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

December Review

Last monthly review, that's it for another year already.

Straight in to running, had the Singapore half marathon to begin the month. I covered this in detail in the Singapore report linked below, so won't go over it again. Had a few parkruns after returning, including an extra for Christmas day. All were around about 18 minutes, so good enough after returning from ten days without a normal running routine. Only one new event in Shepparton since I didn't want to do hours of driving, particularly with a sore left hamstring that's been hanging around for months.

Starting to think about running in 2025 so I did a search for any good races in Asia, Europe or USA during August or September but didn't find a lot of major events.

Nothing out of the ordinary for shares, I've probably put 80% of savings in the bank this year for a possible house deposit, and only 20% in shares. The Australia market was up about 10% for the year, but I doubt mine increased by that much. I'll cover that and other things in a yearly review. Otherwise I think I have another bill season coming up - car registration, council rates, Gold Coast holiday, other running races, and quarterly tax bill.

After missing two or three weeks of NFL highlights while on holiday I'm still just catching up now. The premier league only had one extra mid week round so that was easier to follow. I think the official name of the athletics event this month was On Track Nights Melbourne, which included the men's and women's 10 kilometre race. It was on the same night as The Killers so I couldn't watch live, but the stream coverage was good.

The to do list will also need some bigger 2025 goals.

• Holiday report
• Got some good half marathon photos using the selfie search - surprisingly accurate
• The Singapore and Vietnam 2024 report is done
• Running
• Got a rough plan mapped out except for a mid year international holiday
• January - Rosebud Australia Day 10km
• Paid
• February - Carman's Fun Run 10km
• Paid
• April - Run For The Kids 14km
• Paid
• Preferred start
• April - Ballarat 10km or 21km
• Distance to be determined
• June - Brisbane 10km
• Other option is Launceston
•  July - Gold Coast half marathon
• Registered from Singapore
• Paid
• Flight paid
• Hotel paid
• August - Sunshine Coast half marathon
• To be determined if too close to mid year holiday
• September - Adelaide City Bay or Melbourne Run Prix
• Depends on mid year holiday dates
• October - Melbourne half marathon
• Paid
• November - Auckland half marathon or Queenstown half marathon
• Depends on mid year holiday
• December - Singapore half marathon
• Depends on mid year holiday
• To be determined if I want to improve on last year

Didn't spend much time at work with the holidays and office shut down over Christmas and New Year. Due to being on holiday I didn't have time to do the Advent Of Code this year.

That's it for this month.

• Books
• None
• Movies
• None
• Music
• The Killers
• Always a good show
• A few different songs like Sam's Town would be good
• 8 out of 10
• TV
• None
• Video Games
• Xbox One
• Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
• Still going but haven't played much