My 2018 Racing Season: 118 Runs, 876km, and a Win

The Numbers

118 runs. 876 kilometres. Races nearly every month. Dewsbury 10K in February, Vale of York 10 Mile in April, Sunderland Half Marathon in May, and then a string of summer races through to autumn. More racing in one year than the previous three combined.

The Podiums

Two podium finishes. Second place at the Christmas Cracker 5K in December 2017, then first place at the Canal Canter Summer Extravaganza in June 2018. Small local races, small fields, but the feeling of crossing the line first — even in a race of 30 people — is something special. The Canal Canter trophy is still on the shelf.

Sunderland Half Marathon

The Sunderland Half in May was the second half marathon after the Great North Run. Finished in 1:47:56 — faster than the Great North Run's 1:55, which felt like proper progress. Sunderland is a flatter course, which helped, but the improvement was real.

The 10K PB Chase

Started the year at 49 minutes for 10K. Dewsbury brought it down to 44:20 in February. Dalton Park in August was 48:46 but that was a windy nightmare of a day. The consistent sub-45 10Ks showed real fitness improvement from the volume of running.

What Made It Work

Nothing fancy. No coach, no club, no structured training plan. Just motivation, consistency, and having a race in the diary every few weeks. That regular race schedule kept the training honest — hard to skip a Tuesday run when there is a 10K on Sunday.

It would not last — 2019 would be the year of 23 runs — but 2018 proved what consistent running could look like. The benchmark was set.