Goals 2020: Run the Great Manchester Half-Marathon

There, I said it. Now I have to do it.

This is not me: Photo by Andrew Tanglao on Unsplash

2020 is a big year. Internationally, it’s a big year (if you follow politics), but it’s also a big year for me personally. I am due to submit the thesis for my second PhD in that September. If I do it, I’ll be submitting On Time. Who does that? Last time it took five and a half years. That’s a pretty harsh goal, and will take a lot of commitment and planning and discipline.

Obviously, I decided it would be a good idea to also run in the Great Manchester Half-Marathon that year.

These are the mad ideas that come to you if you’re somebody who 1. likes running; and 2. has just watched a bunch of people successfully run the Great Manchester 10k, which was this weekend.

It works rather like the London Marathon. You see a lot of people and think “Hey, they seem rather like me in X way (i.e. they don’t entirely resemble Eliud Kipchoge or Paula Radcliffe), I think I could do that too!” Then you sign up and try to find racing plans and new gear and your perfect set of running shoes.

Pile on procrastinating because you have an exam in Ancient Greek, so you have extra motivation for studying detailed plans on how to run a sub-2 hour half-marathon, ogling running shoes and finding out what Brigid Kosgei eats for breakfast on a run…