Farewell to a 2022 season of (mostly) road running….Part Four…The Finale

Final two months of a long race year

In the first 10 months of the year, if you include parkruns (which I’d ran at race pace), I’d ran 48 races. That’s over one per week! They’d been of varying distance and terrain, which had really helped me stay ‘sharp’ for the big events.  I’m not someone who does big mileage weeks, I peak at around 50 miles per week, and I’ve found this allows me to race more.

A great October

After finally running a sub-3 hour marathon in Berlin at the end of September, I’d been able to ‘run free’ and felt strong in October.

Date	Event	Distance (Miles)	Time
01 Oct 2022	Hyndburn Parkrun	3.1	00:20:21	CB
08 Oct 2022	Chicago 5km	3.1	00:18:07	PB
09 Oct 2022	Chicago Mazza	26.2	03:00:19
15 Oct 2022	Preston Parkrun	3.1	00:19:40
22 Oct 2022	Hyndburn Parkrun	3.1	00:20:04	CB
23 Oct 2022	Green Drive Five	5	00:29:39	PB
29 Oct 2022	Bolton Parkrun	3.1	00:19:56	CB
30 Oct 2022	Accrington 10km	6.2	00:38:11

I completed the month with two of my best performances of the year with my first sub-30 min 5 miler at the super Lytham Green Drive Five. I spotted the race clock with 100m to go and realised I was going to go under 30, screaming ‘COME ON’. The runner ahead of me took that as a challenge and put a sprint finish in, I was nearly sick laughing.

Then the Accrington 10km, a great up and down course – a nice hilly challenge that I really enjoyed, a decent time and won my age category! My eldest son Bailey decided to run it too, and having not trained or raced in a while he ran under 50 minutes on a tough course – Kudos!

Keeping motivated after target races

The three EMF races, Berlin Mazza, Chicago 5km and Chicago Mazza were my 2022 ‘target races’. It’s really difficult, as you guys know, to keep motivated once your ‘big events’ are done, you may even experience the blues – a come down after great highs. 

I ran another 5 races in November, including the Virtual NYC Marathon to qualify me for the real thing in 2023. We (me, Gart (Gary Blackburn) and Markie V (Mark Vaughton) made it an adventure…First we entered the Tatton HM event, planning to run 11km before and 10km after it. Altrincham was the exact right distance away from Tatton Park and was commutable by tram from Manchester – perfect! We made a weekend of it and got very drunk afterwards!

I finished the month running a 10-miler on a breezy Morecambe prom and smashed my last remaining distance PB by nearly 4 minutes! Finishing second overall in 61.45 and winning the M40 age category. Everyone from Blackburn RRs ran well that day and the bacon rolls were lush afterwards!

Any Form Dips in December?

Not really! I had just a few races, but nothing major. I had to slam on the brakes at Blackpool Parkrun to ensure I didn’t break my Chicago 5km PB! Want to save that for another day, still ended up with 18.27 being my all time Parkrun PB. Whoop! Mrs P and Reuben joined me, with my wee boy having had his xmas pics at nursery the previous day and was starting to get into the xmas spirit!

The following day I ran flat out for the entirety of the Blackburn 10km, figured to give it everything with it being my last race of the year – taking over a minute off my previous 10km PB set during the summer – 36.10!

December ended up being a pretty decent month, apart from being nearly 5 minutes late for the NYE parkrun at Burnley, d’oh!

Date	Event	Distance (Miles)	Time
03 Dec 2022	Blackpool Parkrun	3.1	00:18:27	PB
04 Dec 2022	Blackburn 10km	6.2	00:36:10	PB
10 Dec 2022	Witton Parkrun	3.1	00:21:59
24 Dec 2022	Witton Parkrun	3.1	00:20:08	CB
31 Dec 2022	Burnley Parkrun (4.5 mins late)	3.1	00:24:53

2022 – Finito!

What a running year! In what has become a yearly tradition, I had a wee bout of covid to finish the year. Thankfully I was still able to run, completing the NYD parkrun at Hyndburn in 21.29. End of year stats:

• 1,688 miles ran (an increase of 377 miles or 29% from 2021)
• Ran for 236.75 hours and over 89k feet of elevation gain
• Of the 1688 total miles ran, 476 were race miles – 28% of all miles ran were during races
• Races: 58 in 52 weeks, of which 23 were 5km’s (mostly parkruns)
  • Ran 7 marathon races in 7 months (April to November)
  • 1 x 20 miler race, 6 x HM races, 2 x 10-milers and 11 x 10km races
  • For the first year in a while, I didn’t run an ultra-marathon event 🙁
• The 58 races, covering 476 miles, were completed in a time of 56 hours & 43 mins (averaging just over a 7-min mile)
• Of the 58 races, I ran 12 x Personal Bests and 4 x Course Bests
• I’ve never altered my nutrition (basically keep junk food to a minimum) and still drink plenty of beer & whisky 🙂

How did TheRunBible do in 2022?

The business is breaking even – finally! We expanded our online store offering – 100s of different clothing, accessories, nutrition and wellbeing products on our website (www.therunbible.com/shop). We opened Amazon and EBay stores, which are both doing well and we’re looking to expand these in 2023.

Our three-part Old Tram Mile series went really well in the summer, so much so that we’re expanding it in 2023 into a six-part series with two races per event day (for more on the OTM 2023 series, see here).

In 2023 we hope to expand our events further still, with a small trail running festival taking place on the August bank holiday weekend – as part of EuxFest! Offering 5km and 10km undulating trail routes, finishing at Euxton cricket club as their annual gin, real ale and music festival begins! Details to follow soon.

What’s next for Dan Dan the Marathon Man in 2023?

2022 was a great year for running progression. However, was a really tough year for me and my family, as I’m sure it has been for many others with the tough financial climate following a major pandemic (& wars etc.). That said, with a new full-time job in Salford to help relieve some of those money pressures, it’s now all about finding the time to train and spend time with family.

My 2023 running goals:

1. Enter the International Trail Running Association (ITRA) ‘National League’ (means running 3 qualifying ultra’s in 2023) and place in the top 100
2. Place in the top 15 of a few multi-day challenges entered (see table below)
3. Persuade my wee boy Reuben to gradually get into running, with some short trails/hills (at an easy run/walk pace)
4. Expand upon my UKA Run Leader badge, to being a certified UKA Running Coach
5. Try and run way under 3 hours on a road marathon
6. (All of the above have failed if…) At any point I’m not enjoying every minute of my running journey – continue to run purely by feel, look up and enjoy the views. Never looking at a watch. Smile, chat to others, get in high fives. I’m not an elite runner, so chill!
7. Do my best to adhere to the only life rule there is – Don’t be a dick!

Events entered in 2023 so far…

Date	Event	Distance (Miles)
01 Jan 2023	Hyndburn Parkrun	3.1
07 Jan 2022	Lancs XC Champs @ Witton Park	5
15 Jan 2023	Four Villages HM	13.1
21 Jan 2023	Babbs Mill Parkrun	3.1
11 Feb 2023	Harrogate Hustle	34
19 Feb 2023	Ashley Hall 3km	2
19 Feb 2023	Watersons Hale 10km	6.2
26 Feb 2023	Lostock 6	6
05 Mar 2023	Haweswater HM	13.1
18 Mar 2023	Shamrock 8km	5
19 Mar 2022	Shamrock Marathon	26.2
02 Apr 2023	Great Welsh Marathon	26.2
16 Apr 2022	Manchester Marathon	26.2
28 May 2023	EMF Relay (Leg 2, 5.5m) & Kids 1km	6.2
15 Jun 2023	Tour of Tameside 1: Xtrail 10km	6.2
16 Jun 2023	Tour of Tameside 2: Hell on the Fell	6
17 Jun 2023	Tour of Tameside 3: Hero HM	13.1
18 Jun 2023	Tour of Tameside 4: Dr Ron Hyde 7	7
22 Jul 2023	Tolkein Trail Race	7
13 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 1: IoM Mazza	26.2
14 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 2: Peel Hill Race	4
15 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 3: Ramsays Northern 10k	6.2
16 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 4: Killer Mile	1
17 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 5: Foxdale 6	6
18 Aug 2023	No Rest for Wicked 6: Peel Heritage Trail Run	7
08 Sep 2023	Great North 5km	3.1
10 Sept 2023	Great North Run	13.1
24 Sept 2023	Warrington HM	13.1
07 Oct 2023	Great Scottish 10km	6.2
07 Oct 2023	Great Scottish HM	13.1
05 Nov 2023	New York Marathon	26.2
10 Dec 2023	Longridge Pudding Run	7

So there you have it – the 2022 running season review and 2023 season preview. Would be great to see you guys at some of the above events, even better if you’re at our TRB events.

Have a fantastic 2023, run strong and stay injury free (TIP: plenty of stretching before & after runs + core strength exercises on your rest days).