2023 in numbers

2023 was the year I ran a marathon in under 3h45m and climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa! Let's break it down a bit more:

• 2 holidays away - Norfolk with friends in April, and Tuscany by myself in September (my first trip abroad in over 4 years!)


• 1 new arrival in the family - my cousin's baby daughter, Isobel


• 1,023km run - including 1 marathon (setting a new PB of 03h42m47s), 4 half marathons (sort-of, including the Round Sheffield Run), and 44 parkruns in a staggering 20 different locations. I also donned hi-vis vests in 3 different colours, volunteering a total of 33 times across 4 different events.


• 1,064 days - breaking into quadruple figures with my Duolingo streak (also a 440-day winning Wordle streak, not missing a single day with either this year).


• 35 films at the cinema - the 35th of which was my favourite, Miyazaki's The Boy and The Heron, but many others were very good too.


• 12 books read - rather paltry really; I have no excuse. I've loved Chris Wooding's 4-book Tales of the Ketty Jay, and also been through Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir), Amongst Our Weapons (Ben Aaronovitch), The Apollo Murders (Chris Hadfield), The Collectors (Philip Pullman), The Descent of Man (Charles Darwin), Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Gabrielle Zevin), Wild (Amy Jeffs) and Stone Blind (Natalie Haynes).


• 3 music gigs - 4, if you count listening to Arctic Monkeys from the park, just outside the fences. ;o)


• 3 days of snow - which, frankly, is not even close to enough.


• 2 swims in the sea - which isn't remotely enough either!

Plans need to be made for 2024 (I have the odd one or two in mind...). I hope all yours come to fruition - a healthy and happy New Year, everyone! :o)