Happy New Year!! As 2023 recently came to an end, I decided to review my running highlights, low points, and the lessons I learned throughout the year. As like the previous three years I spent a chunk 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 nosey, so I find them quite interesting, but I know from previous feedback that not everyone does – I’d strongly recommend you navigate away from this page and continue with your day.

Here are the links to my previous annual review posts, there’s most definitely a theme 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021  | 2022  

January

The combination of a continued loss of running mojo and a knee niggle meant that I started the year barcode scanning Sutton Park parkrun. I managed to dodge the parkrun photographer, this would be a common occurrence in 2023, so there’s sadly no evidence of my epic barcode scanning skills. As in previous years, spending the first morning of the year at parkrun was a great way to start the year. I felt reasonably confident I’d be able to call myself a runner again, so I shared my running, walking, and parkrun goals for the year ahead.

The following Saturday I decided the weather was far too wet and miserable for parkrun, so I stayed in bed and then spent the morning regretting being so lazy. The weather during the first half of January was so wet and miserable, I read a lot and published a Books I’ve read recently post.

As I was still working from home and not getting anywhere near my old target of 10,000 steps a day, I set myself a target of walking 100 miles in January. Although I didn’t manage to meet my distance target – this would be a common occurrence in 2023 – my lunchtime and evening walks around Four Oaks were one of the highlights of the month.

A not quite as healthy and rather expensive January highlight was the reintroduction of regular Saturday lunchtime visits to the Giggling Squid restaurant in Mere Green.

Getting out of the house and eating something I hadn’t had to cook for myself made the expense and temporary weight gain worthwhile.

After running in Brooks Adrenaline trainers for several years, I made the mistake of assuming the latest model would be fine to wear straight out of the box. My feet disagreed and during my four-mile walk across Sutton Park, my heels were shredded to pieces. This meant that rather than jeffing my way around Sutton Park parkrun, I completed some unplanned marshalling and then hobbled to the finish.

What I’d thought were a bargain pair of Brooks Adrenaline trainers ended up costing me more in blister plasters and lost miles. Three days and a lot of blister plasters later, I ended the month with a cold but incredibly enjoyable evening walk around Four Oaks.

February

Looking back, although running was still very much something other people do, February was one of the more positive months of 2023, a huge contrast to 12 months previously. Accepting that it was time for a change, I made use of a flexi Friday and headed to Alpha Running in Lichfield for a gait analysis.

I felt slightly embarrassed when after I’d stated I’d had enough of Brooks trainers and wanted a change when I realised I was surrounded by Brooks-branded paraphernalia. After a detailed gait analysis, I purchased a couple of pairs of trainers; a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 19a and a pair of ASICS GEL-KAYANO 29s. As my feet are like boats, I left the store empty-handed and feeling shocked at how expensive trainers had got.

The following morning I headed to Sutton Park parkrun and marshalled at my favourite marshalling location, the Jamboree Stone. After parkrun, a large group of parkrunners headed to the Communitea Café in Boldmere for breakfast and banter.

The following week I was unwell with a cough and cold that refused to go away. Although multiple tests confirmed I didn’t have COVID-19, I felt far too unwell to collect my trainers from Lichfield. It was a case of so near yet so far with my new trainers. At the time I had no idea I was experiencing the first of several illnesses in 2023.

February ended on a positive note when it was light enough for me to walk across Sutton Park to Banners Gate for the first time in 2023. I took several photos to celebrate the occasion.

I ended the month with a spot of cold but entertaining barcode scanning and another lunch with a friend at the Giggling Squid in Mere Green. Although thanks to the lurgy I once again failed to get anywhere near my target of walking 100 miles in February, I made sure I headed outside on the days I was feeling well enough to leave the house.

March

At the start of March, I celebrated(?) three years of working from home. With apologies for the repetition, while I’ve enjoyed not having to spend three hours a day commuting on unreliable and overcrowded trains, I was feeling increasingly isolated from my colleagues. Although working in a small area-based team means that the days I literally don’t speak to anyone are rare, they were still happening regularly. My own fault for not relocating from the West Midlands to somewhere nearer Cumbria and Lancashire.

 A full volunteer roster meant I was able to christen my Mizuno Wave Inspire trainers with a slightly faster-than-usual walk around the Sutton Park parkrun course. My feet felt great. Only I could take a selfie of myself and not a photo of the trainers I hoped would enable me to restart the Couch to 5k.

I don’t want to go into too much detail, but after a lot of soul-searching and writing out several ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ lists, I finally decided not to apply for the Grade 6 senior hydrology technical specialist post that was being advertised in my team. A post-work stroll in the snow wearing my new walking trainers left me with shredded heels and a new open blister on my left heel.

The snow and ice resulted in the cancellation of Sutton Park parkrun and meant I wasn’t able to complete my 100^th parkrun. I wasn’t overly disappointed as my heels needed time to heal. I treated my friend to lunch at the Giggling Squid in Mere Green.

A couple of days later, a 30% discount code encouraged me to head to the Quill and Taper for an evening meal.

With apologies for sharing more food photos, I wanted to include these photos as the food that evening tasted amazing. Such a contrast to the last time I visited.

A week later than originally planned, I finally completed my 100^th parkrun at Kingsbury Water parkrun. The course was so muddy I spent most of the time worrying I was about to fall over.

I felt bad for avoiding my home parkrun, but I decided I wanted a quiet 100^th. The following week I discovered that although I wasn’t in Sutton Park, my name was read out at Sutton Park parkrun.

Work became incredibly busy with new starters, training courses, and shortlisting for jobs. I seriously started to question how much longer I could cope with working from home.

The final Saturday of March I volunteered as a barcode scanner in slightly comical conditions due to the wind. I lost count of the number of finish tokens and barcodes that blew on the floor just as I was about to scan them. Breakfast in the Communitea Café took longer than usual which meant I didn’t have time to change out of my parkrunning gear into something more suitable for the Giggling Squid.

In 2022, the lighter evenings meant that I spent more time outside and I did my best to head out for a walk every afternoon after I’d finished work. Last year, I experienced an all too predictable loss of motivation towards the end of the month and I rarely left the house.

April

April didn’t get off to the most positive start when during a routine dental appointment, I discovered I needed to be referred to the dental hospital to have one of my wisdom teeth removed. The wisdom in question was impacted which meant it couldn’t be removed by my dentist. Damage caused by the wayward wisdom tooth meant I also needed a filling. An expensive start to April.

I’ve just realised I’ve hardly mentioned running at all and this is meant to be a running blog. For the first time in several months, although I enjoyed marshalling at Sutton Park parkrun, in what were perfect conditions for running, I actually felt jealous watching other people run past me. I figured that if I’d run rather than volunteered I wouldn’t have missed out on the latest parkrun magazine.

The remainder of my Easter weekend was quiet, and I spent far too much time doom scrolling on social media feeling sorry for myself. Easter Monday was such a washout I cancelled the walk I’d planned in Sutton Park and headed to the Giggling Squid in Mere Green for lunch with a couple of friends.

The following weekend I walked across a very wet and muddy Sutton Park to Banners Gate and marshalled at a slightly tricky underfoot Location 3. This photo of me making rather heavy weather jumping over the Sutton Park popup sign became one of my favourite photos of 2023.

I headed straight from parkrun into Lichfield for a well-overdue haircut and ended up with slightly shorter hair than I had anticipated. The following week I helped interview for a hydrology post in my team and discovered I found being on an interview panel far more stressful than being interviewed.

I inevitably found watching the elite London Marathon races so inspiring, the following day I entered the London Marathon ballot and looked forward to receiving my annual rejection email a few months later. I tried on the adidas gear I’d been sent to review and planned out the Couch to 5k.

The last weekend in April was what I’ve described in the past as hydrological. I marshalled at location 1 and then walked to the finish to scan barcodes.

I lost count of the number of parkrunners I confused by volunteering in two roles. After parkrun, I headed to the Giggling Squid in Mere Green for an early birthday lunch. The discovery at the end of April I’d reached my highest-ever weight was the kick up the bum I needed. I vowed to have a no Chinese takeaway month in May.

May

At the start of May, I celebrated my 44^th birthday. If you read my last review post you’ll know that after my lockdown birthdays of 2020 and 2021, I spent a large proportion of my 43^rd birthday waiting for my friend to be discharged from hospital. Although my 44^th birthday ended up being a little underwhelming, it was a vast improvement on my previous birthday. I spent the rest of the first week of May on annual leave and ate far too much. While I managed to stay away from the local Chinese restaurant, my diet in May was far from healthy.

The previous May I ended up missing every parkrun as I didn’t want to leave my friend alone in the mornings for too long after his operation. Twelve months later I found myself volunteering as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone with my friend Helene every Saturday in May. The wet April weather was replaced with perfect weather for running, the kind of weather that made me determined to get back into running. Thumbs up for another successful Sutton Park parkrun.

Feeling inspired after parkrun, I was researching beginner to 5k training plans when I discovered the ‘This Messy Happy’ channel on YouTube. I decided to give their ‘6 Week Beginner to 5k’ training plan available here a go. I liked the plan because it contains really useful links to strength and conditioning and post-workout stretching videos on YouTube.

The following weekend I walked across Sutton Park and marshalled at the Jamboree Stone with Helene. The following morning I dug out some shorts for the first time in 2023 and met my running buddy Ellen for a walk around Sutton Park.

The weather on the Saturday of the May Bank Holiday weekend was gorgeous so after marshalling at the Jamboree Stone, I treated myself to another ice cream. My Brooks ‘Is it Saturday Morning Yet?’ t-shirt generated a lot of interest.

I’ve not complained about Wolves as this is meant to be a running blog, but as a Wolves supporter, the season ended on a negative note, again. At the end of May, I headed to the Giggling Squid in Mere Green for a belated birthday meal. Apologies for the all-too-predictable photos, I was yet to discover sticky chicken.

After another mixed month from a motivation and mental health perspective I felt it was time for a rants and raves post, I felt a lot better after having a bit of a moan.

June

After a slow first five months of the year, I felt needed something different to hopefully motivate me to record some sort of training every day. I came up with the challenge of seeing how many Royal Mail post boxes I could photograph during June.

The first Saturday in June I marshalled in my usual location near the Jamboree Stone. The following morning I took part in my first organised event in several years, the Royal Sutton Fun Run, with my running buddy Ellen.

This photo sums up how amazing the Royal Sutton Fun Run was. We had the most amazing couple of hours power walking our way around the 8.5 mile course. We smashed our original time target and enjoyed every minute. I headed back to Ellen’s for a BBQ afterward and enjoyed the insight into what normal people do during the weekend.

The improved weather and Royal Mail post box challenge didn’t stop me from reading, and I published my second Books I’ve read recently post  of the year. The recognition my trainers were being worn daily, meant I invested in a second, slightly more reasonably priced pair of Mizuno Wave Inspire 19 trainers.

The amazing June weather continued, and on the second Saturday in June, I walked across Sutton Park and marshalled in my usual location near to the Jamboree Stone with Helene. I’m not sure when or why I got into the habit of always putting my thumbs up whenever I spotted a parkrun photographer.

The following week I tracked down and photographed several Royal Mail post boxes including the oldest post box I found, this ‘VR’ post box near to Four Oaks Tennis Club.

After a week of somewhat stressful meetings about the dry weather situation in the north, I was able to book Friday off as flexi. I met Mum for lunch at the Quill and Taper and ordered the chicken, bacon, and avocado salad. The salad tasted amazing.

The following morning I walked across Sutton Park on a slightly tight right calf and photographed another post box. I marshalled near the start and then power-walked the rest of the course with Ellen. I rather stupidly ran the downhill sections, which wasn’t one of my more sensible decisions as my right calf felt niggly afterward.

During another early Sunday morning walk around Four Oaks and Mere Green I managed to locate and photograph 12 Royal Mail post boxes.

The final weekend in June I walked across Sutton Park, volunteered as a barcode scanner, and completed my 100^th volunteering stint. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the whole morning felt slightly underwhelming. The following morning I met up with Ellen in a very warm Sutton Park for a Sutton Park Gates Run route recce. Once I’d recovered, I headed to the Giggling Squid where I ordered crispy chicken for the first time. It tasted amazing.

A couple of days later I completed the Sutton Park Gates Run after work with Ellen. We got misplaced a couple of times and rather ironically after I’d spent the day in meetings discussing prolonged dry weather also got drenched. We’ll hopefully be back to beat our time this year.

The Royal Sutton Fun Run, Sutton Park Gates Run, and my informal Royal Mail post box challenge walks meant that I smashed my target of walking 100 miles in a month by 20 miles. Although the warm and dry weather meant that work got quite stressful, June was most definitely one of the better months of the year.

July

Like a lot of runners I follow on social media, my July started with a double rejection when in the space of a couple of hours, I was unsuccessful in both the London Marathon and the London Landmarks Half Marathon ballots.

While the London Marathon rejection was completely expected, I’d started looking at hotel options for the weekend of the London Landmarks Half Marathon, so the second rejection was more disappointing.

On the second Saturday in July, I volunteered for the hundredth time at Sutton Park parkrun. Although it was slightly embarrassing having random people cheering me as they ran past my marshalling position, I included three photos from what was a fabulous morning.

Thanks again to Gary for setting up Sutton Park parkrun and to my Sutton Park parkrun family. Without my weekly dose of Sutton Park parkrun, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have got through 2023. I was really struggling at work and would spend my Sunday evenings dreading the week ahead. I wasn’t sure what caused my complete loss of confidence in my ability to do my job, but I’m still dealing with what I think is imposter syndrome.

The following Saturday there were concerns about having to cancel parkrun due to the thunderstorms that had been forecast. The weather forecast changed, and parkrun went ahead. Seven days after three of my favourite photos of 2023 were taken, Rob managed to capture what I’d describe as a reality check photo.

My work-related woes continued the following week when I participated in a two-day Excel Advanced training course. I struggled throughout the two days and felt like a dinosaur compared with everyone else on the training course. Following the completion of my 101^st volunteering stint at Sutton Park parkrun, as it was my niece’s birthday, I headed to the Heart of the Country for lunch at the Creperie. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate there, possibly when I was still at school so a long time ago! It was great to spend time with my family.

The following day I headed back to the Giggling Squid in Mere Green for lunch. One of my 2024 Resolutions is to explore more of the local eating establishments in Mere Green and Lichfield.

I can’t remember why I ended up drinking two rather sugary mocktails, but after spending the rest of the day feeling quite nauseous, it’s not something I’d recommend. At least the sticky chicken and egg fried rice both tasted amazing.

During the final week of July, I travelled up to Warrington and met some of my team and my line manager for the first time. The long day was incredibly tiring, but it felt great to meet some of my team and to work in an office for the first time since 2020. I volunteered as a marshal at the final Sutton Park parkrun of the month and then proceeded to sleepwalk my way around the rest of the course.

After far too many delays, at the end of July I finally started following the Beginner to 5k training plan. A positive end to a month that featured some mental health struggles and a lot of thinking about running and walking but not much in the way of actual exercise.

August

August was a positive month that featured some running. I successfully completed the first week of the Beginner to 5k training plan. Although I quickly discovered my fitness levels were seriously lacking, I was so thrilled to be back doing something that resembled running again, I didn’t care about the torrential rain during the final interval session of the first week of training.

I posted regular updates on my Instagram account and decided to share more detailed progress reports in weekly training posts on this blog. When I was writing this review post last week, I loved being able to look back at my training updates and hope that other runners found my regular updates useful.

I published Week 1 and Week 2 training updates and although I started to feel my running fitness returning, I was a little disappointed this green light remained on green as I approached it.

Illness unfortunately meant I missed the second interval session of the third week of the Beginner to 5k training plan. I incorporated the final training session of the third week of training, a 2km run, into my Saturday morning walk across Sutton Park. Some not very sensible pacing meant I found the 2km run difficult and I didn’t enjoy the final five minutes of the run. I caught up with some of my parkrun buddies, volunteered as a beetroot-faced barcode scanner, walked home, and felt dehydrated for the rest of the day.

I published my Week 3 training update, struggled in incredibly humid conditions to complete the first interval session of Week 4 of the Beginner to 5k training plan. I headed to Warrington for a couple of days and missed the second interval session of the week due to some early morning laziness. This meant I ended up running on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, I underestimated my running pace and ended up having to run away from the start of Sutton Park parkrun. I volunteered as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone and left Sutton Park with a mysterious bite on my right leg. On Sunday, I completed a 3km time trial and then met up with some of the Sutton Park parkrun core team to check out a potential new course.

An hour after leaving Sutton Park, I found myself back in the Giggling Squid in Mere Green ordering sticky chicken again.

Although the food tasted amazing, I felt it might be time for a change as I was starting to find the food predictable. The following morning I discovered that the bite on my right leg had doubled in size and my leg felt hot when I touched it. I published my Week 4 training update and decided to take a week break from following the Beginner to 5k to let my right leg recover.

September

September was a positive month, largely because I spent the first two weeks of the month on annual leave. The first weekend of September, I volunteered as a marshal at Sutton Park parkrun on Saturday and took part in another potential course recce with some of the Sutton Park parkrun core team on Sunday.

The first week of my annual leave featured a slightly unexpected heatwave.

A settled week of weather to come for most, with temperatures generally climbing day-on-day, peaking on Wednesday or Thursday 📈 pic.twitter.com/1Cd50rZhuH

— Met Office (@metoffice) September 4, 2023

As I’ve never been very good at running in warmer-than-average weather and my right leg was still red and swollen, I decided to postpone restarting the Beginner to 5k. The heatwave didn’t make my appetite disappear, so the first Thursday in September, I met Mum for lunch at the Quill and Taper. The fishfinger sandwich I ordered was the most tasteless sandwich I’ve ever eaten. It was very disappointing.

The first weekend in September I walked across Sutton Park and volunteered as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone with Helene on Saturday morning and met up with Ellen for a walk the following morning. Thanks to my amazing map-reading skills we somehow managed slightly misplaced during our walk. And then the rain made a welcome appearance.

Looking back, the majority of my second week of annual leave was largely slightly underwhelming as I didn’t have plans to do anything. I think the highlight of the week was meeting up with Helene and Ellen for an evening meal. While the food tasted amazing, this would turn out to be my final visit to the Giggling Squid in 2023.

The following morning I walked the short distance to Boots as I’d booked an appointment for my winter flu jab. You may be wondering why I’ve mentioned my winter flu jab in this annual review, all will become clear. On Saturday morning I walked across Sutton Park and was surprised it was dark at 6am and still quite gloomy at 7am. I was left wondering how many more weeks I’d be able to walk to parkrun. I posed for some terrible photos and volunteered as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone.

I took part in a recce of what would become the Sutton Park parkrun course at the end of October. Sutton Park was busy; it was great to see so many people taking part in the Birmingham Running Festival. I ended the weekend feeling gloomy about my lack of running and what I perceived as my wasted fortnight of annual leave.

I returned to work and spent most of the week worrying about the lump under my left armpit which was getting larger and increasingly painful. The walk across Sutton Park that Saturday was stunning but chilly, it felt like the first proper autumnal morning.

A few days later the pain under my left arm got so bad I contacted NHS 111. I explained my symptoms to a doctor and was prescribed antibiotics. I ended the month with more marshalling at the Jamboree Stone.

Although I ended September with a painful lump under my left arm and no running progress, I felt reasonably confident that once the antibiotics had worked their magic, I’d be able to restart the Beginner to 5k training plan.

October

At the start of October, I travelled across Birmingham to Bournville and spent the day at Cadbury World with my brother and his family. My stomach was unfortunately feeling fragile due to the antibiotics I was taking, so I was probably the only person at Cadbury World who didn’t eat any chocolate.

I had my initial appointment with a Consultant Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon at the Westbourne Centre in Edgbaston. The consultant reviewed my x-rays and said he agreed with my dentist; my impacted lower right wisdom tooth needed to be removed as soon as possible as it was damaging the tooth next to it. I completed my course of antibiotics and my arm started to feel normal again.

I walked across a rather dark Sutton Park to Banners Gate and volunteered as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone. I made sure I appreciated every minute of the walk and took a lot of photos, as I was aware I’d have to switch to an alternative, less scenic but slightly lighter route the following week.

The following morning I volunteered as a marshal at the test event for the new Sutton Park parkrun course. Two days later, when my alarm woke me at 5am, I decided to postpone restarting the Beginner to 5k for another week. I started to seriously question if I actually wanted to start running again.

The last week of the original Sutton Park parkrun course starting at Banners Gate, it was so wet, that I stupidly opted to wear my work boots to walk across Sutton Park. Two miles into my four-mile walk I could tell both of my heels were being shredded to pieces, again. I hobbled to my marshalling spot at the infamous turnaround point and sheltered under a tree in an attempt to avoid the rain while I took some dreadful selfies.

By the time I’d hobbled back to Longmoor Pool, my heels were so painful I was struggling to walk. Ellen very kindly giving me a lift home most definitely saved the day and my heels. The next day I met up with my family for Mum’s surprise 70^th birthday lunch at the Shrewsbury Arms in Kingstone. The lunch was a great success and, most importantly, a surprise.

I finally found the Birmingham office and spent the day in a face-to-face workshop. I loved spending time with people, the day made me realise just how isolated I’d been feeling for a long time. I got to check out Ozzy on the way home.

The final Saturday in October saw the first week of the new and improved Sutton Park parkrun course starting from Boldmere Gate. I walked across a very dark Sutton Park to Boldmere Gate and then walked to my marshal location near the Ford at Wyndley Gate.

On the final day of the month, I completed the first interval session of the Couch to 5k. Although my aerobic fitness felt fine, both of my shins felt quite painful for some reason, and I didn’t enjoy the majority of the interval session.

November

The first Thursday of the month I struggled to complete the second interval session of the Couch to 5k. I’d never had problems with my shins before, but for some reason, both of my shins felt even more painful. That Saturday I marshalled at possibly the wettest ever Sutton Park parkrun.

The following morning I completed Week 1 of the Couch to 5k. Rather randomly, my shins and calf muscles felt a lot better. Despite this, I decided not to publish a weekly training update as I wasn’t feeling confident I’d be able to make much progress with the Couch to 5k.

I spent the day down in London at a hydrology conference. It was amazing to catch up with some of the people I worked with in Wallingford, and I met some hydrology colleagues for the first time.

Although my legs were still feeling what I’d describe as quite niggly, I successfully completed the first interval session of week 2 of the Couch to 5k. Another temporary loss of running mojo meant that I managed to miss the second interval session of the week. That weekend I walked across Sutton Park to Boldmere Gate. The weather was stunning, such a contrast to the previous. I marshalled near the Ford at Wyndley Gate again and discovered it was quite chilly in the shade.

Early the next morning I completed Week 2 of the Couch to 5k and was once again reminded I’m more of a morning runner.

The following Saturday, a lot of overnight rain meant my walk to Boldmere Gate was quite entertaining. I marshalled at the Ford at Wyndley Gate again and for the second weekend in a row got quite cold standing around in the shade. After a lot of consideration – my anxiety seems to make saying ‘yes’ to anything difficult – I said I’d love to join Sutton Park parkruns core team. I completed Week 3 of the Couch to 5k and reminded myself the training was about to get harder.

On the final Friday of the month, I returned to the Westbourne Centre in Edgbaston for my wisdom tooth extraction. The procedure itself went well and was quick and painless.

Unfortunately, once the anaesthetic wore off, I was in so much pain I ended up spending the day in bed. Such a waste of a day of annual leave. I missed parkrun the following morning for the first time I could remember as I was in a lot of pain. Little did I know my mouth would continue to be painful for over a week. I decided to postpone restarting the Couch to 5k to allow my mouth to recover.

I shared The True Cost of Running: the 2023 edition and once again felt slightly embarrassed when I saw the grand total. Not for the first time, I seriously considered giving up blogging as it does feel like blogging has had its day.

December

I opened the first door of my Runners Advent Calendar and must admit I was slightly underwhelmed to find a single running sock behind the first door. I bought myself a parkrun thermal robe, so much for not making any more running-related purchases, and the following morning missed Sutton Park parkrun for the second Saturday in a row. I had an amazing time on the Polar Express at Foxfield Railway.

As the month progressed, I started to struggle with motivation to do anything and I rarely left the house. My mental health started to deteriorate as I fell into the comparison trap, and I spent far too much time looking at other people’s social media highlights reels on social media. I decided to delay restarting the Couch to 5k for another week as I was still struggling with the site of my recent wisdom tooth extraction.

The second Saturday of December I was woken by torrential rain. I got drenched walking across Sutton Park to Boldmere Gate and didn’t massively enjoy marshalling in the rain. Once I’d recovered from parkrun, in an attempt to make myself feel more festive, I spent the rest of the day wrapping Christmas presents, writing Christmas cards, and watching Home Alone. The following day I helped put up some Christmas decorations at Mums.

That Friday, I activated my ‘out of office’ and locked away my work laptop for three weeks. The following morning I volunteered as a tail walker at Sutton Park parkrun and then headed to the Chase Farm Café for breakfast. That evening, I joined the rest of the Sutton Park parkrun core team for a Christmas meal and drinks in Boldmere.

After a couple more failed attempts at running, I decided to postpone restarting the Couch to 5k until the New Year. Following a walk in some of the windiest conditions I’ve encountered, I treated Mum and Colin to lunch at the Quill and Taper, the food tasted amazing.

I volunteered as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone, and as it was nearly Christmas, I dug out my most festive bobble hat and t-shirt.

On Christmas Day I volunteered as a marshal at Jamboree Stone for the second time in three days. The atmosphere in Sutton Park was amazing. Everyone I spoke to wished me either a ‘Merry Christmas’ or a ‘Happy Christmas’. I was handed a Christmas card and chocolate by a parkrunner. Such a lovely gesture, thank you.

I walked back home, got changed into some slightly more sensible attire, and then spent the rest of Christmas Day eating, drinking, and watching TV.

What should have been my last walk across Sutton Park to Boldmere Gate in 2023 didn’t go to plan when a strange pain in my left foot resulted in me hobbling back home in tears. I ended up getting a lift to Boldmere Gate so that I could once again volunteer as a marshal at the Jamboree Stone.

And what about Christmas? I can’t really review December without talking about the Christmas period. I was able to spend time with my family and friends and managed to avoid getting ill the day before Christmas Day. I didn’t decorate my house again and I failed to assemble the Lego Home Alone house I bought in 2022. Hopefully, it’ll be a case of third Christmas lucky.

 Christmas Day 2023 was a huge contrast to Christmas Day 2022 when I managed to make myself feel more isolated than ever. I volunteered as a marshal at Sutton Park parkrun and then walked home. I spent the rest of Christmas Day with Mum and Colin in my childhood home. I drank too much bubbly, ate far too much food, and watched far too much TV. The early morning start and fresh air in Sutton Park eventually caught up with me as I ended up ‘resting my eyes’ while watching ‘The Italian Job’. I was able to catch up with my brother and his family on Boxing Day and spent the day yesterday with my sister. Such a contrast to Christmas 2022.

 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 2024. I’ve also set myself some life goals, and although I’m not planning on sharing these goals, one of my main goals is a repeat goal from 12 months ago. I want to finally get my foot on the bottom rung of the property ladder. It’s going to be challenging and I’m going to have to move away from Four Oaks but I’m feeling more confident than I was a year ago.

Looking back, 2023 was another difficult year for me. I once again spent far too much time feeling completely alone and overwhelmed. I spent far too much time doubting my ability to do my job. At times I didn’t think I’d make it through the next day let alone the rest of the year. Although I shared some of the not-so-positive moments on this blog and on social media, when my life got really tough, I shut myself away and distanced myself from my friends and family.

My running mojo completely disappeared after illness meant I had to stop following the Couch to 5k a second time, and although *touch wood* I’m not currently injured, I keep delaying heading out the door and restarting the Couch to 5k. My monthly running (purple), cycling (green), and walking (red) bars illustrate how the focus of my training varied throughout 2023. I think it’s safe to say I’ve had another somewhat underwhelming year.

Although my training was once again inconsistent – I’d describe myself as consistently inconsistent – I ran when I wanted to and was finding running enjoyable and walked when I was unable to run. I was sensible and stopped running when I needed to.

I’m going to conclude my review of 2023 more or less the same way I concluded my 2020, 2021 and 2022 reviews. I may sound selfish, but I hope that I have a less injury-filled 2024. 

What was the running highlight of 2023 for you? 

What are your running and fitness goals for 2024?

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