I thought I'd finish the year off with a blog on how this year has gone with my athletics head on and to look forward a bit to 2015.
From my own perspective, its not been a great year for my own athletics performance as injury seems to have caused me a few spots of bother that have hindered progress. My aim for 2014 was to bring my long distance times down & I'd set myself targets of sub 28 mins for Parkrun, sub 60 mins for 10km & sub 2:20 for the Great North Run. Sadly, none of the targets have been achieved and the closest I've got was to equal my Parkrun pb of 29:48 and that was back in March. The targets remain and so will the focus to tick them off in 2015 instead - the aim is to be a bit leaner and meaner as well as fitter next year.
Then it comes to the rest of the family.
Philippa's performance has come on leaps and bounds this year and her move to Houghton Harriers has been a great success. She's had a really great year and has had lots of successes & won quite a few medals and trophies. From being unbeaten with the howler all year, being North East Indoor long jump champion, 4 inventuring into shot putt & high jump, moving up to the javelin and getting faster & faster at sprinting - both on the flat and over hurdles too. Plus she's also done well at Cross Country, being part of the team that got all the way to the English Schools Cross Country Cup Final in Newquay from Park View School. I didn't think we'd ever end up in a National final for Cross Country or ever having to travel as far, but we both had a great 2 days away in very unseasonal weather.
Lexie is following in Philippa's footsteps and she's had a good year too as she keeps on getting better, despite her usual "can't be arsed" approach to things. She worked really hard to get a medal at Quadkids all summer and came 4th so many times it was untrue - we all felt heartfelt sorry for her as she was so keen. So, we were delighted for her to get through to the sprint final at Monkton and for her to come 3rd for her first medal - she was over the moon & so were we.
This year also saw the return to competition for Dominic, which again was great to see. His confidence was knocked by a well known athletics club that I may have moaned about before, so seeing him compete again was fantastic. His return in the discus was superb & he came 3rd at the Tartan Games at Gateshead & he too was delighted to win a medal.
Lastly, there's the Mrs and even she's started to "trot" to help her fitness, despite all the advice that she has to be careful with her bionic ankle.
So, we're all now a family who enjoy athletics, albeit at very different levels !
What will 2015 bring ??? Who knows, but I'm looking forward to another year of great athletics. Philippa is already booked in for a host of indoor events both in the area and regional competitions, plus we've got Cross Country to contend with too. Then there's the summer track season where she should have another great season of multi eventing and she's got a lot to aim for in her senior year at U13 level.
Lexie has some indoor competitions coming up and another season of Quadkids at both Gateshead and Whitley Bay. It'll be great to see her get better and hopefully get more medals. As for Dominic, he's contemplating competing indoors and hopefully he'll make a welcome return to the track - it would be super to see and hopefully he works hard and makes it happen.
The Mrs is aiming to up her distance and get to Parkrun distance in the Spring and who knows after that. For me, next year will be my 9th Great North Run and I want to get a few more 10k' s in to help the times improve and keep the fitness up. I might even by competing a bit too in the Seniors/Masters, although I'm not expecting much !
Finally, there's the girls Houghton team mates as there's lots to look forward to at the Youth Development League & Grand Prix events. At middle distance, we've got Nicole joining Anna, Courtney, Lydia and Natasha with some great races coming up, Ellie getting higher in the high jump, Caitlin hoying the javelin, with Will & Matthew doing it for the boys.
With the young 'uns of Keeley, Jack and Jordy competing indoors and at Quadkids, it'll be great to see them develop and improve.
Its got the prospects to be a great year and I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year and charting everyone's progress........
From my own perspective, its not been a great year for my own athletics performance as injury seems to have caused me a few spots of bother that have hindered progress. My aim for 2014 was to bring my long distance times down & I'd set myself targets of sub 28 mins for Parkrun, sub 60 mins for 10km & sub 2:20 for the Great North Run. Sadly, none of the targets have been achieved and the closest I've got was to equal my Parkrun pb of 29:48 and that was back in March. The targets remain and so will the focus to tick them off in 2015 instead - the aim is to be a bit leaner and meaner as well as fitter next year.
Then it comes to the rest of the family.
Philippa's performance has come on leaps and bounds this year and her move to Houghton Harriers has been a great success. She's had a really great year and has had lots of successes & won quite a few medals and trophies. From being unbeaten with the howler all year, being North East Indoor long jump champion, 4 inventuring into shot putt & high jump, moving up to the javelin and getting faster & faster at sprinting - both on the flat and over hurdles too. Plus she's also done well at Cross Country, being part of the team that got all the way to the English Schools Cross Country Cup Final in Newquay from Park View School. I didn't think we'd ever end up in a National final for Cross Country or ever having to travel as far, but we both had a great 2 days away in very unseasonal weather.
Lexie is following in Philippa's footsteps and she's had a good year too as she keeps on getting better, despite her usual "can't be arsed" approach to things. She worked really hard to get a medal at Quadkids all summer and came 4th so many times it was untrue - we all felt heartfelt sorry for her as she was so keen. So, we were delighted for her to get through to the sprint final at Monkton and for her to come 3rd for her first medal - she was over the moon & so were we.
This year also saw the return to competition for Dominic, which again was great to see. His confidence was knocked by a well known athletics club that I may have moaned about before, so seeing him compete again was fantastic. His return in the discus was superb & he came 3rd at the Tartan Games at Gateshead & he too was delighted to win a medal.
Lastly, there's the Mrs and even she's started to "trot" to help her fitness, despite all the advice that she has to be careful with her bionic ankle.
So, we're all now a family who enjoy athletics, albeit at very different levels !
What will 2015 bring ??? Who knows, but I'm looking forward to another year of great athletics. Philippa is already booked in for a host of indoor events both in the area and regional competitions, plus we've got Cross Country to contend with too. Then there's the summer track season where she should have another great season of multi eventing and she's got a lot to aim for in her senior year at U13 level.
Lexie has some indoor competitions coming up and another season of Quadkids at both Gateshead and Whitley Bay. It'll be great to see her get better and hopefully get more medals. As for Dominic, he's contemplating competing indoors and hopefully he'll make a welcome return to the track - it would be super to see and hopefully he works hard and makes it happen.
The Mrs is aiming to up her distance and get to Parkrun distance in the Spring and who knows after that. For me, next year will be my 9th Great North Run and I want to get a few more 10k' s in to help the times improve and keep the fitness up. I might even by competing a bit too in the Seniors/Masters, although I'm not expecting much !
Finally, there's the girls Houghton team mates as there's lots to look forward to at the Youth Development League & Grand Prix events. At middle distance, we've got Nicole joining Anna, Courtney, Lydia and Natasha with some great races coming up, Ellie getting higher in the high jump, Caitlin hoying the javelin, with Will & Matthew doing it for the boys.
With the young 'uns of Keeley, Jack and Jordy competing indoors and at Quadkids, it'll be great to see them develop and improve.
Its got the prospects to be a great year and I'm already looking forward to doing this again next year and charting everyone's progress........
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