2025 Running Review

A very similar year to 2024 with no new records but not far off my best.

The annual total was down a little due to holidays:

• 2025 - 4931 kilometres and 376 hours
• 2024 - 5147 kilometres and 392 hours
• 2023 - 5050 kilometres and 381 hours
• 2022 - 5119 kilometres and 390 hours
• 2021 - 5128 kilometres and 392 hours

I had eleven races for the year which is a pretty good number. My 10km results were all very similar after a slow start to the year, while the 2XU course may have been a little short. On the other hand my half marathon times were a little bit disappointing, but I had some hamstring soreness going into Melbourne Marathon and various other left leg issues have been continuing ever since.

• January - Rosebud Australia Day Run 10km
• 37:08
• February - Carman's Fun Run 10km
• 37:06
• April - Run For The Kids 14.4km
• 54:02
• April - Ballarat Marathon 10km
• 36:29
• May - Sydney 10
• 36:31
• June - Brisbane Marathon 10km
• 36:26
• July - Gold Coast Marathon 21km
• 1:19:19
• September - Run Prix 10km
• 36:24
• October - Melbourne Marathon 21km
• 1:19:50
• November - Auckland Marathon 21km
• 1:22:09
• November - 2XU Wellness Run 10km
• 35:55

I went to 53 parkruns for the year which was an equal best, only missing one due to Gold Coast half marathon like usual.

• 53 events - 51 in 2024
• 6 new events - 6 in 2024
• April
• Aintree Reserve
• May
• Wentworth Common (Sydney)
• New Farm (Brisbane)
• July
• Meijo Koen (Nagoya)
• Shibamata Koen Kadan (Tokyo)
• November
• Orakei Bay (Auckland)

The goals will be very similar for a third year in a row, but I'm unsure about the interstate and international events so far.

• 2025
• 5km 17:00 - 17:32
• 10km 35:00 - 35:55
• 21km 1:17:00 - 1:19:19
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres - 4931
• Parkrun
• 10 new events - 6
• Races
• 3 new events - 3
• 3 interstate events - 3
• 1 international event - 1
• 2026
• 5km 17:00
• 10km 35:00
• 21km 1:17:00
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10 new events
• Races
• 2 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 1 international event

2024 Running Review

A consistent year of running but without any great achievements. It seemed like I was stuck at 18 minutes for every 5km parkrun after a promising start to the year, and other distances were always a bit behind my personal bests that each came a year ago in 2023.

The annual total was at least a small amount above the previous years:

• 2024 - 5147 kilometres and 392 hours
• 2023 - 5050 kilometres and 381 hours
• 2022 - 5119 kilometres and 390 hours
• 2021 - 5128 kilometres and 392 hours

These were my nine races for the year. The Gold Coast half marathon was my main goal, and I was happy with the result considering there was some challenging wind and rain. In general it wasn't a good year for weather conditions as the Australia Day and Sydney Harbour races both had extreme head winds.

• January - Rosebud Australia Day Run 10km
• 39:01
• March - Bendigo Fun Run 10km
• 36:37
• April - Ballarat Marathon 10km
• 36:50
• June - Brisbane Marathon 10km
• 36:38
• July - Gold Coast Marathon 21km
• 1:19:33
• July - Sydney Harbour 10km
• 38:00
• September - Run Prix 10km
• 36:27
• October - Melbourne Marathon 10km
• 36:27
• December - Singapore Marathon 21km (plus extra 800 metres)
• 1:29:05

I went to 51 parkruns for the year, missing three due to Gold Coast, Hawaii, and Vietnam. I didn't get too many new events, but there are now a few under an hour away at least.

• 51 events - 53 in 2023
• 6 new events - 12 in 2023
• January
•  Willow
• March
• Bairnsdale
• June
• South Bank (Brisbane)
• July
• North Sydney
• November
• East Coast Park (Singapore)
• December
• Shepparton

Since the goals from 2024 were all missed I don't need to adjust much for 2025.

• 2024
• 5km 17:00 - 17:34
• 10km 35:00 - 36:27 (twice)
• 21.1km 1:17:00 - 1:19:33
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres - 5147
• Parkrun
• 10 new events - 6
• Races
• 3 new events - 4
• 3 interstate events - 3
• 1 international event - 1
• 2025
• 5km 17:00
• 10km 35:00
• 21.1km 1:17:00
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10 new events
• 5 volunteer
• Races
• 2 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 1 international event

2023 Running Review

Another year of similar running activities, with some minor improvements.

The total was just a bit down, due to a month of holiday. I did still manage to run every day, except when travelling against time zones from London to Melbourne and getting delayed in Dubai for over twelve hours.

• 2023 - 5050 kilometres and 381 hours
• 2022 - 5119 kilometres and 390 hours
• 2021 - 5128 kilometres and 392 hours

Happy to record a new PB in each distance, but a little disappointing to only have six races for the year.

• May - XCR Albert Park 10km
• 36:34
• June - Launceston 10km new
• 35:39 PB
• July - Gold Coast Marathon 21km
• 1:18:02 PB
• August - XCR Ballarat 15km
• 54:17 PB
• September - Run Prix 10km new
• 36:21
• December - 2XU Wellness Run 21km new
• 1:20:01

I went to a record 52 parkruns for the year, only missing an event on the same Saturday as the Gold Coast half marathon. Another PB in the 5 kilometre distance as well with 17:24 at Dandenong and two more under 17:30.

The rest of the parkrun stats are.

• 52 events - 45 in 2022
• 12 new events - 12 in 2022
• January
• Kerang Regional
• Queens Domain
• March
• Eastern Gardens
• April
• Louis Hamon Park
• June
• Launceston
• July
• Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track
• August
• Old Deer Park
• Bushy
• Karpendonkse Plas
• September
• Upton Court
• Dixon Field
• December
• Tallangatta Station

The goals from 2023 and new goals (some unlikely) for 2024 are:

• 2023
• 5km 17:30 - 17:24
• 10km 36:00 - 35:39
• 21km 1:18:00 - 1:18:02
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres - 5050
• Parkrun
• 10 new events - 12
• Races
• 2 new events - 3
• 3 interstate events - 2
• 1 or 2 international events - 0
• 2024
• 5km 17:00
• 10km 35:00
• 21km 1:17:00
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10 new events
• Races
• 3 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 1 international event

2022 Running Review

Getting in early with the first review, one thing that went well for the year.

Just missed beating the totals from 2021 with a minor injury in the last week of the year.

• 2022 - 5119 kilometres and 390 hours
• 2021 - 5128 kilometres and 392 hours

The running totals were not a major goal for the year and was impacted by running a few more races, although still would have liked to do more - only one in the first five months.

• March - River Run Geelong 10km
• 37:03
• June - Sri Chinmoy Albert Park 10km
• 37:23
• July - Gold Coast Marathon 21km
• 1:19:28 PB
• July - Run Melbourne 10km
• 36:30 PB
• August - XCR Albert Park 10km
• 36:23 PB
• August - XCR Ballarat 15km
• 55:07 PB
• October - Melbourne Marathon 21km
• 1:19:14 PB
• December - Lara Fun Run 10km
• 37:21

I was surprised to be able to set one or more personal bests in each of the 5, 10, 15, and 21 kilometre distances, and in particular finally getting under the 80 minute barrier. The only disappointment was the Melbourne Marathon course seemed longer than previous years adding at least 30 seconds to the result.

I reached the 250 parkrun milestone around the middle of the year, now it will be a very long time to reach 500 - a minimum of 5 years at current pace.

The PB streak from 2021 carried into 2022 and finished at 25 events in April, also the tourism streak ended at 52 in August. I also managed to break the 18 minute parkrun barrier a few times, although none were during that PB streak actually.

• Dandenong 17:58
• Dorset Recreation Reserve 17:59
• Lilydale Lake 17:49
• Warringal Parklands 17:48 and 17:49

The other parkrun stats are:

• 45 events - 24 in 2021
• 12 new events - 9 in 2021
• April
• Dorset Recreation Reserve
• Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve
• May
• Toolern Creak
• Cyril Curtain Reserve
• June
• Werribee Park Mansion
• Lewis Park Reserve
• July
• Kirkdale Reserve
• Peppertree
• August
• Warrandyte River Reserve
• Phillip Island
• December
• Bendigo Botanic Gardens
• Lake Boga Foreshore

The goals from 2022 and new goals for 2023 are:

• 2022
• 5km 18:00 - 17:48
• 10km 36:30 - 36:23
• 21km 1:20:30 - 1:19:14
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres - 5119
• Parkrun
• 10 new events - 12
• PB streak 25 - 25
• Tourist streak 50 - 52
• Races
• 2 new events - 0
• 2 interstate events - 1
• 0 international events - 0
• 2023
• 5km 17:30
• 10km 36:00
• 21km 1:18:00
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10 new events
• Races
• 2 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 1 or 2 international events

2022 Goals

Not sure if there's much point to start goals in June, but keeping with tradition.

A lot of these are adjusted or copied from 2021 which were usually 0% or 100% complete.

• Blog
• 25 posts
• Fitness
• Bike
• 10 bike rides again
• Run
• 5km - under 17:45
• 10km - under 36:00
• 21km - under 1:20:00
• Total Distance - over 5000km
• Parkrun - 15 new events
• Races
• 3 new events
• 1 interstate event
• Weight
• 70kg
• Holiday
• 1 interstate
• House
• To be determined
• Money
• Shares
• 10% from the end of 2021
• Super
• Linear increase
• Music
• 2 events
• Reading
• 5 books
• Sport
• AFL - maybe a few games
• Study
• 1 certification
• Video Games
• 5 games completed
• Work
• Finish project
• Same job - to review in 2023

2021 Review

The review of the amazing 2021, just in time for winter.

These were the optimistic goals for 2021 heading into a second year of lockdown.

• Blog (75%)
• 25 posts - had 18 which is basically just the monthly
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• 10 bike rides - zero!
• Run (100%)
• 5km under 18:00 - right around 18 minutes
• 10km under 37:00 - about 36:45
• 21km under 1:22:00 - about 1:20:45 was the biggest surprise
• 4000km total distance - 5125km and all 365 days
• 15 new parkrun events - 9 events, got distracted by a PB streak
• Races (0%)
• 5 new events - only 4 for the year, and none were new
• 3 interstate events - no surprise with zero
• Weight (0%)
• 70kg - still stuck around 73kg
• Holiday (0%)
• Interstate - even that didn't happen with lockdowns and other restrictions
• House (0%)
• Buy - with prices going up 20% this continues to be unlikely
• Money
• Shares (100%)
• 10% from the end of 2020 - about right only due to good timing
• Super (100%)
• Linear - also did well only due to good timing to finish the year
• Music (0%)
• 2 events - 0 and almost no tours happened
• Reading (0%)
• 5 - 0 books, need to see if my electronic reader still works
• Sport (0%)
• AFL - most matches and the grand final were played interstate
• NBL - similar to AFL
• Study (0%)
• 1 exam - 0 that apply to work at the moment
• To Do List (0%)
• Had no other major goals and none really came up
• Video Games (100%)
• 5 games completed - 9 xbox and 1 switch, had a bit of extra time without daily travel
• Work (0%)
• Finish project - not even close, could go until 2023

Some favourites for the year:

• Movies
• 
  
• TV
• Mare of Easttown
• Rosehaven season 5
• Squid Game
• The Challenge / The Challenge All Stars
• The White Lotus
• Video Games
• Call Of Duty - some were ok, played too many
• Diablo 3

2021 Running Review

Another year with not much going on in running. The working from home routine made training a little better, but also quite repetitive, particularly during the times of 5km and 10km travel limits.

A new record for total distance as well as running once every day of the year, I didn't expect to beat last year's totals and probably won't beat this year for sure now.

• 5128.36 kilometres
• 4366.96 kilometres in 2021
• 392 hours
• 333 hours in 2021

The major events only ran at the beginning and end of the year.

• Sandy Point 10km
• 37:05 PB
• Run The Rock 13.5km
• 53:06
• Sandy Point 10km again
• 36:45 PB
• Melbourne Marathon half
• 1:20:48 PB

The Melbourne Marathon was a good result - just missed a long term goal of 1 hour 20 minutes, but ahead of my 1:22:00 goal and previous best of 1:22:49 in 2019.

I didn't get close to 250 parkruns due to health restrictions for public events, only 24 for the year up to 226 in total. This was also the year when Christmas and New Year's Day were on Saturday, so no bonus events.

I started the year with a 'tourism streak' of going to a different event each week, beginning in South Australia, then combined that with a 'PB streak' for any local events without a low 18 minute time already recorded. By the end of the year this was becoming a bit more effort than reward - the PB part in particular - but should be wrapped up early in 2022 so I can go back to attending some events launched in the past year.

• 24 events
• 52 in 2019
• 9 new events
• 13 in 2019
• 18:01 Diamond Creek - short course
• 18:03 Dandenong
• 18:07 Aurora

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Victor Harbor, SA
• Naracoorte Lake, SA
• Dandenong
• February
• Aurora
• March
• Altona Beach
• Point Cook
• Cascades On Clyde Wetlands
• April
• Campaspe
• Sunbury

The goals for 2021 and new goals for 2022 are:

• 2021
• 5km 18:00 - just missed
• 10km 37:00 to 37:30 - beat twice
• 21km PB - beat
• 4000+ kilometres - beat with 5000+ kilometres
• 2022
• 5km 18:00 - again
• 10km 36:30
• 21km 1:20:00
• 4500 to 5000 kilometres - not important
• Parkrun
• 10 new events
• Finish PB streak with 20 to 25
• Finish tourism streak with 40 to 50
• Races
• 2 new events - not many options
• 2 interstate events - Gold Coast half marathon
• 0 international events - probably

2021 Goals

It's early April but these are intended to be from the beginning of 2021.

The topics are similar to previous years as I haven't thought of anything else. I might revisit this half way through the year.

• Blog
• 25 posts - won't be many holidays again this year
• Fitness
• Bike
• 10 bike rides - a modest goal
• Run
• 5km - under 18:00
• 10km - under 37:00
• 21km - under 1:22:00
• Total Distance - over 4000km
• Parkrun - 15 new events
• Races
• 5 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 0 international events
• Weight
• 70kg - again
• Holiday
• A big achievement will be to travel interstate without getting trapped
• House
• Hoping to buy this year - prices have already begun increasing significantly
• Money
• Shares
• Depends on house deposit requirements
• Hopefully reach a milestone number - roughly gain 10% from the end of 2020
• Super
• Seems to be a linear increase at the moment
• Music
• 2 events - another modest goal
• Reading
• 5 books - been a while since the last one
• Sport
• AFL - should be able to attend games again this year
• NBL - if Sydney make the finals
• Study
• 1 exam - depends on work projects
• To Do List
• House improvements / repairs is the only major item
• Video Games
• 5 games completed
• Work
• Hoping to finish current project and get another good opportunity
• Won't be in consideration for another promotion for some time

2020 Review

The middle of February seems like a good time for a goals and yearly review.

These were the goals I put down before ten months of quarantine happened, so this will be interesting.

• Blog (25%)
• 16 out of 50 - there wasn't much to write about...
• Car (100%)
• The old Mitsubishi Lancer engine died before I got to offload it
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• For much of the year we had a 5 km and 1-2 hour outdoors limit, so not ideal to start bike riding
• Run (25%)
• A good year in running given the circumstances
• I have a daily running streak still going from March 3 to February 14
• 5 km - around 18:00, not sure I can claim sub 18 minutes though
• 10 km - around 37:30 in a race, best time with an accurate course distance
• 21 km - no races
• 4300+ km - well ahead of 3000 km
• 5 of 10 new parkrun events - got halfway there before March
• 1 of 5 new race events
• 0 of 2 new interstate events
• 0 of 1 new international events
• Weight (20%)
• 74 kg all year instead of 75 kg, not getting much closer to 70 kg
• Food (0%)
• Haven't really made any changes
• Too many lockdown donuts - actual donuts
• Holiday (5%)
• This will be on hold for a while now
• 0 of 1 interstate holiday
• 0 of 1 international holiday
• Managed to reach South Australia just before the end of the year
• House (1%)
• You'd think this year's business and job impacts would slow down house prices, but no
• I have some preferred locations, not much of an achievement
• Should be able to manage a deposit and home loan with the current ultra-low interest rates
• Money (100%)
• Shares
• A rollercoaster ride
• Lost 40% in 4 weeks
• Back where it started in another 12 weeks
• Somehow finished with a 50% gain
• Investment loan would be negative overall, was forced to sell some
• Super
• Up about 10% including new contributions, a bit less than the previous year
• Hard to really make sense of that given the extra amount invested
• Music (20%)
• 1 of 5 events
• February - The New Pornographers
• Reading (0%)
• None
• Sport (0%)
• AFL - none in Victoria
• NBL - Sydney made the NBL finals
• But coincided with restrictions so it wasn't an option to attend a match in Sydney
• Study (0%)
• 0 of 1 exam certification
• To Do List (0%)
• Nothing of major significance besides this list
• Video Games (40%)
• Nintendo Switch
• Setup and finished some games
• New Super Mario U Deluxe
• New Super Mario U Deluxe - Luigi U
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Zelda - Breath Of The Wild
• Zelda - Link's Awakening
• Xbox One
• Finished some games very slowly
• Fallout 4
• Forza Horizon 3
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Work (75%)
• Got a promotion finally
• Spent the whole year on one project, but generally enjoyable
• Not being expected to travel to work 5 days a week was a good side effect
• Currently undecided about long term goals, with the same company or elsewhere

A few favourites from the year:

• Movies
• Knives Out - the only movie I got to watch at a cinema
• TV
• All Or Nothing - both Philadelphia Eagles and Tottenham
• Better Call Saul
• Fear The Walking Dead
• Rosehaven
• Ted Lasso
• The Last Dance - great NBA footage
• The Last Man On Earth - sometimes great, sometimes not
• Utopia

That's it for last year...

2020 Running Review

A unique year in running, 2021 is similar for now but with a bit more hope.

All events and parkruns were cancelled from March, and daily exercise was limited to one hour for some time also - not a problem except for the weekly long run. Being forced to work from home was much more convenient for daily running, definitely not looking forward to having to transition back to running from the office during lunch breaks.

The totals were well above previous years, and will be hard to match ever again.

• 4366.96 kilometres
• 3065.56 kilometres in 2018
• 333 hours
• ~230 hours in 2015, 2018, 2019

The few major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10km - 37:48 @ 3:49/km
• February
• Warburton - 10km - 37:46 @ 3:51/km
• March
• River Run Geelong - 10km - 37:40 @ 3:47/km

The Geelong race was roughly my best 10 kilometre result.

I just managed to reach 200 parkruns before that was suspended for the year - in Victoria.

• 13 events
• 52 in 2019
• 5 new events
• 13 in 2019
• 18:07 Birdsland Reserve
• 18:03 - Lilydale Lake
• 18:04 - Frog Hollow

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Newborough
• Churchill
• February
• Berwick Waters
• Grand Ridge Rail Trail
• Warringal Parklands

The same goals from 2020 will roll over to 2021:

• 5km 18:00
• 10km 37:00 - 37:30
• 21km PB
• 4000+ kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10-15 new events
• 250 total
• Races
• 5 new events
• 2 interstate events
• 0 international events - probably

2020 Goals

This is long overdue but I drafted them out probably in early February. A lot of these will be impossible now, which would not have been imaginable at the time.

• Blog
• 50 posts - try to add a few more photos
• Car
• Retire the old Mitsubishi Lancer
• Fitness
• Bike
• A small number of bike rides would be a starting point
• Run
• 5km - 18:00
• 10km - 37:30 is about a PB time
• 21km - two races and a PB
• Total Distance - 2500-3000 kilometres
• Parkrun - 10 new events
• Races
• 5 new events
• 1 international events - either NZ or Singapore
• 2 interstate events - already missed two Hobart options
• Weight
• 70kg
• Food
• Healthy options besides fruit
• Holiday
• One short interstate or international holiday
• One longer international holiday
• Probably South East Asia like Cambodia, Vietnam etc.
• House
• Hopefully, at least have decided on an area and made some progress
• Money
• Shares
• Depends on house - don't want to cash in everything for a deposit
• 10% given strong performance last year
• Super
• 10% including contributions
• New contributions will have less impact as (when) the total increases
• Music
• 5 is best case scenario - one planned so far
• Reading
• 5 books
• Sport
• AFL
• Cricket world cup - maybe
• NBL finals - if Sydney qualifies
• Study
• 1 exam perhaps, depending on work projects
• To Do List
• No major goals besides this list
• Video Games
• Install Nintendo Switch
• 5 games finished
• Work
• Promotion hopefully

2019 Review

A bit overdue for the yearly, although it's not much more than a summary of each monthly.

These were some of the traceable 2019 goals I put down, before I come up with similar ones for 2020...

• Blog (50%)
• 26 out of 50
• Had no holidays so just consists of monthly reports and a bit of running
• Car (100%)
• Finally decided to go with a Mitsubishi Lancer 2017
• Good enough for the amount of driving I do, and more comfortable than the old one
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• None
• Run (75%)
• I've put more details in the 2019 running review
• 5km was right on my target time of 18:00
• 10km was also close to my target time of 37:30
• 21km improved PB by 30 seconds, hoped to get a little closer to 1 hour 20 minutes
• Only did one half marathon instead of two
• Total distance just missed due to injuries to finish the year
• 13 of 10 new parkrun events
• 0 of 1 international events
• 0 of 2 interstate events due to last minute Gold Coast injuries
• Weight (10%)
• Still stuck around 75 kg instead of 70 kg
• Food (0%)
• Haven't changed much to help with fitness and weight
• Holiday (25%)
• 0 of 1 international holidays
• 2 small interstate holidays
• Brisbane 3 days and Gold Coast 2 days barely counts
• House (0%)
• None
• Money (100%)
• Shares
• Hard to calculate exactly due to extra investments
• Close enough to 50% recovery from late 2019, optimistic aim was 25%
• Investment loan also recovered to about 10% profit
• Super
• Hard to calculate also due to contributions
• Possibly up 20% which was the goal, a third of that is probably new contributions
• Extra 3% contributions
• Music (20%)
• 1 of 5 events
• September - Apocalyptica at Hamer Hall
• Reading (0%)
• None
• Sport (75%)
• No goals really
• March - NBL finals
• August - Australia vs USA basketball
• September - AFL grand final
• Study (0%)
• 0 of 2 exams
• To Do List (50%)
• Just wanted to get all of the larger 2018 and 2019 tasks done
• Most of these have been listed already
• Yes
• New car
• New Garmin watch
• Super contribution
• No
• Holidays
• House
• Video Games (50%)
• Opened Xbox One at last
• Haven't opened Nintendo Switch yet, can only do one at a time anyway
• Did not quite finish five games:
• Xbox 360
• GRID 2
• Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning Returns
• Xbox One
• Forza Horizon 4
• Forza Horizon 3 almost
• Work (25%)
• Had a good variety of projects is a small success
• No promotion this year and project positions haven't been ideal

And similar to the monthly reports I'll end with a few favourites for the year:

• Movies
• Parasite
• Us
• TV
• Atlanta
• Rosehaven
• The Amazing Race
• The Challenge
• Video Games
• None were a standout - too much achievement grinding

2019 Running Review

A reasonable year in running, no major injuries but a lot of annoying smaller ones.

• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015

The totals were almost the same as the previous year:

• 3031.52 kilometres
• 3065.56 kilometres in 2018
• 3120.94 kilometres in 2015
• 231 hours
• 232 hours in 2018
• 235 hours in 2015

The major events for the years were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10 km - 38:55 @ 3:55/km
• February
• Warburton - 10km - 38:06 @ 3:54/km
• March
• Run The Rock - 13.5km - 54:57 @ 4:03/km
• April
• Sri Chinmoy Princes Park - 10 km - 38:41 @ 3:54/km
• May
• Puffing Billy Train Race - 13.5km - 55:40 @ 4:08/km
• June
• Sri Chinmoy Albert Park - 10km - 37:41 - 3:48/km
• July
• Run Melbourne - 10 km - 38:49 @ 3:53/km
• August
• de Castella - 15km - 59:16 @ 3:59/km
• September
• Sandy Point - 10km - 37:58 @ 3:47/km
• Harvest Run - 13.5 km - 53:53 @ 4:02/km (hills)
• October
• Melbourne Marathon - 21km - 1:22:53 @ 3:53/km
• November
• Ballarat Run For A Cause - 10km - 36:57 @ 3:45/km (short)

It was slow progress, but towards the middle and end of the year I made some minor improvements to record new best times for 5 kilometre parkrun, 10 kilometre and half marathon. Having an ongoing hamstring injury and dealing with the summer heat, I have to try and not lose all the fitness going into the new year like often happens.

The parkrun summary:

• 52 events
• 47 in 2018
• 48 in 2017
• 13 new events
• 10 in 2018
• 18 in 2017
• 18:03 - Lilydale Lake and 18:04 - Frog Hollow
• 18:16 - Lilydale Lake in 2018

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Mernda
• February
• KM Reedy Reserve
• April
• Pakenham
• Euroa
• Mansfield Botanic
• July
• Surfers Paradise
• August
• Brimbank
• Birdsland Reserve
• September
• Lancefield
• October
• Wyndham Vale
• November
• Zillmere
• Rosebud
• December
• You Yangs

2019 Goals

About time to get this done, since it only takes about 15 minutes.

• Blog
• 50 posts
• Car
• Seems more possible this year, long overdue
• Fitness
• Bike
• Once a month to start with
• Run
• 5km - try to get 18:00
• 10km - try to get 37:30, didn't get close last year
• 21km - try to get a PB and do two races
• Total Distance - beat PB
• Parkrun - 10 new events
• Travel - 1 international event at least, and 2 interstate
• Triathlon - Seems more likely for summer 2020 at the earliest
• Weight
• Get to 70kg
• Food
• Not sure, whatever helps maintain 70kg
• Holiday
• Try to use up about 4 weeks leave, one small and one larger international holiday
• House
• A bit more possible this year, needs more thought
• Money
• Shares
• Already made 15% since last year was so bad
• 25% and invest extra
• Profit on investment loan
• Super
• Hard to calculate due to contributions, maybe 20%
• Might be worth adding a bit extra
• Music
• 5 events given the lack of options
• Reading
• 5 books
• Sport
• Only special event is the Australia vs USA basketball
• Study
• New Mule exam
• Google Cloud exam maybe
• To Do List
• Get all the 2018 items off the list
• Video Games
• Install Nintendo Switch and Xbox One
• Finish at least 5 games
• Work
• Try to get a promotion

2018 Review

This is the 2018 review, really just a quick summary.
A bit sooner than March last year, actually had it done a couple of weeks ago.

• Blog (80%)
• 41 posts
• Not much more than holiday and monthly reports
• Increased from the previous 2 years but missed 50
• Car (0%)
• Actually had to drive to work for the first time, but not very far
• Still haven't had any major issues with the car, just getting old
• Fitness (30%)
• Bike (0%)
• Still have no strategy for how to include cycling alongside running
• Run (60%)
• No major injuries was the best result
• The smaller goals were:
• Made new PB for 5 kilometres
• Missed new PB for 10 kilometres but not far off
• Missed total distance, 3065 kilometres was just 50 kilometres short!
• 2 new events in Singapore and Townsville
• 10 new parkruns exactly, will be hard to match
• 2018 running review
• Triathlon (0%)
• No cycling or swimming
• Weight (10%)
• Went nowhere all year
• Follows a pattern each week and then ends up at the same place
• Food (0%)
• No major changes to diet, probably too much bread
• Holiday (30%)
• Neither of the previously planned trips to Hawaii and SE Asia
• Not much adventure, but saved up a bit of extra leave for 2019 at least
• 10 days in Malaysia and Singapore
• 5 days in Townsville
• 4 days in Canberra and NSW
• House (0%)
• No change, but prices finally starting to move in the right direction
• Money (10%)
• Shares
• Lost money
• Goals were ambitious but on target near the middle of the year
• My total is up $7000 but only because I invested much more than that
• Super
• Made a depressing $8000 gain
• Music (75%)
• 7 events not a bad result given the options:
• January - Foo Fighters + Weezer
• February - Grouplove
• March - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
• March - Grizzly Bear
• July - Franz Ferdinand + MGMT
• September - Wolf Alice
• December - The Grates
• Reading (0%)
• Less opportunity when driving to work
• Haven't read a book in more than a year
• Sport (50%)
• Got Foxtel, don't watch heaps but useful for recording some things
• Went to just a few AFL games but the grand final was worth it
• Went to NBL Melbourne vs Sydney in both states, Sydney lost both times
• Study (100%)
• Passed 3 exams easily
• To Do List (25%)
• Just a whole bunch of things I rarely get around to doing, need a better process or target dates
• TV
• Not a goal but I usually list some of my favourites for the year:
• Black Mirror
• Fear The Walking Dead
• Survivor
• The Challenge
• Video games (20%)
• Only planned to finish one game, not much of a goal
• Finished Final Fantasy XII-2 at last, not bad once I got to spend regular time on it
• Finished Bioshock Infinite also
• Got a Nintendo Switch but not set up, same as Xbox One
• Work (50%)
• Happy enough with the work but no good situations for career progress

2018 Running Review

Not a bad year in running. Didn't get to do a lot of new events or break many records, but was able to run consistently for most of the year.

• 2017
• 2016
• 2015

The totals:

• 3065.56 kilometres
• best 3120.94 kilometres
• last 2192.18 kilometres
• 232 hours
• best 235 hours
• last 168 hours

The major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10 km - 39:45 @ 4:00/km
• April
• Sri Chinmoy Williamstown - 10 km - 38:47 @ 3:54/km
• Werribee Mansion - 10 km - 39:07 @ 3:55/km
• May
• Star Wars Run Singapore - 10 km - 42:22 @ 4:21/km (heat)
• July
• Sri Chinmoy Princes Park - 10 km - 38:50 @ 3:54/km
• August
• Townsville Running Festival - 10 km - 39:57 @ 3:56/km
• Shepparton Running Festival - 10 km - 38:32 @ 3:53/km
• September
• Harvest Run - 13.5 km - 53:53 @ 4:02/km (hills)
• October
• Lara Fun Run - 10 km - 38:30 @ 3:49/km
• November
• Bendigo Bank Fun Run - 10 km - 39:06 @ 3:55/km
• December
• Sri Chinmoy Cherry Lake - 10.5 km - 41:20 @ 3:52/km

The events were generally a bit better then last year when I was stuck above 4:00/km. Did not progress much during the year though except for Lara Fun Run, otherwise always about 3:55/km.

The other category of events are the parkruns:

• 47 events
• best 48 events
• 18:16 at Lilydale Lake
• best 18:15 at Jells (hills but possibly less than 5 kilometres)

The new parkrun events for the year were:

• January
• Gungahlin
• Tuggeranong
• February
• Gardiners Creek
• March
• Ballarat
• April
• Lalor
• May
• Taman Pudu Ulu (Malaysia)
• August
• Aplins Weir (Townsville)
• Warragul
• December
• Cobram
• Newport Lakes

I unofficially got a new parkrun PB but just missed 50 events, and went to exactly 10 new events.

These are the yearly and all time records:

• 2018
• 5 km - Lillydale Lake parkrun - 18:15 @ 3:40/km
• 10 km - Lara Fun Run - 38:30 @ 3:49/km
• 21.1 km - none
• All Time
• 10 km - Sri Chinmoy Albert Park 2014 - 38:00 @ 3:48/km (no watch)
• 21.1 km - Melbourne Marathon 2015 - 1:23:23 @ 3:56/km

2018 Goals

These are the 2018 goals, finally up to date.

• Blog
• Aiming for 50 again, don't have plans for many new topics
• And getting updates done on time!
• Car
• Just see how it goes, house is more important than a car for this year
• Not sure how many years I've been saying that now
• Fitness
• Bike
• Not sure what a good distance goal would be, particularly over winter, maybe 1000 kilometres to start with
• Just finding a way to include bike riding in my schedule would be a success
• Run
• Get a new PB for 5km and 10km
• Might already a bit behind trying to break the yearly distance record
• At least a couple of interstate or international events
• Go to 10 new parkruns, although they are starting to get further away
• Triathlon
• See how the bike goes first, a possibility for the 2018-19 season now at least
• Weight
• Get back to 70 kilograms during the year
• Food
• Might need to get a better diet than bread or fruit for dinner often
• Holiday
• Thinking about finally getting to do another mid-year trip to South East Asia
• Hawaii at the end of the year with a running event possibly
• House
• Hopefully this could be the year
• Prices not going up is the best hope at this stage
• Money
• Shares
• Get to 450 at least, maybe 500 if the market is stable
• Music
• Don't have much choice on this if nobody is touring
• 10 events would probably be a success
• Reading
• Being less tired would be a good start, then try to get through 10 books
• Sport
• Get Foxtel
• Possibly some AFL and NBL games
• Nothing really worth attending the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games
• Study
• Ideally both AWS and Mule certification exams
• To Do List
• Items on my to do list sit around forever
• Need to get better at getting things done and not delaying
• Video Games
• Should finish Final Fantasy XIII-2, about two years after starting
• Get the Xbox One setup
• Buy a Nintendo Switch
• Work
• Don't expect any change for the year
• Getting promoted to the next job title seems unlikely given the current situation

2017 Review

This is the 2017 review at last, just earlier than last years.
I seem to have failed a lot more 2017 goals than I expected.

• Blog
• 38 posts was not far off the goal of 50
• Only had a short holiday report and the other regular posts
• Car
• Didn't have any issues or need major repairs, so still not a priority to replace it
• Fitness
• Bike
• Just got the bike in time, but didn't ride it
• Need to come up with some riding routes
• Run
• Came down with an injury in the first half of the year
• No personal bests, very close for 5km since the previous best was only 4.92km
• Happy to get back to decent times for 15km and half marathon at the end of the year
• About 1000 kilometres short of best distance for a year
• 2016 running review
• 2017 running review
• Triathlon
• No swimming or triathlon activities
• Weight
• Has been a big frustration, stuck at the same level all year regardless of exercise
• Food
• Decided that baking could wait until I improve fitness and weight
• Holiday
• Work kept getting extended, so missed out on a good mid year holiday
• March - Canberra
• May - Apollo Bay doesn't really count, and was injured too
• November - New Zealand
• December - NSW South Coast and Canberra
• House
• A minor slow down in prices, but Melbourne still increased the most!
• Was hoping for some interest rate increases to help, but it's getting further away
• Going on my usual luck, I'll buy a house just as prices fall
• Money
• Shares
• I did fairly well for the year, helped by a few exceptional results, finally a goal achieved
• Up about 70k for existing investments and added 80k more
• Started a small investment loan for about 20k
• Last three years: 92k, 190k, 360k
• Super
• Went from 240k to 280k
• Not a huge increase if charted out over the next 20 years or so
• Music
• Not many band tours, but 2018 is looking better so far
• March - Spoon
• May - Real Estate
• June - Crystal Castles
• December - Muse
• Reading
• Haven't been reading for a while now, usually tired on the train or listening to podcasts
• Study
• Went to an AWS training session, haven't taken the exam yet
• A failure to not have one certification for the year again
• TV
• Some favourite shows for the year:
• The Challenge
• The Leftovers
• Twin Peaks Season 3
• Utopia
• Video Games
• Not much to report, failed on my goal of unpacking the Xbox One
• PC - Alwa's Awakening - a fun indie game but not too challenging
• PC: River City Ransom Underground - disappointing
• Xbox 360 - Stuck on Final Fantaxy XII-2 for the whole year!
• Work
• Good to finally have a change to a new company
• Not so good having to take two weeks of at the end of the year
• Still have managed to have a little leave carried over to this year

2017 Running Review

This year was mixed again - started well, then out of action with a bad ankle injury that ran through most of April to July and was a big setback for fitness. See 2015 and 2016 for previous years with the same format.

The totals:

• 2192.18 kilometres - 929.92 for the previous year and 3132.14 for the best year
• 168 hours - 72 for the previous year and 236 for the best year

The major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day - 10km - 38:59 @ 3:56/km
• Feburary
• Warburton - 21km - 1:31:06 @ 4:20/km (not competitive)
• March
• Sri Chinmoy Canberra - 10km - 39:55 @ 4:01/km
• April
• Injured
• May
• Red Bull Wings For Life - 15km - 1:30:54 @ 6:05/km (injured)
• June
• Traralgon - 10km - 39:22 @ 4:00/km
• Sri Chinmoy Albert Park - 10km - 39:13 @ 3:58/km
• July
• Sri Chinmoy Princes Park - 10km - 40:14 @ 4:04/km
• August
• Shepparton - 10km - 39:27 @ 3:59/km
• September
• Harvest Run - 13km - 56:30 @ 4:19/km
• October
• Melbourne Marathon - 21km - 1:27:09 @ 4:06/km
• November
• Bendigo Bank - 10km - 40:08 @ 4:02/km
• City2Sea - 15km - 59:58 @ 4:01/km
• Rotorua - 21km - 1:33:03 @ 4:29/km

There's some interesting patterns from the list. There's one race a month usually, and I've been frustratingly stuck at 4:00/km all year, although the City2Sea result is probably the best since it was over 15 kilometres, and the speed at the Melbourne Marathon wasn't too bad either.

Added 18 new parkrun locations to the list, passed 50 and getting close to 100.

• Albert Park
• Berwick Springs
• Chelsea Bicentennial
• Coburg
• Darebin
• Diamond Creek
• Hagley (New Zealand)
• Hastings Foreshore
• Highlands
• Karkarook
• Maribyrnong
• Marriott Waters
• Merimbula
• Parkville
• Puarenga (New Zealand)
• Sale
• Studley
• Wilson Botanic

Here's a summary of parkruns by year:

• 2015 - 13 starting from June 13 at Westerfolds Park
• 2016 - 29
• 2017 - 48

This is how my 2017 bests compare with all time bests:

• 2017
• 5.00km Karkarook parkrun 18:29 3:42/km
• 9.89km Rosebud Australia Day 38:59 3:56/km
• 14.90km City 2 Sea 59:58 4:01/km
• 21.28km Melbourne Marathon 1:27:09 4:06/km
• All Time
• 4.92km Jells parkrun 18:14 3:42/km (November 28 2015)
• ~10.00km Albert Park VRR 38:30 3:51/km (May 25 2014)
• 14.73 City 2 Sea 56:55 3:52/km (November 15 2015)
• 21.16km Melbourne Marathon 1:23:23 3:56/km (October 18 2015)

For 2018 my only goals are to try and avoid a long term injury and get a best time for 5 and 10 kilometres.

2017 Goals

A bit late for goals but I think I made the basic list a few months ago, plus it's a similar format to the 2016 version.

• Blog
• More than last year would be a success !
• Aiming for 50
• Car
• Give it about 50% chance of an upgrade
• Not really important but it's going to start dying one day
• Fitness
• Bike
• Might not be much point before winter now
• The main purpose is some long distance on flat roads similar to weekend running
• Run
• Try to stay injury free, as much as possible...
• Try to get a new record for 5km and 10km
• Getting back to fitness for a half marathon record is probably unlikely
• Not sure if I'll beat my 2015 record (about 250 kilometres per month) since I've missed time already
• Swim
• I would like to reach a point that it's easy to do laps, but it's so cold in winter...
• Triathlon
• Aiming to do one for the 2017-18 season
• Weight
• Getting back to 70 kilograms at last, hopefully before winter (and injuries)
• Food
• Baking
• Should start baking again, all the previous ingredients had expired
• Holiday
• Hopefully find time for a couple of weeks during winter somewhere
• Some short trips for running also including:
• Canberra (done)
• Great Ocean Road
• House
• If only houses were affordable...
• It would be a great goal for the year, but might be a wait and see period at the moment
• Money
• Shares
• Making a profit would be nice
• Get past 250,000 by the end of the year if the share market doesn't collapse
• Super
• Should start contributing a bit extra, since this job only pays the minimum
• Music
• Get to see a few bands at least, depending on tours
• Need to discover some new bands, since most of my favourites seem to be inactive
• Reading
• One a month maybe
• Need to find some new authors too, since I'm running out of good Stephen King options
• Sport
• Not sure what I intended for this category
• Try to get some use out of the MCC membership, although Carlton are no good again
• I don't think holidays will coincide with any sporting events
• Study
• Depends on what is required for work, maybe the Java 8 certification
• Video Games
• Unpack the Xbox One finally...
• Work
• No job change this year hopefully
• Need to build up some annual leave for holidays