End of Year Ramblings

Well here we are again - another year over, and a new year on the horizon as I start to look forward to 2025 with excitement and anticipation. I seriously cannot believe how fast time is going, and it's even more crazy when I think that we're coming up to our 13th anniversary of leaving the UK and starting a new life in Canada.

This year hasn't been a bad year, but it's been a funny old year. Two visits to the UK to see the family, the first due to my mum being sick earlier in year, a rather shitty year at work that's made me question why I'm still doing the job that I used to love, Andy working away lots and me being home alone far more than I would've liked, and for a third time, I'm convinced that I came down with Covid again back in the summer.

But then I think about stuff that's happened to others, in particular those affected by the wild fires in Jasper who've lost their homes, their jobs, their livelihoods. My bad days are trivial in comparison, and other than being worried sick about our parents over recent months, I've tried to put the other "bad" things into perspective - in reality, things have been good. We still have our health, our home, our jobs, eachother, three adorable pups, and some amazing friends who continue to stand by us, come what may.

From a running perspective, it's not been my best year, but then again, it's not been a complete disaster. It started off with the goal of setting a fastest known time in the Staffordshire Way back in England. I used to live in Staffordshire, and I so wanted to complete this 100 mile long distance footpath in less than 24 hours. Winters are never really that cold in England so February seemed as good a time as any to complete this challenge. Unfortunately, the quest was doomed as soon as the persistent heavy rain started on that Saturday afternoon, and it was relentless for the next several hours, causing floods and making route finding and the running extremely difficult due to the thick, knee deep mud. Having already been running for 25+ hours and encountering yet more ridiculously muddy conditions, my heart was no longer in it and I aborted my efforts. I was terribly disappointed at the time, but I had other races to look forward to, and was soon over it.

Start of the Staffordshire Way 

So much rain!!

My next race was the Lakou Backyard Ultra, and whilst I had no interest in attempting to make the Canadian team for the world BYU world championships this year, I did want to make it to at least 30 hours. Looking back, I'm not really sure what happened except that I had terrible tummy ache and was unable to keep food down. I threw in the towel after a disappointing 14 laps, vowing never to do another backyard ultra. I've kept true to my word so far, and I have no intentions nor interest in registering for a backyard ultra in 2025.

Two weeks later, I was on the start line of the Survivorfest 24 hour event. In April, I finally became a Canadian Citizen, and with Survivorfest hosting the national 24-hour Championships this year, I wanted to take part as a Canadian. I was also hopeful of running over 180km which was the qualifying standard for women that were looking to be selected for the world championships in France next year. The weather on the day of the race was cool and wet - perfect for me, and I ended up with 184km and silver medalist in the Canadian Championships. Admittedly there are far stronger female runners out there, but I always say take what you can, and you can only race those that turn up on the day. It was a last minute decision to do the 24 hour, and yet it was one of the races this year where I did hit my goal.

Crazy Muley 25km trail race in Wainwright was another race that I entered for fun. I originally registered for the 50k, but the event came just two weeks after Survivorfest so I dropped down to the 25k as I wasn't sure whether I'd be recovered enough. Dropping down in distance was a good decision - the sand dunes were beautiful, it was a great day for running, and I ended up coming away with the win in the ladies race.

Early July saw me competing in my first mountain race of the year as I tackled the Sinister Seven 100-miler. My only goal there was to finish in the time limit, but having got to about 60 miles of close to 100km, my motivation was wanting, I wasn't enjoying the run, and things were getting tight for the cut-off. I knew there were still some tough climbs to come and I'd already been walking lots - I made the difficult decision to stop and earned my fifth DNF in my 40+ years of running.

I had nothing planned now except for Iron Horse 100-miles in October, and it was nice to just enjoy a summer of running rather than building up for races, then tapering and recovering, only yo start building up again. Saying that, I did miss the racing scene, and I did run the Corporate Challenge 5k, the 5 Peaks Trail Race at Chickakoo, and then Warm Hands Warm Hearts half in November.

Iron Horse went well, and I got to 78 miles before I started throwing up - a successful race in nutrition terms, and certainly helps with planning food for future races. My original goal was to target my own course record which is now 12 years old, but I'd been ill leading up to the race, plus there was alot of mental abuse from work - I knew 21 hours was going to be too ambitious, so focused on just finishing in under 24 hours. I loved the run, had alot of fun and also some pity pit moments, but I went on to finish second lady in 23.15 which I was pretty happy with.

As the year starts to come to a close, I like to do a challenge or a winter race, and this year, I opted for Racing Dusk in Kananaskis. I set a goal of 4.30, came away with 4.32 thanks to going the wrong way and wasting time on the last lap. But it was a good race - too little snow for my liking in December, but definitely a race I'd like to go back to.

In terms of mileage for this year, I never really set a goal, but I've ran approximately 2,600 miles or 4,200km, in addition to all the walking I do at least twice daily with the pups - I think the most I've ever done in a single year is around 5000 km, so this year's not been too bad at all.

So what do I have planned for 2025? Well, at the minute I'm registered for the hypothermic half 10k where I hope to go sub 43 minutes, then I have Blackfoot Ultra 100km where my goal is sub 10 hours. After that, it's Canadian Death Race for a fourth time with a goal of sub 20 hours. Then it's the unknown - I'm hoping to be selected for the Canadian National Team to compete at the World 24 hour championship in France in October. I have qualified but I need to be selected, and I won't have that confirmed until June. If I don't make the team, you'll just have to watch this space as to what I decide to do!

For now though, thanks to all of you for your continued support, and wishing you all a very happy and successful 2025 :)