I have approached January differently this year. Previously I’ve known all my new goals by New Year’s Eve and entered the New Year with hope, excitement, and expectation of achieving them. However, this year, I’ve taken a step back ensuring I don’t add any surplus pressure to myself. There is always an external stress to think of your New Year goals and try to achieve everything in January, or as close to January as possible. I achieved so much last year, personal goals and physical ones (all to my astonishment). I wrote my PhD thesis, and I still think I’m on some sort of emotional comedown from all the pressure I experienced and brain power I used. A PhD is a huge achievement and near the end it definitely took over my life, my thinking and even my downtime. I couldn’t even shower without thinking of new concepts or things to check out. Now, with my thesis being examined, I have no control over it, and to be truthful, I feel slightly lost. It encompasses a personal side of your life, as well as the ‘cutting edge’ research you have carried out for four years. It is a story you want to read over and over yet are unsure how it will be interpreted by others.
So this year, with my PhD viva looming and plans for future work in the pipeline, but still with no clear agenda or start date, I feel unsettled. I do not know where I will be in three months, or what job I will be doing, although I hope it will be research. As such, I turn to my thoughts and plans for 2024 to excite me and ignite hope for a great year to come.
Running is an inspiring and beautiful sport. The feeling of moving; climbing hills, mountains; running along trails, coastal paths, fields, woodland, green space and encountering people along the way, with views you can only dream of. All powered by you, on your own two feet. This is why I love running, exploring new trails and seeing beautiful views and places. And so, most of my goals and thoughts for this year involve running new trails and exploring new places.
So far, I have two planned races for the year, with a few ideas/goals. I signed up to Bath Half Marathon for the middle of March and I hope to run under 2 hours. I am really excited to run in my home city, it is a route I am familiar with and I know the atmosphere is amazing. This will surely spur me on to get my goal! I cannot put into words how excited I am to do this race!! The other race is a team Backyard Ultra for 12 hours and will be a really fun race with friends. We haven’t set out any goals for this (yet) but I guarantee someone will think of something!
I am also hoping to do a few canicross races with Pippa this year. She absolutely loves it, and our bond is even stronger since running together. I am aiming for a CaniX event at the beginning of March at Westonbirt (TBC) and the Relish Running Bath Skyline 5 km race at the beginning of April. Looking back on previous times, we are hoping to be in the top 5 females, but that all depends on other competitors which turn up on the day so I will be proud of Pippa however she performs on the day.
I would love to run a sub-25-minute 5 km at park run. I feel so strong at the moment with my speed and I’m hoping to get this before March so I can concentrate on Bath Half training. Since August I have been incorporating one speed session into my running schedule each week and I have found this has helped me learn how deep I can dig. My 5 km PB according to Strava is 24:38, which I ran on a downhill race in September, so a park run effort every 1-2 weeks will hopefully mean I can achieve this relatively soon. Then we will see whether I can break any other running barriers...
A final running race aspiration for the year is to run a 50 km ultra. Although TBC as I am unsure where I will be in the year ahead, I am motivated to sign up to one race. I am looking at either the Serpent Trail or Race to the Stones. Let’s see whether I discover where I will be living in the coming weeks so I can book something into my calendar and start my training plan! Finally, running new trails excites me and I hope this year to run 1000 km, 250 km further than I have ever run before!
In addition to running, I have some thoughts for my life in 2024. I want to take more time, just taking in my surroundings. Not worry about the rush of life, the pressures we put on ourselves. Modern life is often seen as having a job working 9-5, hating said job, complaining about it to your friends, cooking a meal with tastes of little and going to bed. I do not want this. I want to have a job which I enjoy, a job which gets me up every day. Exactly like my PhD. I absolutely loved the past four years, waking up to go into labs, to play with mud, drip liquid through tiny pipettes and read academic papers. I had time to think about what I wanted for dinner, to think of the ingredients going into my meal and make it tasty. This was something I forgot to appreciate in the later stages writing my thesis, so I am taking life a little more slowly. Taking time to heal. With my viva likely to be in March, I am hoping to dedicate more time to working on manuscripts as preparation for my viva. I really enjoy talking about my research so I have a few talks lined up as I am always keen to develop the interest in palaeoclimate and Homo sapiens development within younger generations and the general public.
I hope to read 12 books again this year, a goal which I really enjoyed in 2022. However, this year I hope to read more non-fiction books which I can learn from. I usually feel overwhelmed when I read a book along similar lines to my research because I don’t feel like I’m relaxing into the book (e.g. Sapiens), but this year I feel I have a different perspective on reading. As I read so many papers last year (and really enjoyed them), I feel more inspired than ever with the research and nature-based literature which is becoming more and more popularised. Reading this type of literature before bed feels soothing as it’s my safe place and I get to learn more and more about other’s opinions which is exciting. I do have a few fiction books lined up (such as about 5 Taylor Jenkins-Reid books) as well as a few books open which I am yet to finish. Let’s see where this year takes me.
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