So is this where it all begins? I should say that I do still have two races and a virtual to go, so that is a 5k, 6k and 10k for a clutch of Christmas related medals, but I should more so say that I have registered for all of my races for 2015 already, and the hotels are booked too.

When I first started running back in the Spring of 2012 the aim was that, when it got to October and the Amsterdam half marathon that year, that I would not embarrass myself. Halves conquered in my own plodding and finishing fit and unhurt kinda way the idea was to move onto the full marathon. I was booked on the 2013 Berlin Marathon, but that was one of a dozen races I did not start that year.

After 10 races in 2012 (7 10ks and 3 halves) I was addicted. No, scratch that. After the first ever race, the BUPA London 10K I was addicted. And so I overstretched the following year.

In 2013 I signed up for 33 races including a virtual I planned and marshalled myself. I did not start 12 of them due to the flu, a divorce, a house move, double booking, and injuries, including the Berlin Marathon. I did complete 21 though  (11 10Ks, 2 10M, and 8 halves) but knew I had let myself down. And it is that feeling that forced me to travel to Reading and beyond for the last race of the year, on my birthday no less, and run the Gut Buster. From then, I decided not to be such a failure again.

This year, Santa runs being successful, I would have raced 31 times and collected 33 medals. There were still a few fails. Although it was common sense that made me decide against a 18 hour train ride there and back, and four hundred pounds for a hotel and the tickets to get me to the Wales Half Marathon. The Summer Breeze I did not start because after two hours on the tube, and a long walk I was lost in Wimbledon Common at the start time and never made it, but I did see a few mile markers. And I could not make it to the AMBA city mile right after the Hackney Half due to logistical errors. The two Italian races I booked at the start, Milan Marathon and Roma Ostia half were just silly, and in response to the shot in the arm I gave myself at the Gut Buster, I was booking races that would have been eye opening, and amazing.

*I did complete two of the races I bailed on in 2013. The Standard Chartered City Race and the Luxembourg half were both entered and run. And the ultimate prize of Berlin full awaits.

For that reason, and to fill both the eye opening and amazing tick boxes, 2015 is already sorted thusly:

2 WINTER RUN LONDON (1st Februrary)

3 HAMPTON COURT HALF (22nd February).  ALREADY REGISTERED. YAY! Hotel booked (Carlton Mitre)

4 MILTON KEYNES HALF (8th March) ALREADY REGISTERED. YAY! 

7 ROCK AND ROLL HALF MARATHON LIVERPOOL (14th June) (The only UK and Ireland RnR I haven’t done) ALREADY REGISTERED. YAY! Hotel booked (Premier Inn Albert Dock) Packet pick up there to save £3

8 LONDON CITY MILE (21st June) – Assuming it goes ahead. Free. Excellent medal. And only mile.

9 BRITISH 10K London (12th July) ALREADY REGISTERED. YAY! 

After the failures of 2013 this year proved to me I could hit the volume of races I had booked, and that injury and sickness, house move, and divorce aside, I could have done them all. But simply plodding around a 10K route in an hour or a half in two is no longer enough for me.

In 2015 I WILL break all my personal bests. Currently these are kind of embarrassing:

Farthest Run: 24.97KM

Longest Run: 3:52:23

Fastest 1k 4:35

Fastest Mile 7:47

Fastest 5K 25:54

Fastest 10K 56:05

Fastest Half 2:05:31

I WILL run all 11 races booked and WILL not bail on any. I WILL run my first full marathon and it will be, as originally planned, the Berlin Marathon.

And I am very excited to run in Cape Town. Apparently I will love it so much I will want to stay.

Of course, I need to get the shoes right. I have Hoka One Ones that I run in at the moment, but also Nike Air Zoom Elites, NB and Asics Gel Cumulus to break in. I also need to train. So if anyone wants to be involved in the journey for 2015, subtitled PBs All the Way then let me know. Also, if you are heading to any of the races let me know. Always love a tweet up.

All the best and see you in 2015, if not before at the santa runs.

Darren

aka @RunnersKnees