So here we are with just hours left of 2022. It feels a bit of a cliché to be reflecting on the year, isn’t that what everyone does on Hogmanay. Yet, I feel we have to because it’s really been a year like no other.
On the 1st January 2022, inspired and encouraged by Issy and Sam who first mentioned charity places, I signed up for the Great North Run. With the help, support, and love of the parkrun community, and tireless training support from Nik, I was able to realise my dream. GNR was amazing but what is even more amazing is the journey that got us there.
All of the parkrun family who transformed from running pals to life-long friends. All of those who were brave enough and giving enough to try guide running, inspiring me and cementing our bonds even further. All of the incredible creativity Nik put into our social media channels. Regardless of the fact these are not very accessible, I just wouldn’t have the patience, drive or uniqueness to achieve all that she has with the socials. We are both touched by how the blog has inspired others, and, how it too has helped us share our story far and wide (remember our BBC appearance), and how we in turn have been motivated by so many phenomenal stories of runners across the world.
I can’t talk about the year without mentioning the Easter weekend when Issy introduced me to free running! That really was a life defining moment. It gave me back my childhood, but more than that, it gave me a lasting confidence boost, and an ease in my running that was definitely a driving force towards GNR.
Despite the many joys and successes, 2022 has been tough. It was a year of transitions, as we all moved from Covid restrictions to something close to normal life. Nik and I both had experiences of injury when we could have done without it. I experienced Covid and a great deal of exam stress! Yet through-out it all, we just kept on keeping on! And we learned what we possibly always knew, what everyone should know, that no woman is an island and runners certainly aren’t! We couldn’t have done any of this without the support of the parkrun community, our families, and all those in the wider world who tolerate our endless chat about running, chafing and leggings.
I know I’m someone who finds ritual a comfort. Having the routine of parkrun each week, the laughs, the chat, the support and coffee has been a tremendous comfort and stress reliever during some of the harder moments of 2022, and no doubt beyond it.
I’m also someone who likes to set goals, not to compete against others, but rather to keep raising the bar for myself. Nnothing did that more than GNR. I knew I wanted to achieve it but didn’t fully appreciate what I’d signed up for. I didn’t know if I could do it (especially after my injury), and had no real perception of how long a half marathon really is. It was tough, and being really honest, there were moments when I almost regretted my decision. Now, having completed it, I can truly say it was the proudest moment of my life. It wasn’t just the run (significant though that was), it was the culmination of a dream becoming a reality, the value of each and everyone who gave up their time, energy (and sanity!), to help me realise it. The buzz, the crowds, the fun, the inspirational runners we met and witnessed on the day. The fact that so many who didn’t even know Nik and I got behind us and made our goal their own. Those are things I’ll never forget, and will carry with me forever, fusing that same indomitable spirit into other aspects of my life.
I’ve no idea what 2023 holds, I don’t know if there’ll be any significant goals like GNR (though after a New Year’s day parkrun that may all have changed!). What I do know is there is a long way still to go on this journey. More runs, more coffee, more exam stress, more blogging and craziness, all aided and fuelled by my incredible parkrun family.
So, to everyone who has read this blog, cheered for me, supported me, text words of support, put up with me, hugged me, guided me at parkrun, laughed and cried with me, taken me out for Starbucks when I looked like I was going off my head (you know who you are!). To all of you who have been instrumental on my journey, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I haven’t enough words to articulate what your love and friendship means to me.
Most of all, an incredible thanks to my partner in crime, Nik. Thank you for always bringing out the best in me. Thank you for pushing me on when I’ve nothing left, for listening and counselling, for making me laugh, for being a constant rock and cheering me forward even when my runs are pants. And of course, I can’t thank Nik without thanking Laura, who is ever tolerant of the evenings and weekends her wife was missing in action coaching me towards my goal. Nik, you are a brilliant, quirky, beautiful human who also holds the title of being the one and only person to organise a surprise party for me that I genuinely knew nothing about!! I’m truly blessed to call you a friend forever. Don’t ever change, keep being you!
Thank you all wherever you are and. however you choose to celebrate the ending of one year and the beginning of the next, may it be a time of celebration, rest, reflection and peace for you. Thank you for the pivotal role you have all played in my journey, and may 2023 be as fun, inspirational and bonkers as the year that was 2022.
Till then huge virtual hugs, and here’s to the journey that was and the one yet to be written.
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