2025 - a retrospective
A part of me was uneasy at the prospect of crafting a review of the year just past. Not because of the experiences of the year, although they have certainly been varied. Rather, I was simply questioning the relevance of constraining my reflections on my running within such a defined, potentially artificial period.
Is it of any value to consider 12 months of running or is a year just an arbitrary period of time that resets the calendar and finally puts all the Christmas and New Year bullshit in the rear-view mirror for a while at least?
When I think about it though, running (mine at least) does follow a timebound, seasonal rhythm. This is particularly true when the running year is overlaid with a national or international race/event calendar. Unless you have the will and the means to travel to more tropical climes or the southern hemisphere, the race calendar tends to peter out come December each year until around March or April of the following year.
I know that for some, the winter heralds a break from regular running, often just an excuse to stay indoors and eat without restraint. That said, there are also some sound arguments that giving the body a well-earned break from running may yield longer-term benefits.
Others again use the winter to transition to another sport, most commonly in and around the alpine areas of Europe where many trail runners switch to skimo or similar pursuits.
What about me then?
I will take a break from events for a couple of months. Not because there aren’t any, although they are thin on the ground. I will continue to run, although I will not feel the pressure to accrue miles and elevation in the same way as I do when a calendar of events is in the nearer future. I think in recent years, I have been somewhat guilty of wishing the winter away, at least from a running perspective. The reality is that it passes all too quickly and the key is to adapt and make the most of what the winter has to offer, to effectively reset for the coming year.
It is a good opportunity to ease back a little for a number of weeks and not feel guilty about missing a run or two if the weather is particularly shitty. I will probably spend a greater amount of time at the gym on lower body strength work as well as using the treadmill for intervals etc. That said, there is some fantastic winter hill running to be done on the days that the weather is kinder.
So, to come full circle, I absolutely think there is merit in pausing to reflect on the last 12 months, not just to ensure that value, memories and lessons are not lost but to provide a context for the next 12 months. When I approach it in those terms, I actually do have quite a lot to look back upon.
4 months lost to injury
I had to deal with two injuries this year. Neither was calamitous in isolation, but I did lose a third of the year in total. That is quite a lot when put in those terms.
I have never been good with injuries. I have no time for them, far less any time for input from the medical profession. Consequently, impatience and insufficient recovery time have always been an issue. Sometimes just plain self-defeating to be truthful.
Had I taken the correct approach from the outset with my calf injury back in April, I would probably have been back running in eight weeks rather than 12. If I learn anything from this year, it is that I must take a more measured and patient approach to injury.
I think I better applied that learning with my knee injury in October but as the whole body continues to creak more with age, I can only expect niggles and minor setbacks to appear again in future. The first lesson is to try and do something to prevent a persistent niggle becoming a full-blown injury. Failing that, patience and a measured programme of recovery.
A lot of cancelled plans
The calf injury in March/April could not have come at a worse time. I had been training well and was in the process of ‘peaking’ for my trip to the USA to run the Grand Canyon R2R2R and the Zane Grey 50. The loss of that trip was a significant psychological and financial blow. However, my thoughts have evolved since and it is not a plan I will be re-visiting.
Firstly, it was going to be an expensive trip and although I lost money, I also failed to spend much more by not going. I am increasingly sick of airports and air travel so there will be no long-haul flights in my immediate future. I would rather spend the money on other things to be perfectly honest.
Secondly, I have no intention of setting foot in the USA until the country does something significant to reverse the catastrophic domestic and global impacts of its current administration. To be frank, there is something far wrong with both the political system and the electorate of a country that could even allow the possibility of a second term for Donald Trump, far less make it a reality.
Putting global politics to bed for now, there were further knock-on effects on events beyond April. I had to cancel the Full Tilt Ultra at the end of May, my fastpacking trip to Andorra in June and eventually reached the decision to defer my entry to the August Race Across Scotland to 2026.
Eventually I got back on track in July and enjoyed some great training over the summer months, all focussed on the Atlas Quest 100K race in Morocco in October. However, that race was then cancelled by the organiser due to the low number of entries.
As an aside, that saga continues as the company effectively went into administration. A ruling in November 2025 by the French equivalent of a bankruptcy court put the company under supervision for six months in order to enact a plan to compensate its creditors (me). I may yet get my money back!
In September, I enjoyed my re-scheduled trip to Andorra. Although unexpected altitude effects derailed my GRP fastpack, I did some great running, and it was a very good trip overall.
My knee injury at the very end of September caused me to cancel the Tentsmuir 8-hour Challenge but that was only a local training event, and I can always do it next year. However, I got my knee back on track in time to head to Spain for the Gran Trail Costa Blanca (GTCB) 102KM race.
If you want the full story on the GTCB, my DNF that is, check out my race report GTCB – a change of direction.
The same race report also outlines the re-think that was prompted by my GTCB experience and some of the decisions that fell out from that.
The racing year did however end on a high with a last-minute entry into the Sidlaw Ultra 2025. I was extremely pleased and encouraged by my performance in that race and the experience of it more than persuaded me that I must focus more in the future on events I know I will enjoy rather than others that appeal in a more abstract way.
From an almost blank slate a couple of weeks ago, 2026 is now transformed with a packed event calendar. I’ll post early in the new year to outline what is in store for 2026 by way of races and events.
I say it every year, but I also want to ensure that I make the most of Scotland and the times of the year when some of the best areas of the country are midge-free. I have already intimated that I have reached the stage whereby I am totally sick of airports, aircraft and the vast majority of people that inhabit them. I will aspire less in the future to go abroad to run and will be much pickier as to what I will be prepared to travel for.
Running – another year older
Yes, I know – this is a calendar year review, but my birthday is in March so close enough!
I have written elsewhere on the blog about age and the passage of time as an older runner. Nothing has transpired this year to lead me to vary any of the conclusions I previously reached.
I still believe that I can tease out small improvements and if I train sensibly and peak at the correct times, I know I can still be competitive in races and events. 24th out of around 120 starters in the Sidlaw Ultra proves there is life in the old dog yet! I very much retain my appetite for the right kind of races and events going forward.
Overall, I have spent a lot of running time this year on tentative injury recovery, but I have achieved some really solid running and I haven’t lost any pace. I have enjoyed the fastpacking outings that I managed this year and as ever, I will undertake to do more next year.
The biggest positive is that nothing that has occurred this year has dulled my enthusiasm for my running. Quite the opposite in fact. Now that I have re-focussed in recent weeks, I am energised and enthusiastic for 2026. I nearly said optimistic there – get a grip of yourself Graeme!
The wider world of running
Although I am particular about the type of running that I personally enjoy, I do have a much wider interest in running and trail running in general and I follow races, events and running news with great interest.
What are my highlights from the broader world of running this year?
I’ll pick out three that have really stood out for me. That is not to say that there haven’t been a raft of memorable and impressive performances across the months, but these jumped out for me personally.
UTMB Chamonix was memorable for many for different reasons but the standout performance for me was not Tom Evans’ win, or indeed any of the other gender or distance winners. Many also waxed lyrical about Courtney Dauwalter’s dogged persistence in finishing when it was clear she was having an uncharacteristically bad day at the office. Personally, I don’t really get that so in the words of songstress Shania Twain, that don’t impress me much.
No, the standout for me was Ludovic Pommeret’s sixth place finish, in the context that he had already won Hardrock 100 earlier in 2025 on top of winning that same race the year before too. Ludovic Pommeret is 50 years of age and highly competitive at the elite level of the sport. The man seems ageless. How many of his current peers will still be that competitive, if at all, when they are 50? Not many, I expect.
Another machine who defies age is Kilian Jornet. His ultra and trail running credentials need no comment. However, it is his other personal projects that blow my mind in terms of their ambition and the scale of the achievement involved. In 2024, his project Alpine Connections saw him scale all 82 of the 4,000 metre peaks in the Alps, in just 19 days.
In 2025, he aspired to experience a grand journey in the USA and his States of Elevation project was the outcome. Using only foot and cycle, Kilian scaled all publicly-accessible, 14,000 foot peaks in the contiguous United States, travelling between the states of Colorado, California and Washington to complete the challenge. 72 peaks, over 5,000KM, over 120,000 metres of elevation and all in 31 days and in all possible weathers. Any further comment would just be obvious and unnecessary superlatives. What next, I wonder?
The next performance that stood out for me in 2025 was that of Sarah Perry from Cumbria in the UK. Sarah has delivered some great performances in recent years but 2025 was a new level.
In October 2025, she extended the women’s Backyard Ultra world record to 95 yards (loops) at Big’s Backyard Ultra in Tennessee.
Much more recently, Sarah was the winner of The Hill. This UK event challenges runners to complete 56 ascents of said Hill within 48 hours. Totalling 160 miles, in winter conditions, Sarah was the only finisher in a time of just over 47 hours.
I clearly have no idea what Sarah’s personal aspirations are, but I am certain that more hugely impressive feats lie in her future. Could she be the second female Barkley finisher?
The website
The most significant oversight thus far has been to talk about the blog. It was at the start of 2025 that I finally set it in motion, so it has been live for nearly 12 months now.
How has it been as an experience? Is it what I wanted it to be, and would I change anything going forward?
The first and most important thing to highlight is that I started the blog as a personal outlet for me to write and report on a subject that is very important to me. That motivation has not changed in the slightest and I have found the experience of writing, preparing and presenting the content to be both fulfilling and enjoyable. I wish I had started it a couple of years sooner than I did.
Some say that blogs are dead and it is all about podcasts, social media reels and stories, social media shorts and much of the other vapid nonsense that goes with a lot of that. The trends may well point towards that being true, but I didn’t start out with the intention of expanding followers, building a wider social media empire or becoming a whore to whoever might give me money or free stuff. If you need or choose to make a living from this kind of thing, then I see why it is necessary to worry about that stuff. However, I never set out to make a penny from the site and that position hasn’t changed.
Interestingly, I have recently unsubscribed from or unfollowed a number of online platforms and YouTube channels which I previously enjoyed and followed. The increasing emphasis by many on sponsored content, insincere product endorsements, advertising and less than impartial reviews has caused me to reject a number of content creators who I once considered to be credible voices. Unfortunately, I suspect this will be an ongoing pattern on my part.
I will continue to create content in a similar way as I have these last months. There is slow but incremental growth of interest in the site and that is good enough for me. If even a couple of people have read and enjoyed anything I have produced, then that is a positive thing. Thanks to all of you who have read my posts this year and who continue to visit the site.
To answer the question then, would I change anything? Not much, no. I will no doubt speak to the site developer in the coming months to discuss any potential tweaks or fine tuning, but the style and format is almost certainly here to stay. If it is archaic or off trend, then guess what? I really don’t care. I like it and I enjoy doing it.
Thanks again to all who have taken the time to read this. If you are in a part of the world where it seems important or you otherwise just enjoy the festive season, please have a great time and join me in looking forward to 2026.
