pickupthepacepaul

It is New Years Eve, so it is time for a recap of 2024. This year, in many ways, could be deemed as a fitness failure. From the high of 2021, I have slowly been losing fitness and struggling with my weight and health. There are lots of reasons and excuses, but ultimately, there are very simple measures to indicate success. In 2024, I have only run a total of 846 miles. This is the first time for a long, long time that I have not run over 1000 miles in a year. In 2021, when I achieved all my marathon PBs, I ran more than double the miles and was also around 2 stone lighter.

In 2025, I aim to run more than 1500 miles and lose 2 stone. In doing so, I hope to find my fitness.

But 2024 hasn’t been all bad. In 2024, I ran 15 marathons, 10 as pacer, including 6 sub 4 marathons. In total, I have now run 161 marathons, 97 sub 4 marathons with 56 marathons as a pacer. This leads me to a very natural goal of hitting 100 sub 4 marathons in 2025 with a stretch goal of 200 marathons in 2026/7.

2024 started well with 2 gentle marathons with phoenix marathon running, which I always use as training events. This was followed by Seville Marathon and Rome Marathon as sub 4 marathon pacers, and I finished with 1 second between the 2 events.

My next 4 marathons included another phoenix running event that I took slow and chatty. Paris Marathon, where I enjoyed a family holiday and Limassol Marathon that I led the pacing team. Unfortunately, the heat got the better of me, and I started having some some health issues that I have managed. I then paced London Marathon as the 4:40 pacer, running with a wonderful new group of runners.

Over the summer, I ran one more slow marathon with phoenix running events, but then took the summer off enjoying family adventures. I then paced Airforce Marathon, but after 17 miles, the event went to Red Alert, reaching 34 degrees with not enough water. I managed to get some water and immediately threw up. At this point, I decided to gentle finish the race. It was not a time to push forward.

The following week, I paced sub 4 at Berlin Marathon, and 2 weeks later, I did the same at the Chicago Marathon. Both marathons finished within 1 second of each other.

I took a break from writing my blog and social media with greater priorities, but I was still running. A few weeks later, I ran sub 4 in the New York Marathon and shared my World Marathon Majors pacing for the year.

I finished the year pacing sub 4 at Larnaka Marathon and sub 4:10 at Pisa Marathon.

So whilst it hasn’t been my greatest year, it has been full of achievements and family adventure. We have explored the world together, and this is only the beginning.  How was your year?