January

  • Not a good start! Ran Edinburgh XC with a serious case of Man-Flu. Big mistake.
  • Won the Northern Cross Country in a mud bath. Proud moment in the Derby AC vest.

February

  • A win and a PB at the Armagh 5km (13:55). I have a sprint finish!
  • Won the National Cross Country Championships. Even prouder moment in the Derby AC vest.

March

  • Joined Team NB Manchester, got a Training Peaks account, bought a heart rate monitor and had an introduction to the Gym…the DOMS was atrocious.
  • Went to Font Romeu and experienced altitude for the first time. Eat 114 almond croissants in a month.

Training

April

  • Won the English champs 5km in 14:00.
  • Moved to Stockport and was made to run early in the morning.

May

  • Finished 3rd at the Highgate Harriers Night of the 10,000m PBs (inc British Championships). Well and truly had my pants pulled down by Andy Vernon.
  • 13:42.89 PB over 5,000m and second place in Nijmegen (Holland). An Aussie caught me on the line.

Highgate10k17_018

June

  • 28:23.58 and another PB for 6th at the Gouden Spike 10,000m in Leiden (Holland). Massive night out afterwards and my new favourite place in the World.

July

  • 3rd at the British Champs 5,000m. Andy Butchart ran a 400m faster than my 1500m PB pace in the middle of the race. It hurt.
  • 13:29.90 PB over 5,000m in Dublin for 3rd at the Morton Games and a PB through 3,000m too.
  • Another race and another PB for 5th in Cork. 7:54.01.
  • Last race of the summer season. A 1500m that I didn’t want to do. Kissed the track mid race but still ran a PB of 3:48.96.

August

Rested and drank beer.

September

  • Got injured and retired from running. Considered the Army, but instead got a World top 5,000 ranking on FIFA.
  • Steve made me cross train….alot!

October

  • Came out of retirement.
  • Finished 3rd at the Great South Run. Somehow pulled that out of my ar*e!

November

  • Went to Portugal and ran a lot.
  • Finished 2nd in the English 10km champs in Leeds.
  • Won the European Cross Country Trial at Liverpool. Heart Rate was low.

portugal

December

  • 6th at the European Cross Country Championships. Well chuffed!
  • Finished the year off at the Houilles 10km. Ran a 2:42 first km (uphill) and tasted blood for 9km. Finished 6th.

 

 

In Summary:

A good year.

Hills are good for you, the gym is good for you, science is good for you.

I’m better than I thought.