2024 has seen me undertake a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) regarding my running – to run 2024km in the 2024 calendar year. I have been asked by many people why I am doing this, and in all honesty there is no specific reason other than to:

• Set myself a goal of some sort to work towards.
• Push and challenge myself.
• It sounds really cool.

The challenge came to bear off the back of my 90 day challenge at the end of 2023 where I attempted to run 700km over the last 90 days of the year (2nd October – 31st of December). While I didn’t achieve the goal, only managing 580 odd kms, the efforts especially over December where I managed two run 250km made me think that it might be possible to really stretch myself in 2024 and see what happened.

I decided that the best way to achieve this goal, like any big goal, wass to break it down into smaller challenges / targets for me to try and achieve. I did this by setting myself the monthly challenge of running 200kms and then an slightly larger challenge of running between 400 – 500km over the course of a school term depending on the number of weeks of the term. To review the progress, I am going to break it down into reviewing these term challenges.

January:Summer Holidays.
 I made the decision that I wanted to get off to a good start over the January period before school went back. Off the back off the good work in December, I knew that keeping the momentum going was important through building consistent habits around when I would run each day, early in the morning before it got hot, and the frequency of runs, keeping to my five runs a week like I would in the school term. I didn't quite manage the five times a week due to running several longer runs (+21 kms) but still managed to complete 17 over the course the month seeing me start off with running 233.4kms for January.

Term One: February – March.
The beginning of Term One saw me undertake three different challenges, my monthly 200kms required for both February and March and the larger Term Challenge which was set at 400kms for the term. Term One was a nine week event due to where Easter was falling, I figured that working towards the 400kms would give me a little bit of wiggle room for if I pulled up sore on a day. Term One went really well, I managed to complete 231.4km in 21 runs over the month of February with me committing to a running routine of 12km for Monday and Tuesday, 5 km for Wednesdays, and finishing with 12kms for Thursday and Fridays.
March was another successful effort, completing 219.8km over 20 runs with me managing to keep the same level of consistency in run lengths and frequency. I did manage one longer run of 21.47km on the March long weekend which, unbeknown to me at this time would prove to be the last extended run that I have completed this year, I will touch on the reasons later. The combined efforts of February and March saw me achieve the Term One goal of 400km, running 513.9km throughout Term One.

Term Two: April – July

Term Two saw me start with great enthusiasm for what was to come. I was making great progress towards my goals being up towards the 800km by the beginning of April, well on target. I decided that the goals and approach from Term One had worked so this would continue into Term Two – 200km expected per month as well as a larger medium goal, this time 500km for Term Two with it being an 11 week term. All manageable, that is until injury crept in which it did.
Interestingly, everyone I told about my challenge said I would get injured from over doing it, however it isn’t the running that cause me problems but rather me going back and playing field hockey. I decided it would be great to pick up the stick and play Masters Div 1 for the local club and I felt great during the game. That night and the next day, however, I could barely walk with it taking a few days before I could put weight back on my feet. Despite this April still saw me hit my target of 200km, coming in at 202.9km but I knew that something was wrong which resulted in me going to see a podiatrist to work out what was wrong with my feet.

The podiatrist suggested me go and have some scans and tests done as my symptoms were inconclusive as to whether it was plantar faciaiitis. I took some time off both playing hockey and running due to the pain levels I was experiencing plus work commitments which resulted in me having the first month this year where I did not reach my target of 200km, instead completing 160.3km. This downward trend continued throughout June, only completing 110.6km resulting in me falling short on the Term Two challenge only managing 401.3km rather than the hoped 500km.

Term Three: July – September
I was still in good spirits about making the overall goal of 2024km in 2024 despite the setbacks of Term Two. Heading into the Term Two holidays, I knew that I was still ahead of schedule and that if I could seep consistency in running, even if reduced in load, that I would make it due to the additional kms I banked early in the year. That was, until I tore my hamstring on the first weekend of the holidays playing hockey. Luckily, it wasn’t a bad tear and it only ended being three weeks of not being able to play, but that was another 150kms that I wouldn’t complete, and then when coming back I would have to gradually build back up which would cost me even more kms and eat away that surplus I had worked on. I decided to use this time to get my right foot sorted out, got the necessary scans and got diagnosed as having a tear in my plantar fascia. While this sounds really bad, it meant the all of a sudden I could have it treated and the rehabilitation start – lots of strapping, stretches, strengthening exercises, inserts for my shoes and new hockey shoes were all required. While I am still having some difficulty with this, everything is heading in the right direction as a commit to my regular twice daily routines and exercises that have been set up. The distance covered over Term Three was minimal which has now put a lot of pressure on me in the backend of the year. July saw me only complete 3 runs in total at 16.4km and 5 runs in August totalling 30.1km.

September has seen me start to be able to build some kms back into the legs. I still only managed to complete 72.9km for the month, however there are promising signs with me now having build up from only doing 5kms a day to increasing to 8kms for the first week of the Term Three holidays before now extending up to 10kms a day in week two of the break. My aim will be back to the routine I did in Term One come next week.

As I move into the remainder of the year I still have hope in achieving my goal. I currently sit at having completed 1,288km for the year which is behind where I wanted to be. However, I still believe that it is possible to complete the 2024km challenge with the time left. Tomorrow is the 2nd of October which will be the beginning of the 90 Day Challenge_2025 in which I will aim to run over 700km in the last 90 days of the year. I will break this down into both my monthly and term challenges (200km for the months of October, November, December, and 450km for Term 4 which is November and December).

I am already looking towards the final week of the challenge and the prospect that I may need to run my furthest distance ever on the last day to achieve the goal. Who knows, if I have 42.2km to go on 30th of December it may mean me needing to complete my first marathon distance to achieve the 2024km in 2024. Wouldn’t that be a blast if that was the case.

This last week has been one containing both huge successes and a lot of promise and also quite considerable disappointment and resignation of the inevitable. The week started with me continuing our annual family holiday, this year down in Busselton. Building upon the successes experienced last week I kept up my regular running routine which include my longest run so far on the Monday, completing 25.12km in just over two hours. I was absolutely elated with this, as it bested my previous best distance by a good 3km. Even better, I didn’t pull up too sore or fatigued, giving me optimism that it would still be possible for me to achieve my goal of 700km for the duration of the 90 day challenge.

For all the positives of Monday, Tuesday quickly unravelled this. I had decided to be doing lighter run and only completing at the most 12km for the day. During the run, I felt really good so decided to keep going and complete a longer distance, thinking that it might be possible for me to complete another half marathon distance. Everything felt great until just after the 14km mark when I was running into a head wind and felt my left calf start to tighten up. This has been my troublesome leg for the past ten years, however I knew that I hadn’t pulled anything so reduced my speed and reconsidered my distance – I still had 3km to go before I would be able to be back at the accomodation and I knew the additional for the 21.1km would not be worth the risk. I managed to get back unscathed, but with an exceptionally tight calf and spent the rest of the day with soreness through the muscles and regardless of what a tired I couldn’t release the muscle.

I didn’t manage to run for the remainder of the week, the muscles didn’t release despite my stretching and massaging it throughout the rest of the week days. On Friday I felt that I had some success in releasing it via step downs once we had returned to Perth. Still, I didn’t want to risk a run due to feeling that keeping going throughout the summer is more important than missing a few days. Unfortunately, those few days will have a significant consequence in it now not being possible for me to make the desired 700km before the end of the 90 days. I imagine that I will come up less than 100km short, a distance I would have covered this week. I have also found myself just short of the 200km milestone for December. Hopefully, I will get back out on the track before too long hopefully on Sunday this week) in which case I will be able to break that 200km mark!

School holidays, even better than this – Summer School holidays in Australia, meaning I now have a good seven weeks off before heading back to work. I have made myself a goal this year to continue to commit to my weekly running schedule of every week day, hopefully I will be able to build on what I have managed to do throughout the last three months of the year. While it is a slim chance, there is still a possibility of me bringing up the 700km for the 90 Day Challenge, especially after what has proven to be one of the best running weeks that I have experience so far this year. Who knows, I might even be able to build towards hitting a 100km week next week based on the progress this week and how I feel. Regardless of what happens over the next week, one thing that I know about myself is how goals orientated I am. This 90 Day Challenge has really pushed me to commit. Knowing it will come to an end on the 29th of December has got me thinking about what comes next. I have decided to keep going with setting goals and started another challenge from today (11th December) called the “Summer Challenge”. I will write about this once the 90 Days has finished, there will be a couple of weeks overlap, but I will try and run 450km over the Summer holiday break. I big ask – let’s see how that goes.

Being school holidays, we have headed away for some relaxation the before the Christmas rush. This is a great chance to rest, relax, and recover after the busy school year. Before heading down to “Busso” on the Monday afternoon I started off the week with a 16km run which included two laps around Lake Monger. I didn’t set any records for times completed, but doing it in 1:28:49 was a solid effort to start the week.

Tuesday morning saw me start my Busselton runs. I had gotten on maps to try and work out distances and a couple of different courses. My goal will be to complete a run from where we are staying in West Busselton to Siesta Park – on the map it says that it is located 10km away – after one of my runs this week I have since found that it is a little further away than that! I completed an easy 12.62km on the Tuesday morning in a time of 1:07:07. The run is quite flat which could lead to some faster times, however, there is a killer easterly blowing which will slow my return when it is a head wind.

Wednesday morning saw me increased my distance slightly, completing 14.5km. I did a similar route with a slight twist – heading first towards Busselton and doing a loop the jetty precinct before heading back out towards Dunsborough. There a little loop path that I utilised for my turn around just before Abbey Road Beach Resort, I then headed back to Busselton Jetty before finishing any home.

Thursday, my second half marathon and I set a PB for the distance coming in at 1:55:22 which is running at 5’17” per km. I combined the distances of doing the jetty and then also ran further towards Siesta Park. I didn’t get anywhere near it, turning around once past the Abbey Road Beach Resort precinct. I think there’s going to be a decent way further to go to get to Siesta Park!

Friday morning saw me ease off the distances in a recovery sort of effort. I complete 12.46km in a slower time of 5’36” per km.

I have been really happy with the progress this week. I initially thought that I might try to run Saturday and Sunday as well, but then thought having two days to recover is probably a wise idea. Next week, I am going to try and hit the 100km for a week – I’d love to get to Siesta Park at least once. Maybe Monday will be the day!