As 2019 has almost come to an end, I’ve decided to review my running highlights, lowest points and lessons learned throughout the year. If you don’t enjoy reading annual review posts – I personally find them interesting but know not everybody does – I’d recommend that you close the page and continue with your day.

Here are the links to my reviews of 2016, 2017 and 2018. You may detect a bit of a recurring theme.

January

I started the year living and working in Wallingford. After being woken up at 04:00 a few too many times, I escaped from what had turned into the shared house from hell and moved in with a triathlete called Helen.

For once, I also started the year feeling positive and shared my running goals and entered some target races. I shared a running and money-saving idea on twitter and for a couple of hours, my notifications went crazy.

I’m going to stick £1 in a sealed pot every time I run. Perhaps £5 for a race. It will be interesting to see how much money I end up with at the end of 2019. Do people think this is a good or bad idea? @UKRunChat

— Emma Neachell (@thephdrunner) January 1, 2019

After a much-needed break from following structured training plans, my London Landmarks Half Marathon training started and I decided to produce weekly updates.

The first week got off to a positive start, thanks to picking up some sort of office lurgy, the following three weeks of training were a bit hit and miss and I missed most of my training runs. At least I was niggle free heading into February.

February

February was a good month, my London Landmarks Half Marathon training continued and I completed the vast majority of my training runs. I spent an uncomfortable couple of hours working out how much I spent on running in 2018 and shared what I’d spent in what was my most popular blog posts ever; The True Cost of Running.

At the end of February, I headed down to London to attend the unveiling of the official portrait that had been commissioned to commemorate my PhD supervisor Geoff Petts. With a month to go until the half marathon, I didn’t feel ready and felt totally underprepared.

March

March was a month of highs and lows. I completed my first long run but a knee niggle meant that I had to cut short my second long run short. I’ll never forget the cold ‘walk of shame’ back home. With two weeks to go until the London Landmarks Half Marathon, I managed to pick up yet another office bug. Even drinking champagne at a conference I attended at Oxford University was difficult.

I didn’t recover in time and had to DNS the race. Not ideal, but at least I didn’t make my knee injury more serious by attempting to run a half marathon.

April

I decided to give my right knee time to recover so I hid my trainers and focused my attention on enjoying working and living in Wallingford. I wrote and shared a Day in my Life post and was amazed when I was contacted by Blogosphere who wanted to feature the post in their magazine.

By the end of the month, I started to feel like an ex-runner and my running mojo had disappeared. Not even watching the London Marathon made me want to put my trainers on, slightly worrying. Needless to say, I didn’t enter the ballot.

May

At the start of May, I reached the grand old age of 40. I decided to work on my birthday and my Wallingford colleagues really looked after me. Looking back, I have no idea how I survived May, I definitely made the most of my final few weeks in Wallingford!

Most evenings I ended up in my favourite pub – The Old Post Office – I dread to think how many calories and units of alcohol I consumed throughout the month. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when I had a much-needed reality check during a routine pill check-up.

Although, with the exception of a two-mile run with my landlady Helen, I didn’t run at all in May, the month wasn’t a complete write-off as my obsession with parkrun volunteering started.

June

June was a mixed month. I said ‘goodbye’ to my colleagues and life in Wallingford and moved back home to Four Oaks. I started a new more challenging job and struggled to adjust to spending three hours a day commuting to my new office. I took part in Juneathon and spent some time looking back on the first few months of the year. I tried out some more parkrun volunteering roles and discovered I prefer volunteering to running.

After discovering I was unsuccessful in the ballot for the 2020 London Landmarks Half Marathon I entered the Vitality Big Half and booked accommodation. I don’t think I shared this at the time, but in June I also decided it was time to try new things and to make the most of my weekends. At the end of June, I found myself heading to Lichfield to take part in a Hidden Heights tour around Lichfield Cathedral.

July

I started the month by sharing a (lack of) progress report on my running goals and after receiving some really useful feedback, concluded that I needed to completely reassess my goals. I still need to do this! I decided to be brave and had a go at timekeeping at Sutton Park parkrun.

I’ve no idea why I found the idea of timekeeping so scary; it’s now one of my favourite volunteering roles.

I completed a couple of enjoyable runs with Ellen in Sutton Park and recorded my slowest time ever for the 10k distance at the Shenstone Fun Run at least the post-run cakes were tasty. I wrote and shared an updated Day in my Life post and was on the receiving end of some blatant blog plagiarism. I also made my first (and last) appearance at a beginner’s Pilates for Runners running club.

I was reminded that I’m the least flexible person on the planet and that I have zero core strength. Never again!

August

August wasn’t the most positive of months. I felt exhausted a lot of the time and found myself heading to bed as soon as I got home from work. I remember being bitten on the top of my leg while I was timekeeping at parkrun. I didn’t give it a second thought until I noticed a slightly worrying looking rash. I spent a bit of time researching my symptoms online and as a result of my googling; I made an appointment at my doctors.

My doctor took one look at my rash, took some blood samples and treated me for suspected Lyme Disease. Blood tests later confirmed that I had contracted Lyme Disease. I was incredibly fortunate that it was caught early and was treatable, however, thanks to the medication I was prescribed, I wasn’t able to run. I also missed an important interview. At the end of August, I had this blog completely revamped. Several months later, I’m still trying to work out how to use it.

September

I completed my course of medication and after a failed attempt at a two-mile run, decided to start following a Couch to Half Marathon training plan I found online. I found running harder than I expected to start with, but after a couple of weeks started to feel a little fitter. My mental health improved and I started to feel a lot more positive about my new job.

I had a slight parkrun volunteering fail one Saturday when everyone was locked out of the park so parkrun was cancelled. I think I was more disappointed than some of the runners as I’d been looking forward to having a go at the volunteer coordinator role. Luckily, it was a case of second time lucky the following week.

Like virtually every other runner I follow, I discovered I was unsuccessful in the Tokyo Marathon ballot. I received an email advertising early bird entries for the Richmond Half Marathon and found myself hitting the enter button. I hate it when that happens.

October

Looking back, October was definitely what I’d describe as a month of ups and downs. Yet another dose of the office lurgy meant that I unfortunately missed the majority of the fifth and sixth weeks of my Couch to Half Marathon training. After a fortnight of feeling like one of the laziest people on the planet, I felt well enough to join in with some parkrun tourism at Kingsbury Water parkrun. Later on that evening I took part in a charity quiz night and was reminded of how amazing the running community is. I was also reminded that I am rubbish at quizzes.

The final week of October was far more positive as I finally managed to get my training back on track. I volunteered as a marshal at the wettest ever™ Sutton Park parkrun and was a little confused when random people congratulated me on my 25^th volunteering stint. I even got a mention in that weeks event report. Slightly premature as I still had a few volunteering stints to go. And finally, I’m meant to be saving rather than spending – hard to believe I know – so I spent a couple of days debating entering the ballot for the 2020 Chicago Marathon. I reminded myself that I hadn’t had a ‘proper’ holiday since I spent a week in Tunisia in 2007 so I entered the ballot.

November

My running was going well, so when I spotted an advert for the 2020 Marathon Talk Run Camp, I decided to treat myself and booked a place on the camp. My parkrun volunteering streak came to an end as I’d entered the Birmingham MoRun which very inconsiderately clashed with parkrun. Unfortunately, work meant that I missed both the Birmingham MoRun and parkrun.

The following week, I finally became a member of the parkrun volunteer 25 club. This and finding out my blog had been nominated for 2020 Running Awards were probably the highlights of November.

My right knee injury making an unwelcome but not completely unexpected reappearance was the low point of the month. After quite a lot of sulking and some tears, I accepted that I would have to ‘DNS’ a couple more events this year. Luckily, my knee issues didn’t keep me away from parkrun and I ended November with a spot of marshalling in -1°c.

December

I started the month by sharing what has now turned into a regular Christmas Gifts for Runners post. The following week, I worked out how much I’d spent on DNSs a lot of events. My 2019 edition of The True Cost of Running instantly became one of my most viewed posts of the year. As there’s more to life than blogging, I decided to have a short break, so that I could enjoy the festive season.

My volunteering streak continued, and at the start of the month I had another go at tail walking. This time I managed to follow the right people and not some random walkers. I love this photo taken just before the now infamous ‘Hill of Doom’.

Yet another dose of the lurgy meant that I didn’t feel well enough to take part in what turned out to be a record-breaking Christmas Day parkrun at Walsall Arborertum. Luckily, I did feel well enough to demolish a huge amount of food on both Christmas and Boxing Day.

I like to approach the end of each year feeling positive, so I’ve already set myself some running and fitness goals for 2020. I’ve also set myself some quite challenging what I’d describe as ‘life’ goals. I entered a few races before my right knee decided to fall to pieces. Much as I’d love to avoid the dreaded DNS, I have a feeling I won’t be ready to run a half marathon in March.

Looking back, on both a personal level and as a runner, like the previous year, 2019 had its ups and downs. I seemed to pick up every office bug going and struggled to recover. As for contracting Lyme Disease, I feel lucky that it was diagnosed quickly and treated effectively, a lot of people aren’t as fortunate. Although my monthly mileage was a little inconsistent, I ran when I could and rested when I needed to.

Fingers crossed I have a healthier and less injury-filled 2020!

What was the running highlight of 2019 for you? I had two; not giving up and throwing away my trainers and discovering my love of volunteering at parkrun.

What are your running and fitness goals for 2020? I’m determined to complete the Chicago Marathon.

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