’s no doubt about it… 2018 has been my best year for running and here are some of my best running moments from an awesome year.
Interviewing Sir Mo Farah
It’s not often you get to meet your idols and I was lucky to meet Mo Farah twice last year. WHAT. A. LEGEND. I caught up with him once before he took to the marathon stage in London to break the British Record, and once again later in the year as I visited St Moritz to meet up with British Athletes in training. Meeting Mo was an honour, interviewing Mo was a pleasure and I can’t wait to see what he can do in 2019. Check out the video above for behind the scenes vlog!
Running 50 Miles at the Lakeland 50
There were so many things I loved about this challenge and I went to town on my race review here. By far the biggest personal challenge to date and everything about it was a huge commitment. Training, eating, travel to get there, driving home was probably the toughest part!
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Pacing at Hackney Half
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Pacing is an awesome way to get that epic sense of achievement and arguably its even more rewarding when you can share it with others. I have paced only a couple of races but in 2018 I paced a runner (and now a friend) Izzy Milburn to a PB at Hackney Half (courtesy of ASICS) and it was one of the biggest highlights of my year. I wasn’t an official race pacer that day but just ran with Izzy and gave her some time and distance updates along the way to bring home a 1:33 half marathon.
Running a faster Half Marathon time
I used to be scared of the half marathon distance because I didn’t know how to pace it well, but in 2018 I ran a Local half, then the Big Half London, Berlin Half Marathon and Hackney half all before the summer and I realised it’s my favourite distance! I brought my PB from 1:37 to 1:29 and that felt pretty awesome to get a sub 90 half.
The Snow
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This isn’t really a huge achievement as such, but I did a big 22 mile long run when the snow hit the UK and it was one of the best runs of my year! I cant wait for more snow in 2019! For some reason when we get extreme weather I feel the need to lace up and get running!
St Moritz – Pro Athlete Insights
I spent and incredible few days in St Moritz for Pro:Direct to make a short documentary about British Athletes training at altitude. We hung out with some of Britains best and talked about how their training was going ahead of the European championships, how they got into running, what motivates them. It was inspiring to see how dedicated they have had to become and of course the scenery was sensational. Check out the video to see more! Filmed and edited by Tom Parnell from #TeamProDirect.
Mizuno Endure 24
Returning to the Mizuno Endure 24 with the Pro:Direct Run Club was a big highlight, I felt fit and fast and covered 6 laps of the 5 mile loop. Despite me being the slowest in our A team.. (everyone else was RAPID) we still got the win that weekend in the mixed team event.
Faster 5k and 10k
One of the things I am most proud of in 2018 is chopping my times over 5k and 10k. In 6 months I chopped my 10k from just over 44 mins to 38:08 and set a new 5K pb in the same run. They really helped to justify the improvement I had been making through out the year and something I will look to improve on for 2019.
Trying out soooo many pairs of shoes
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I love getting to learn about new running kit and how technology can push our performance boundaries, even if sometimes it might just be a placebo effect! This year I have had the pleasure of testing out and running in loads of new kit through my work with Pro:Direct Running and that’s massively satisfied my inner running nerd. I have recommended hundreds of pairs of shoes to people through social media and always feel better knowing that people are running in good products and not ruining themselves in bad footwear. Hola at me if you want to talk about your next running shoe!
The Marathons
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Last year I was lucky to get places to London Marathon and Berlin Marathon with Pro:Direct courtesy of New Balance and Adidas respectively. While both ended up being my slowest races to date, I learned to respect the distance and I found out the hard way what can happen when race day doesn’t go to plan. This has given me a burning desire to succeed and hit goals in 2019. Fire Power! I really enjoyed both experiences regardless as the buzz of a big city marathon is pretty special!
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Thanks for following the journey so far. It’s been a fun one to say the least. I hope you have taken some inspiration to set your own challenge. Anyone can achieve these seemingly hard things, the first step is saying yes!
Follow everything a little closer over on the ‘gram here or on strava here.