I love writing these posts.
I’ve been really looking forward to writing the 2015 review, and as I sit here on the sofa, the family in various states of consciousness around the house, I’m excited to delve into this year and all it gave to me.
I said last year was my best year yet, and it was the year that I married my best friend, so I can’t really let it top that. But it’s bloody close…
2015 has been a year of firsts – the first time I ran a strong 26.2 miles, my first triathlon, and the first time I stepped on a skateboard. Then, to top it off in style, I landed my dream job this month so head into 2016 raring to go.
Have a scan below if you fancy reading on…
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The hardest 10 miles
I got my arse well and truly handed to me on a plate in the first race of 2015. The cold winter air cut deep but the sun came out for the Longman10, and our tired, undertrained Christmas-laden bodies were treated to quite possibly the most beautiful route I’ve EVER ran.
“The hills are like someone’s picked up a carpet of grass and shaken it out like a duvet”
See more running route porn from the Longman10 here.
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En route to sub 2
Something I’ve learned about half marathons in the last couple of years: running them is much easier when training for a full one. This year’s Brighton Half was no exception – after a cutback week in the marathon plan, I was fit, strong and ready for a PB as soon as I woke up.
“There was no way I was gonna slow down to marathon pace – it wouldn’t have been humanly possible with such rested legs”
Read about why Brighton Half Marathon is my absolute favourite race here.
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Meeting Mo Farah
I love this blog for so many reasons – the main one being that I love writing just as much, if not more, than running and chasing endorphins in the many ways that I do.
Another reason is that it presents the most amazing opportunities to me, for which I am eternally grateful. Getting to meet the world’s greatest distance runner after running my own half marathon plus a few extra miles on the marathon plan was just awesome.
Read the North London Half race report with training tips from Mo Farah here.
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The run of my life
Where do I even start with this one. Even though I’d trained meticulously for months and gave it absolutely everything I had, I’m still in disbelief about what I achieved at this year’s Brighton Marathon.
Making peace with my maranoia and setting myself three time goals worked wonders on the course. I was strong all the way through, even stronger at the end, soaking it all up.
“I started to count the number of people I picked off during the last few miles but lost count at 55 and got distracted by a water station.
Does that make me an arsehole?”
Read why Brighton Marathon was the run of my life here. (And how I recovered like a boss here).
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Becoming a triathlete 🙂
Even though I had the best marathon experience this year, it was overcoming my fear / personal barriers with swimming and becoming a triathlete that was my best achievement of 2015. Deciding to pull out of Fort William Marathon enabled me to really focus on my swimming and get up to 400 metres in one go to take on my first triathlon.
For many seasoned swimmers that isn’t far but for me it was a mile, and looking back at the training blogs I’ve reminded myself how challenging I found it.
Read about the journey to my first triathlon in these posts:
The training:
My first sea swim out of my depth
The first time I ever swam 400m front crawl
Lessons learned as a beginner triathlete
A breakthrough! Comparison videos 5 weeks until my first tri
The tri’s:
Becoming a triathlete – Diamond Novice Tri
The best triathlon ever – Falmer Tri!
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Falling in love with yoga
It took a while but somewhere along the way in 2015, in between all the cursing and huffing when my body wouldn’t move into various poses, I fell in love with yoga.
Like totally, head over heels in love. Just need to make more time for it in 2016.
Read more about why I get high on yoga here.
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A BOSH family day out
There are two reasons that make running in Brighton so special – the scenery, and the community.
The Bright 10 was an all-singing, all-dancing, come and run with us right now demonstration of the latter. Brighton’s newest 10 mile race took in yet another seafront course (yawn for the locals who soon ate their preconceptions), and got me my first 10 mile PB by over 10 minutes.
It was something pretty special.
Find out why I loved the Bright 10 so much here.
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This Girl Can Ambassador
I’m really excited to be working with Active Sussex and This Girl Can to help promote local sports clubs, fitness groups and different ways to keep active in the Sussex region.
We’ve already made one video about Brighton’s all girl’s skateboarding group She Shredders – let’s see what else Brighton has to bring!
Find out more about my partnership with This Girl Can and Active Sussex here.
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Learning to skateboard
What was meant to be a check-it-out-and-report-back for This Girl Can has turned out to be my new favourite hobby which I CANNOT WAIT to get stuck into properly over 2016.
Stepping onto a skateboard for the first time was much scarier than it needed to be and after a few weeks of doing it I have a better understanding and new-found respect at just how difficult it really is.
Read more about how I started skateboarding and follow my progress as a beginner skateboarder a few weeks in here.
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The dream job
January 2015 was the month I went to a workshop with Write This Run called A Bit On The Side. The workshop was about how to turn something you love, something you’ve been working on the side of your day job, your freelance project, or your hobby – into a reality.
I came away inspired, with the kick up the arse and masterplan to make sure I was working in the industry that I loved within a year.
I got it sorted with a month to spare. I had planned to do a part time home study PT course this January, and was exploring a few other options, but then my dream job popped up and I went for it.
I started earlier this month, and can’t wait to get back to it in the new year – working in sports PR and digital communications. It’s been a long road to get here, and I’m eternally grateful for the opportunities that have come my way in the last couple of years.
I know that this is gonna be the start of something super special for me and my career, so stay tuned for more updates as I go into 2016 excited as ever.
What has been your defining moment of 2015?
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