2021 Running Review

And there you have it folks!

If you’re sat at home reading this (I can’t imagine you’d read it anywhere else) then you’ve made it through 2021, the year in which the world would rise from the ashes of the pandemic and life would soar back to the promised land of normality like a slightly dusty phoenix…

And although, in many ways, said phoenix is yet to prepare for landing (keep your masks on until the pilot switches off the light…,) The one thing I am very grateful to see return of this year was, yes you’ve guessed it, running events!

“But Mark?!” You may cry, “You’ve already waffled on the web about this year’s running events in clearly labelled accounts on each one individually - I know, I’ve seen them…”

This is true but fear not, Reader, for I too recall the individually labelled accounts of which you speak, which is why this is not so much a re-hashing of those events but more a personal refection on what wasn’t exactly a straightforward 12 months of enthusiastic movement, the highlights and lessons learned and the goals we’ll use those lessons to achieve in 2022. 

Hands, Face, Space and Guinness for Vampires 

I guess I should start by outlining the things that made any post-pandemic race preparations a little more tricky than they otherwise would have been…

The resurrection of Belfast Marathon and Antrim Coast Half meant that I would now have events to train for the first time since my diagnosis with Haemochromatosis - a genetic condition which causes my body to absorb excess iron over time, it also has a Scrabble score of 27 points.

You know how in the movies you always see Dracula with a wine glass of the red stuff? Well, if it was mine, he’d likely have a Guinness glass, and he’d have to wait for it to settle to a head. This condition can’t be cured, only managed by removing periodic pints of blood (in the same way one would make a donation) which, now that I think about it, would be rather convenient for the Count.

After each ‘donation’, the good Doctor puts me on a strict ‘No Exercise’ order for basically the week post-visit. This, as you can imagine, took some getting used to. Partly because exercise is almost all I do (because I’m that interesting…) but also because it became difficult to maintain any training momentum I’d have gathered before the brakes would have to be pumped.

Speaking of pumping the brakes, every and all things running came to a dead stop at the beginning of February when I caught Covid.

To my eternal gratitude, my symptoms were mild during what was a time before vaccines, at least for our age group. The first run after being freed from isolation was frankly a little bit scary. Everything felt difficult and slow, and what would normally be easy runs saw my body working overtime. This, along with my aforementioned monthly doctor visits, meant it took a long time for regular running to return to my calendar - luckily for me though, the only two events I had for the year were in August and October…

The first run post isolation - the mood matched the weather…

Returrrrrrrrrrn of the Mark

Fast forward 6 months and there I was at the starting of the Antrim Coast Half Marathon - my first race post-pandemic, post-Covid, post-diagnosis… After the patience and effort I’d put into getting back to a race, I’d have been happy to just finish, but the half marathon PB I got that day will forever be one of my favourites, purely because at one point it felt completely unattainable.

By the same token, the 2021 Belfast Marathon (4 weeks later) will remain in my memory at the first marathon post covid and the first marathon having to negotiate this new reality of my blood situation. (I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that both accounts of those races can be found where you found this one, just incase you’re interested…)

PB O’Clock

Markrun

Around the same time that I managed to get back into marathon training mode, the guys and I decided to start doing Parkrun at Craigavon lakes, something I hadn’t done in almost 6 years. And while I don’t claim to be the most sociable runner (or sociable person for that matter,) it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in a long time. There’s a lot to be said for communal exercise, to be surrounded be like minded people who are also up early on a Saturday morning to see if they can go a little bit faster than last week, if they can beat the person who beat them last week.

It was at Parkrun that I hit my final highlight for the year. A sub-19 minute 5K (18:52,) something I’d been chasing for over a year. I’d gotten close in the summer of 2020 when, during lockdown, I ran 5K in 19:01 if you can believe it, but for 447 days I couldn’t find those 2 seconds. As painful as that run was (give me leg burn over lung burn any day) it was hard not to be thankful for the feeling of knowing you’re capable of working hard and running faster than you’ve ever ran before…

The best we’ve ever been...

As I write (and hopefully publish) this, it is the 30th December. To date this year, I’ve ran a total of 704Km… The lowest total mileage of any year since I started running long distance races.

The self-competitive part of me that constantly needs to push for improvement is disappointed, 704Km is just shy of half the distance I ran last year. But the part of me that can remember that first run after isolation and the first appointment to get my blood drawn where I had questions about running that needed answered immediately, that part is grateful beyond words. It’s a strange how one can feel very physically capable and very fragile at the same time…

Reflecting now, I think the main lessons I’ve taken from this year’s collection of runs around the town are that, firstly, each one that you finish and feel even okay is reason to be thankful, because you never know when injury or illness will rob you of those runs or for how long. Secondly, the body is capable of incredible resilience, if you have patience and put in the work, you can come back from almost anything. And finally, I think there’s value in testing yourself physically, before something else tests you. To my second point, the body can answer difficult questions if you only ask it once in a while, and the physical and mental benefits are, in my humble opinion, unmatched…

Looking ahead to next year, in the spirit of asking difficult questions, I’ve signed up for my first attempt at 100Km in September, along with Belfast Marathon (my race calendar staple fixture) which is equal parts exciting and terrifying. But that’s a question for 2022 Mark, for now, I think I’ll have a glass of wine.

I hope these final words find you all well and optimistic for the future.

I’ll catch you next year.