As 2021 has almost come to an end, I’ve decided to review my running highlights, low points, and the lessons I learned throughout the year. As like last year I spent the majority of the year injured and unable to run, I decided to share some of my non-running highlights and low points. If you don’t enjoy reading lengthy annual review posts – I’m quite nosey so I personally find them interesting, but I know from previous feedback that not everyone does – I’d recommend that you navigate away from this page and continue with your day.

Here are the links to my previous annual review posts, there’s definitely a theme 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020

January

History repeated itself and I started the year with a knee injury which meant I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to run. Despite this, I started 2021 feeling positive about the year ahead, surely things could only get better.

This positivity didn’t last long! The announcement of a third national lockdown that would last at least six weeks wasn’t the best start to 2021. I set myself and shared details of what I described as three personal challenges and also shared my running goals for the year ahead. In an attempt to motivate myself, I decided to ‘reward’ myself for completing cycling and running training sessions and also for volunteering at parkrun when it returned. I also made sure that I spent time outside, even when the weather was miserable.

I’m aware that this review is already making me sound like Moaning Myrtle, January did have one major highlight. I was interviewed for a permanent hydrology technical specialist role – being interviewed via MS Teams was a somewhat surreal experience – and I found out that I’d been successful a couple of days later.  After spending three years on a series of fixed-term contracts, it felt amazing to have the increased security and stability of a permanent contract.

Although I managed to spend a fair amount of time on my exercise bike, I was unable to run so I deferred my Richmond Half entry to 2022. This would turn out to be the first of a series of race deferrals.

February

Like a lot of people, I found the third national lockdown incredibly difficult. I completely lost my exercise mojo and rarely left the house. I neglected my exercise bike and reached my highest ever weight. Looking back, February was both physically and mentally challenging. Once I’d written and shared my first personal challenges update, I couldn’t be bothered to blog as I didn’t have anything interesting to say.

The second month of the year wasn’t all doom and gloom. I entered the virtual London Marathon – yes, I know I vowed to never enter another marathon – but I figured it would give me something to focus on. I also promised myself that as there wasn’t a time limit, I could always walk the 26.2 miles. My favourite race; the Cathedral to Castle run was postponed again to later in the year. I hoped that I’d be able to make it to the start line of the event.

March

March was a month of unwelcome milestones. I celebrated(?) 12 months of working from home. While I’d enjoyed not having to spend three hours a day commuting to and from the office, I was feeling increasingly isolated. The numerous days I quite literally didn’t speak to anyone were particularly difficult. The news that we’d probably be working from home until the end of the year was both unexpected and unwelcome. I looked ahead to my new job and wondered how I’d cope working closely with people I’d never met in person. Spending some time with my support bubble on Mother’s Day provided me with me a much-needed change of scenery.

I most definitely didn’t celebrate the 12 month anniversary of the final parkrun that took place before the first national lockdown. I never thought I’d miss my parkrun family as much as I did. I never thought I’d miss the early mornings as much as I did. In an attempt to temporarily forget about the ‘real world’ I spent my evenings working my way through my pile of unread books and published another Books read recently post.  I also shared a life lately update.

I attended a virtual drinks and leaving do and in typical Emma style, I cried. My old team bought me the most amazing Percy Pig bouquet; I was in such a rush to make a start on the Percy Pigs I forgot to take a photo so here’s a photo I found online. Incidentally, after eating far too many bags of Percy Pigs in one sitting, I’ve not eaten any Percy Pigs since.

[Source]

The lighter morning and evenings meant that I spent more time outside and that my exercise mojo made a welcome return. I recorded my highest monthly exercise bike mileage and entered the virtual Boston Marathon.

View this post on Instagram

I figured that as I’ll never be fast enough to qualify to run the Boston Marathon, completing the virtual Boston Marathon would hopefully enable me to earn my own Boston Marathon unicorn medal. I know it’s not the same as travelling to Boston and running the actual Boston Marathon, but it’s the closest I’ll get to the real thing.

April

I didn’t blog much in April because I started a new job and didn’t want to give myself the added pressure of blogging. I spent quite a lot of my free time reading and published another Books I’ve read recently post. Reaching the bottom of my ‘books to read’ pile made me feel so anxious, I used the local recognition award I’d received from work to buy another six running-related books. So much for spending the award on something sensible.

I’ve just realised that I’ve barely mentioned running and this is meant to be a running blog. Sorry! I almost started following the Couch to 5k a few times in April. Unfortunately, the second I charged up my Garmin and thought about running, my knee niggle made an unwelcome but predictable reappearance. After a so-called easy session on my exercise bike appeared to exacerbate my knee pain, I started to suspect that it was my exercise bike and not running that was at least partly to blame for my knee issues.

May

 At the start of May, I celebrated my 42nd birthday. Unfortunately, the Early May Bank Holiday weekend was a complete washout so some of my outdoor birthday plans were postponed. Although my birthday was a quiet, low-key affair, it was a vast improvement on my birthday 12 months earlier. I ordered and ate far too much Chinese takeaway, drank a little too much wine, and had a great evening with my support bubble. A couple of days later, I received my first Covid vaccine, and except for a sore arm and a slightly elevated resting heart rate felt fine. The day after my vaccine I got to see my sister and my twin nieces for the first time in almost eight months.

Once my resting heart rate settled down, I decided it was time for me to re-start the Couch to 5k for what felt like the millionth time.

The first few runs were a little scary, and I spent most of the interval sessions worrying my knees were going to implode. Luckily my knees felt reasonably happy – I’d previously been warned that they are never going to be completely pain-free – and I managed to complete the first three weeks of the Couch to 5k and got to witness some stunning sunrises.

Although my knees coped with the interval runs, spending any amount of time on my exercise bike left me in quite a lot of pain. I put the exercise bike in the shed and researched alternative cross-training options. I quickly discovered that I’m useless at yoga and that I really should overcome my phobia of swimming pools.

At the end of the month, I treated a friend to lunch at our local Bistrot Pierre restaurant in Mere Green.

 

This turned out to be the start of an expensive and calorific weekly habit. Having some normality back in my life more than made up for the temporary weight gain.

June

My Couch to 5k training continued and I successfully completed the fourth and fifth weeks of the plan. Running for five minutes consecutively felt like a huge milestone.

Unfortunately, my knee injury flared up during the final 20 minute run of Week 6 of the plan, so I decided to take another break from running to give my knee time to recover. I was reasonably confident it would only need to be a short break.

My exercise bike spent the month gathering dust in the garden shed, so in a desperate attempt to get some exercise and to maintain my fitness, I spent a lot of time walking around Four Oaks and around the top end north of Sutton Park.

The remainder of June was mixed, definitely a month of lows and highs. My new job continued to be stressful, and I spent an unhealthy amount of time doubting myself and feeling like a failure. In an attempt to cheer myself up, I bought myself a Garmin Fenix as the battery life of my Garmin 235 was deteriorating rapidly. After a few failed attempts and some slightly fruity language – I may have a PhD but I’m useless with technology – I eventually managed to get my new Garmin to ‘talk’ to my iPhone.

July

The majority of July was challenging, looking back I’ve genuinely got no idea how I made it through the month. My new job continued to be stressful, and I experienced what I can only describe as a complete loss of confidence. I applied for a job on a lower grade based in my old team in Wallingford but wasn’t shortlisted for an interview. Not the confidence boost I needed. When I admitted that I was struggling and felt like I wasn’t coping, my team leaders were incredibly supportive, and work arranged for me to attend weekly Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) sessions.

I felt frustrated that I couldn’t run as I knew from previous experience how much running would have helped me.

July did have some positives. I received my second Covid vaccine and didn’t experience any side effects. I spent most of my evenings listing and selling my unwanted running gear on eBay and Facebook. And finally, on July 24^th Sutton Park parkrun made a welcome return.

Catching up with my parkrun family was amazing and also a little overwhelming. I decided to throw myself in at the deep end and volunteered as a barcode scanner.

[Photo: Dean Lucas]

Although I felt a little nervous to start with, after a few minutes it felt like the good old, pre-Covid days, albeit with the addition of a facemask, and I started to relax and to enjoy myself.

August

I’ll get the negatives out of the way first because, on balance, August was a month of positives. Work continued to be challenging, and I had my first CBT session, it wasn’t what I was expecting. Although my blogging mojo disappeared, I spent my evenings reading the running books I’d bought earlier in the year. The lack of exercise the previous month combined with a few too many Chinese takeaways meant that I recorded another highest ever weight milestone. My running coach was correct when he said it’s impossible to outrun (or in my case outwalk) a poor diet. I’m not sure trying out the Giggling Squid  restaurant in Mere Green was the most sensible decision I’ve ever made. Although the food tasted amazing, I’ve not been back because everything was so expensive.

August actually contained some running. After giving my knees – by this stage both knees were niggly – six weeks to recover, I restarted the Couch to 5k at Week 5. After I struggled to run for five minutes, I decided to start the Couch to 5k again. I didn’t share my failed attempts at running on here, but if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that this didn’t go very well, not due to my fitness levels but due to my niggly knees. I haven’t run since that painful interval session on August 10th. I should probably rename this blog something like The Injured Runner or My Knees Hate Me.

I sulked and felt sorry for myself for a few days and then shifted my focus to walking. I volunteered as a tail walker at Sutton Park parkrun on the first two Saturdays in August and enjoyed my Saturday morning strolls around Sutton Park.

[Photo: Nicola Baker]

Midway through the month, I remembered that I’d entered two marathons in October and that October was rapidly approaching. Although tail walking was loads of fun, walking 5k once a week clearly wasn’t going to prepare my fragile feet for the challenge of walking 26.2 miles. I drafted out a training plan and ended the month with a 12 mile walk around Four Oaks.

I ended the 12 mile walk feeling tired but also confident that if I gradually built up my mileage, I’d be able to walk 26.2 miles in October.

September

September didn’t get off to the best of starts when I picked up a mystery illness. Although multiple PCR tests confirmed that I didn’t have Covid, the mystery illness lingered for several weeks, left me with very little energy, and resulted in a lot of missed training walks. I’m aware that I’m repeating myself, apologies, but work continued to be stressful, and my anxiety levels continued to increase. Only the support of my colleagues and line managers got me through the first two weeks of September. The appearance of some of the Sutton Park cows at the start of parkrun also made me smile.

The month improved when I set up my out of office reply and cleared away my work laptop for two weeks. I felt so unwell during the first week of my annual leave, I slept a lot and barely left the house. The second week of my annual leave was far more productive, I spent time with both of my parents and was treated to the most amazing fish and chips at the Swan at Walton.

I also caught up on some long overdue adulting tasks, got my training back on track, and made a start on my Christmas shopping. The two weeks of annual leave helped me to feel a lot less stressed and more resilient when I returned to work.

And what about parkrun? The first Saturday in September I volunteered as a tail walker at Beacon parkrun. I loved meeting new parkrunners and spending my Saturday morning in Lichfield, I’d definitely recommend that you pay the cathedral city a visit. I volunteered as a tail walker at Sutton Park parkrun twice and got roped into the funnel manager role once.

[Photo: Nicola Baker]

I ended September needing to complete another eight parkruns to cross off one of my main 2021 running goals, to become a member of the 50 Club.

October

October was a good month. My CBT sessions continued, my scores got lower each week, and my sleep improved. Although work continued to be challenging, I started to enjoy my job, and some much-needed rainfall towards the end of the month reduced the pressure on the team. The news that this running blog had made it into the Top 10 UK Running Blogs for the fifth consecutive year, and that I’d been invited to attend a Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games volunteer interview boosted my confidence.

My knee injury meant that running continued to be something that other people did. I could still walk so although I didn’t attempt to complete the virtual London Marathon – in my defence the weather was far from ideal, and I didn’t want a repeat of what happened in 2020 – watching the London Marathon made me more determined to get to the root of my knee issues. I wanted to run again. The following weekend I walked 26.2 miles around Four Oaks and completed the virtual Boston Marathon.

Thanks to a combination of marshalling and tail walking at Sutton Park parkrun, I managed to complete five parkruns in October setting a tail walking PB in the process.

[Photo: Dean Lucas]

I ended the month needing to complete another three parkruns and volunteering stints to join both 50 Clubs.

The realisation that I needed to get outside more and that I needed to exercise more resulted in me entering a couple of virtual events. I entered the Miles for Mind Autumn edition and set myself a target of walking 75 miles in November. I also entered the 2021 Run up to Christmas event and set myself a target of walking 100 km.

I didn’t say anything at the time, but I was so embarrassed about my weight, I set myself some quite challenging fitness targets for the final two months of the year.

November

November was another good month, the only minor blip was that I didn’t feel confident enough to attend my Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games volunteer interview, a decision I still regret.

My CBT came to an end and my case was discharged. While I had mixed feelings about this as I was still struggling with my anxiety, the CBT sessions had left me feeling more mentally resilient. I even coped quite well when I discovered that Hermes had misplaced my virtual Boston Marathon medal and finishers top. Although the organisers eventually sent me a replacement medal, I’m still waiting for my finishers top.

Throughout November it was very much a case of can’t run, can walk. I started the month aiming to walk 75 miles and was well on track to achieve this target until the combination of lunchtime meetings, laziness, and the weather meant that I fell 12 miles short of my original target. Although I failed to walk 75 miles, entering the Miles for Mind virtual event gave me the motivation to get outside and to get some exercise. As an added bonus, getting outside and stretching my legs helped improve my mental health.

My walks weren’t limited to lunchtime strolls. I volunteered as a tail walker at parkrun three times, this ‘action’ shot gave me the reality check and kick up the bum I so desperately needed.

[Photo: Vicki Hart]

At the 100^th Sutton Park parkrun, I finally became a member of the 50 Club and the Volunteer 50 Club. I shared what I called my journey to 50 parkruns.

A week later, parkrun was cancelled due to the weather – I wasn’t expecting to wake up to loads of snow – so I treated myself to a rare Saturday morning lie-in and then spent the morning wrapping Christmas presents. The following day I spent some time at mums and was treated to a homecooked Sunday lunch and a lot more snow.

I ended the month feeling positive that I’d be able to run again at some point soon. I also finally accepted that I couldn’t justify buying myself a Peloton bike, so I rescued my exercise bike from the garden shed and set myself a target of completing eight training sessions on my bike during December.

December

December was a month of highs and lows and of a fair amount of walking. My approach of can’t run can walk continued and I started the month aiming to walk 100 km before Christmas Day. Thanks to some evening walks and a rather ‘hydrological’ Christmas Eve stroll around Four Oaks, I reached my 100 km target with a day to spare.

As in previous months, my walks weren’t limited to lunchtime and evening strolls. I volunteered as a tail walker at Sutton Park parkrun twice, including on Christmas Day, and as a marshal twice.

This rather lonely marshalling experience – at least I had plenty of selfie opportunities – made me realise just how important the social aspect of parkrun is to me. As a result, in 2022 my parkrun focus is going to shift from volunteering to taking part and to exploring more local events. I love tail walking but don’t want to prevent other people from wearing the stylish orange parkrun hi-viz.

And what about Christmas? I can’t really review December without talking about the Christmas period. I spent an enjoyable (once I’d untangled the tree lights) afternoon helping to decorate mum’s two Christmas trees. I think the tree in the dining room looked quite good once I’d finished decorating it.

Like last year, there was a lot of Covid-related stress and uncertainty in the lead-up to Christmas. The news was so gloomy it almost felt inevitable that most people would end up with Covid. I had my booster jab 10 days before Christmas and spent most of my annual leave in the lead-up to Christmas avoiding crowded places.

Christmas Day itself was great fun. I started Christmas morning with a chatty stroll around Sutton Park parkrun. I thought about sharing a photo on here but decided that one terrible photo is enough. I then headed straight to Mum’s for Christmas Day. I ate far too much, drank too much Buck’s fizz, watched far too much TV, and attempted to sing ‘Walking in the Air’; my voice took a couple of days to recover. Spending time with my sister and my nieces for the first time since May was amazing.

Everyone seemed to love the presents I’d got them, and I loved everything my family had got for me. The day felt a little strange at times as I was aware that I‘ll never get to spend another Christmas Day in the house I grew up in as mum is moving in the New Year.

Like last year, I found Boxing Day more difficult to deal with as I’d usually spend time with my brother and his family. Like so many other families, Covid meant that our plans had to change. Knowing that I’d bought everyone awesome Christmas presents made me feel slightly better. I just hope that Christmas 2022 can resemble some sort of normality.

I always like to approach the end of each year feeling positive about the next 12 months, so I’ve set myself some running, walking, and parkrun goals for 2022. I’ve also set myself some life goals and although I’m not planning on sharing monthly updates, I’m going to continue with my no spend and side hustle challenges.

Looking back, 2021 was an incredibly challenging year for me and at times everything felt overwhelming, and I honestly didn’t think I’d make it through the month let alone the year. Although I shared some of the what I’d describe as not so positive moments on this blog and on my Instagram account, when my life got really tough, I tended to shut myself away and distanced myself from my friends and family.

I cried a lot and spent most of the first six months of the year feeling isolated. My knee injury made an unwelcome reappearance and I felt like selling my running gear and calling time on my running career. My monthly running (purple), cycling (green), and walking (red) bars illustrate how the focus of my training varied throughout the year. I think it’s safe to say that July was not the most positive of months.

Although my training was even more inconsistent than it was last year – I guess I’d describe myself as consistently inconsistent – I ran when I could, cycled until I realised that my exercise bike was contributing to my knee issues, and walked when I was unable to run. I like to think that I was reasonably sensible and that I stopped running and cycling when I needed to.

I’m going to conclude my 2021 review more or less the same way I concluded my 2020 review. I may sound selfish, but I hope that I have a less injury-filled 2022.

What was the running highlight of 2021 for you?

What are your running and fitness goals for 2022?

---