2020 stats

 Well I have given you my thoughts on how my year is gone, now its time to look at the stats.  One of the reasons I love parkrun is because of the records it keeps, and oh yeah the community is great too :-P

In early 2018 I had targeted 2020 to complete 250 parkruns, aptly named the 2020 project.  This obviously wasn't meant to be but at the same time I did make some progress towards it early in the year and I am now on 227 parkruns.  Also I managed another different parkrun in Scotland so I have now run 37 different Scottish parkruns which is out of about 59 I think. Altogether (with English parkruns included) I have run 46 different parkruns.  

Average parkrun time

Now if I was just to take the average time of the 8 parkruns I did early in the year it would have been a bit harsh as mainly all hilly courses done in winter when fitness generally not at its peak. But lucky (not) parkrun started and I can include them in the average too.  I did do 100 (not) parkruns which includes quite a lot of walks.  These walks didnt replace runs but were more of an addition. Ie, I wouldnt have gone out rather than I meant to go a run but I walked instead.  So altogether I ran 56 (not) parkruns, therefore walked 44. Which is not bad when 6 weeks I did no running and all walking due to injury.   I won't include anything between mid March and June as I was just doing random distances.

So

2017 - 31.04 (35 runs)

2018 - 31.52 (46 runs)

2019 - 30.33 (44 runs)

2020 - 31.40 (64 runs)

So faster average than 2018 but slower than 2017 and 2019.  Maybe because this includes midweek  runs where I could be saving myself for other days.  Also counts about 20 more runs than any other year so maybe more difficult to compare this year. Pleased with the volume i managed though.

Now for how those 64 runs were distributed in terms of time.

27 -28 mins - 1 run

28 - 29 mins - 7 runs

29 - 30 mins - 9 runs

30 - 35 mins - 41 runs

35 mins + - 6 runs

So interestingly this year I broke 30 minutes 17 times whereas last year I broke 30 mins 20 times.  Not really that much of a difference. 

I'll go into my plans for next year in my next post.  But I think the absolete key this year is that I have kept my running going and it really has given me the boost I need when I need it. 

2020 in review

 Well like every other human being on the planet, 2020 didn't go to plan.  But although it has been challenging and I know many who have had an incredibly tough year for a variety of reasons.  For me there has been positives and I have had worse years.   Keeping the running going especially has kept me sane for starter and I manage to adapt pretty well to the change in circumstances.  This post I'll give a general overall look at how my running went.

January to March

Business as usual till mid March where I managed to do 8 parkruns including incorporating a parkrun I hadn't done before which was Fort William.  7 of the parkruns I did were over 30 minutes but of those all of them were on hilly courses including Pollok, Queens and Tollcross.  The one time I did get under 30 minutes was the only flat course I did and that was at Linwood where I managed 28.55.

March to June

I had talked to my parents before lockdown came that if lockdown was to come I would move in with them. So it was good to be prepared and that is what I did between mid March and June.  Being bi-polar my mental health was of prime importance and being locked in the flat by myself it could have potentially led to me being in a bad place mentally.  While my mental health was actually pretty good because of the move during this time my running wasn't as good as it could have been. I failed to get into good routines and even missed running on Saturday's just to go out for walks. On a positive note I did get into the routine of at least going out for a walk every single day so I actually managed to lose some weight for the first time in a while.

June to September

Late June the lockdown restrictions were lifted a bit so I moved back to the flat as now you could form a bubble if you lived on your own. So my parents would come up to mine and I would go up to theirs for dinners quite often.  This was also when (not) parkrun started where you could submit 5k times to the parkrun website and do them wherever and whenever you wanted.  This was what I needed to get myself going and I got into good lunchtime routines and also getting the Saturday runs in too.  I think one of the keys was getting deliveries from Parsley box for my lunch time meals so I didn't have to go out each lunchtime to get lunch as I would do previously.  So now at lunchtime I could have lunch and go for a walk or run.  Again I did this pretty much every day and altogether I think I've only missed a few days. In terms of times by best 5k time during this time was 27.22 which I was pretty pleased with considering it was on just one of my routes from home.

September - October

During this time I picked up an Achilles injury which stopped my running for 6 weeks.  Luckily I remembered all the exercises my physio gave me to do when I had the same thing in 2017.  So wasn't out for as long as I could have been.  Also I was able to walk still so still manged to get out pretty much everyday.

November - December

Back up and running again and got straight back into the routine of running 3-4 times a week.  At the start of December I realised I could potentially get to 100 (not) parkruns by the end of the year so that became the aim.  As I write this I am on 99 so pretty confident I'll achieve this in the next few days.  During this period my times peaked at just below 29 minutes. I think the reason I am slightly slower is because during my injury I did put on a stone which I now cant seem to get rid of.  Well there is a target for next year.

Another positive to take from the year was that I have only taken 1 sick day from work and that was back in March.  I usually have to take many more than that and I think it just shows how easy it is to pick up bugs on commutes and how much of a difference working from home makes.

I've been missing my running buddies both at Rouken Glen and Queen's/Pollok parkruns and hopefully next year parkrun can start up again and normal service will resume.  At the same time strava has been great so I can at least stay connected at a distance.

I'll do another post on my stats for the year.........once I get to 100 :-P