New Years Resolutions Goals:
It’s reached that time of year again when you naturally reflect on how the year has gone and what you’ll try to do differently next year.

I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions, probably because most resolutions we make are revolved around changing something about ourselves that we’re not happy with. It’s good and healthy to have ambitions of growth and self-development, but it’s not healthy to focus too much on the negative view of yourself.
I read an article that said as much as 80% of new year’s resolutions fail, with almost 40% failing before the end of February. That’s a fair amount of self-loathing and misery doing the rounds. I would, unfortunately, have to count myself within those statistics.
For years I’ve told myself that next year I’d be thinner, lighter, fitter etc. Unsurprisingly I’ve failed miserably to achieve these somewhat vague aspirations. For the last six years, I’ve had many false starts in trying to get fit, taking up running again for the first time since I was in my 20s.
Last year, however, I tried a different approach. I decided I wanted to run more consistently throughout the year. To do this, I’d enter at least one race per month, and to stop myself from finding excuses not to do them, I created a year-long fundraising challenge to raise funds and awareness for CALM. It would be difficult to back out now. The result was a far more consistent year. I became fitter and even lost weight while doing my bit for charity.
The success of last year meant I wanted to challenge myself this year with an even more targeted approach.
So, this year’s challenges are:
- Achieve a Parkrun milestone (25 club or greater): I’ve been dipping in and out of Parkrun for five years but have yet to reach even the first milestone. Sad, I know…
- Run 1000 miles in 2023: Last year, I ran 600 miles, and in 2021, just 180. This year I’m going to step it up again.
- Complete my first marathon: Last year, I ran the furthest I’d ever achieved in one session, 17.5 miles. I want to take that next step and accomplish that magical 26.2
- Complete an Ultramarathon: Last year, I completed two ‘super half’ marathons (15.5 and 17.5 miles). I want to push this up to 55KM (34.1 miles)
You can track my 2023 goals (if you’re remotely interested) here