2025: That was the year that was July to December

July was a very good month for me. I started the month by travelling to Bushy Park, the home of parkrun, with my dad to take part in the annual octogenarian parkrun. Just two days later, my husband and I were travelling to Padstow to celebrate our silver wedding anniversary. We spent two nights at Rick Stein’s shepherd’s huts and a couple of nights in pubs with rooms. On our actual anniversary we had lunch at a nice pub in Rock before travelling to the theatre in Truro for The Simon and Garfunkel Story.

After four days, our kids joined us for another week in Padstow at a dog friendly cottage. My parents came down for a couple of days and my son’s girlfriend joined us for the last two days.

I’ve always loved a Gromit Unleashed sculpture trail, so was very happy there was a new trail in Bristol – the first since 2018. We fitted in two Gromit hunting sessions, including one we combined with an eight mile run!

August was a busy month of running with a lot of races. We started the month with the Standish Woodland Chase – a tough 9.5 mile trail race, followed by the Bugatti 10k. We ended the month with the Pershore Plum 10k and the Meteor Mile. We had a lovely family holiday to Center Parcs with my extended family – the fifth one we’ve done together since 2018. For the first time ever, we took Hetty with us!

I had another three trips to find Gromits –  one with just my son, one with my son and daughter, and one with just my husband. I managed to find all of them for the first time ever! Zebedee the guinea pig got very ill, but remarkably recovered. My son went back to uni, as medical students do much longer years than other students. My daughter went on holiday to Croatia and Montenegro with her friends.

September was yet another busy month of running – with Cranham Boundary Chase, Angels 10k, Cheltenham half marathon and Bourton Hilly Half. I was first in my age category in all but Cheltenham half marathon, which also made me 10k and half marathon county champion in the LV50 category. I turned 52 and I took my daughter back to uni. She had been home for three months, so the house felt very empty without her. Luckily, she settled well, as she’s now living in a house with all her friends.

October was mainly about running again. We started the month with the Apperley Quarter Marathon, on the club’s off-road race series. Then I ran Sharpness 4 – a new race, which is part of the Gloucestershire AAA race series. Winning my age category at Sharpness was confirmation that I’ve won my age category for the whole series. We ended the month with Weston Super Half in the rain, followed by Stroud half marathon a week later.

I went to the Cheltenham Literature Festival five times, with the best event for me being Paul Sinton-Hewitt – the founder of parkrun. My younger son turned 22. We were lucky that he was home for his presents in the morning, although he had to catch an early train to get back to lectures. We then went to visit him on the evening and all five of us went out for a curry. I can’t remember the last time all five of us went out for a meal together!

I really dislike November. It’s just too dark. I started the month with a course PB at Guy Fawkes 5 in Tewkesbury. My daughter was home for a week for reading week and also came home for a weekend at the end of the month. My son came home for one weekend. As a fourth year medical student, he does a lot of travelling and long days, so he generally stays at uni for the weekends to get a break. My husband found out he’d got a place for the London marathon through the running club ballot! I went to the dentist for the first time in two years and needed two fillings. I haven’t had one since I was in my early 20s. I ran Kingsway parkrun and the Newent 9. I went to see the Levellers in Wolverhampton and Stewart Lee in Cheltenham. We went to our friend’s 60th birthday party, then I got up early the next morning to round the month off by running the Croome Capability Canter.

In December, Hetty got kennel cough, which wasn’t very nice for her. It was also bad timing for us, as my husband and I were going on a long weekend to Paris and she was supposed to be going to the kennels. The three kids and my parents pulled together to look after her and we managed to go away. It was a lovely break from the pressures of Christmas. I’m a person who struggles to feel ‘Christmassy’ before Christmas. I find the whole build-up stressful and dislike the way it seems to start earlier and earlier these days. But I love the days after Christmas, when the kids are at home and neither my husband or I have to work.

I ran Bath cross country and finished work for the year. My husband, younger son, daughter and I all went to London for The Palladium panto. Oh yes, we did! We spent Christmas hanging out with my parents, my brother, my sister and her family. At the end of December, my husband injured himself playing football and now his marathon looks in jeopardy, just as I was starting to train for mine.

You can read about our January to June here.