Its timely I closed off my 2016 running season with a review of the year that was, because we are shortly to begin covering this off with the entire Runlab team as we commence Term 1 2017.

Id like to preface this however by saying, that I’m very much aware and feel for those that are not in as good a place as many of us are either through health, or other circumstances. I know there are many people doing it tough and I truly hope 2017 brings for them an improved outlook.

Personally 2016 held great expectation but on many fronts failed to deliver the outcome I was after. This was both running and non-running. If I’d had the perfect running year I was likely heading to the Olympics for the Marathon, which of course didn’t happen.

Id have to say my most disappointing race was the Tokyo Marathon back In February, Id trained really well and its difficult to pinpoint exactly what led to this, perhaps having a virus (see below) was impacting me at this point, not sure but after feeling great at the 15km mark very quickly afterwards I just felt like I was having to work too hard and I gradually faded. I was really devastated with the result but was determined to have another run knowing I hadn’t been able to run what I believed I was capable of.

London – yes the winner did amazing in the conditions we faced especially in the first 30 minutes of my wave start. Here’s a little extract from my race report –

“Unfortunately, as I didn’t get an actual ELITE start, my day started early. That was ok because it was a late start – Really late, 10am in fact. But because getting to the start was going to be tricky and a lift from friends was a logistical nightmare with the road closures – I caught the train early to arrive before the crowds.

Well rugged up after arriving at Blackheath station I made the 2km walk to the Championship start area, which had a large tent we could stay in pre-race. There was light patchy rain falling too, but it was cold – like 5 degrees, however it was the wind that was making it really cold.

I sat down a spare plastic poncho but the cold was coming in from everywhere – the grass was wet too. Here I spent an hour or before starting a warm-up. I felt pretty good but the warm-up area was ridiculous 1000 people running around in a circle basically 100 metres in length eventually you couldn’t run at all, so got into the front of this group and we shuffled down to the start line and awaited the start about 15 minutes from this point.

Only then did we see the Elites come out in front of us but they maintained a good gap of 20 metres at all times and that’s how we started, the Elites, then a gap then our wave with many more behind in various wave starts. The first 4km of this race is narrow but it’s not really an issue because there are three separate start zones so we had enough room. I had to take off pretty quickly to try and get amongst the Elite guys and did so forming into a pack with the 2:16 pacers pretty quickly, which was good.

By about 8km I let the pack go that I was in, they were starting to quicken the pace but I was just trying to hold a steadier pace, luckily there was at least 1 other runner thinking the same thing.

Between 8km and 21km the wind was ferocious – It was definitely the worst running conditions Id been in for a major race. We now also got hit with a few snow storms and at one point I looked ahead as we ran into the storm gust fearing they were about the cancel the race as one of the large red banners over the road (Signifying 5 Mile) was blown onto road in front of us. We were unlucky and fact is that hour was the worst hour of weather in my entire 10 days in London day or night! Even an hour later it had improved and when walking home watching the latter stages of the run is was actually ideal running weather!

Whilst Tokyo was disappointing Id have to say my most difficult race was the UTA50 in May. It was only a few weeks post London but I was confident the base I had would serve me well on the brutal 50km course.

I just never felt good though from the start, once again I was just feeling like I was having to push rather then run strong but controlled, from 6km on actually I started tripping because my legs were not lifting enough. This quickly escalated and in all I think I fell upwards of 8 times before checkpoint 1 (16km) it was here I new my race was over and the next period between here and checkpoint 2 was simply a wave of emotions about all of the disappointing running results Id had and now this. I was going to pull out at CP2 there was no point going when I just couldn’t run. My mind was going crazy, I had tears just streaming down my face, I let runners pass, some of them taking a double take as they went past me knowing that they shouldn’t have been in front of me.

But you know what, at CP2 I went to one of the Portaloos and stayed there for maybe 10 minutes – I just calmly dealt with my disappointment and decided that it was best I just finish the race regardless of time – and so on I went and finished, My body had nothing but I was just satisfied that I was completing rather than competing this day!

Aside from running and racing, there were also other things happening which made for an even more challenging year. Runlab’s presence in the South of Sydney went through a strategic change, which is beneficial to the future of the brand. Runlab isn’t associated with any other coaching businesses in that area anymore, however we still have our own presence and will grow this again this year.

Away from the track, my aim to better my OQ time was at times played out through various media/social media mediums throughout the first 6 months of the year and Id have to say there were things acted out, said or not said that really left a sour taste in my mouth. I’m not sure if its ignorance or disrespect but certain people would be best served making sure they have the facts before making misinformed comments and consider the effect of their actions on others.

Back to the track, or Trail, I had more disappointments generally however I did train pretty well – I guess part of the disappointment was really of not performing when I’d hoped too and when I know I was in the shape too. In about June after 3 consecutive bouts of the Flu (well that’s what we thought at the time) in in fact emerged that Id been Ill with a virus possibly as far back as the start in the year another possible reason for those flattish performances. Right now though (December 27^th) I’ve been healthy and training very well since October with good weekly mileage (170km/Week plus) together with building functional strength back in the gym and hitting the key sessions making me confident of some great performances in 2017 – however the focus will become a little more diversified.

I absolutely have my goals for the first 6 months of the year firmly set along with a 12-month and 2 year plan. These will be adjusted based on the outcome of some of the events I’m doing, which will feature at least a Trail Ultra, Road Ultra, Road Marathon.

So what are your goals for 2017? We will be in touch with you all leading up to Term 1 and/or during the first couple of weeks. Your running Goals will be documented and shared with your Coaches and will be referred back to later in the year!