Not yet having managed to establish some solid roots, we celebrated New Year’s Eve on Sandy Cove. To be fair, Tom Nook did a great job with the fireworks.
Although my annual year in review is a pale shadow of Michael Clarke’s annual missive, I like to think it has a special place in the hearts of you, my three loyal blog readers. Thus I present the 2025 edition.
I did three things in January: research for my doctoral thesis, go on long runs ahead of a big race in March, and publish a daily video on Chris Is Proud Of You. Looking back, it does not feel like much, but definitely felt like plenty to be getting on with.
February was also a bit of a blur as Elina had surgery at the end of January, and looking after her and Venla took most of my time. But I did squeeze in a few Zwift races and attend the Neurodiversity Intervarsity Conference. The Eagles won Supr Bowl LIX and Paul Sinton-Hewitt made a guest appearance at Marlay parkrun. I achieved E-RYT status.
We celebrated Elina’s birthday in March. I set a new personal best for longest training run, covering 53 km. This was my big prep run for the DUHAC 24-hour later that month, in which I took my second victory, clocking up 110 km. I’m thankful to have had a killer team. I also managed a sub-22 at the Tallaght 5k, which is my fastest for a long time. Holbeck College launched our Cognitive Behavioural Coaching course.
Apparently, April was all about running as well. I completed a full year of my movement streak and did some parkrun tourism at Porch Field and Navan. I celebrated my 400th parkrun at Cabo and Venla celebrated her 50th junior at Marlay. Having done no triathlons at all in 2024, I finally returned to the sport at TriLaois.
We took some trips in May including Belfast and Limerick. This allowed me to tourist at Stormont and Newcastle West. DUHAC did our next club race at the Phoenix Park Duathlon, including Paddy winning his age group, while Blackrock raced Sandyford 5k. I was lucky enough to attend the Neurodiversity Summit at Trinity. Holbeck College achieved YACEP status and Leeds were promoted back to the Premier League.
It was mostly parkrun tourism in June with trips to Pontefract, Carlanstown, Laytown Beach, SETU Arena and Mullingar. We hit the beach in Waterford and did the annual Teddy’s ice cream run. Hyde Park Harriers ran the fifth annual Around The Park, Around The Clock. But probably the highlight was DUHAC winning first place in the relay category of Skerries Triathlon. I have a trophy and everything!
The Price of Darkness played his final gig in July before leaving us shortly after. I continued my return to triathlon, completing both Kilkenny and Two Provinces, the latter in a heatwave. I did some parkrun tourism at Mountlucas and Dundalk before finishing the month taking on Dublin Mountain Trail Festival. We visited Dublin Zoo and England overcame the odds to win Euro 2025.
So many major events happened in August. First, we spent an amazing week doing the northern coast of Ireland to celebrate finishing my doctorate. Too many highlights to mention but Inishowen was probably the most magical. We also took in the Giant’s Causeway, Derry, Letterkenny, and parkrun tourism in Portrush and Sligo. When we got back, I had my doctoral viva, and also had surgery for skin cancer. Plus somehoe we also managed to fit trips to Pont y Bala, Yorkshire Museum, Little Sugar Loaf and Sheffield to celebrate with Nicola & Sam at their wedding. I just recovered from my surgery in time to compete at Lough Key Triathlon and Tullamore parkrun.
After all of that, I just wanted to collapse in September. But there was racing to be done. I completed Lough Ree Monster Triathlon and Westport Triathlon that featured a sea swim and yet somehow I managed second overall in the super sprint category. I got some more parkrun tourism in at Christie and Tullow, and completed the Causeway Coast Half Marathon. I was delighted to achieve chartered status with the British Psychological Society.
It was an equally huge month in October as we celebrated my doctoral graduation. I celebrated my birthday by running Dublin Marathon. We did a lot of hiking including Tibradden Cairn, Djouce, Bray Head Hill, Bohernabreena Reservoir and Three Rock. We also did a trip to Killarney, completing all of the counties in Ireland and Killarney House parkrun. Elina and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. Ed Byrne spoke at Humanists and Leeds Anxiety Clinic launched its new website.
There was another big transition in November as we packed our bags and headed back to Leeds. But not before I completed my final Blackrock run, Broadmeadow Linear parkun and Run The Line. We made it home in time to do York parkrun and the Abbey Dash before month end.
We spent December mostly buried in paperwork and admin. But I did manage to squeeze in some parkrun tourism at Heslington and the Hyde Park Harriers Christmas party. I also visited Eurka! for the first time in over 30 years so Venla could visit the national children’s museum.
Them: “Have you been to Eureka before?”
Me: “Yes. But not in the past 30 years so maybe you should give us a refresher.”
This year’s Hyde Park Harriers Christmas party took place at the Water Lane Boathouse. Great pizza. Thanks Paul for organising it, and Toby for doing the quiz.
For years, I’ve watched people get lucky with autumn and winter graduations. Cold but clear days make for excellent conditions when you’re wrapped up in robes. Alas, for us doctoral candidates, the long wait ended in a day a rain. A full day. It never stopped raining the whole day.
That could only slightly dampen, and not extinguish, our spirits, though. Professor Neville Cox gave a fantastic speech, touching on the hardships so many of us had overcome to be here, the responsibility we now had to make a positive contribution, and the importance of standing up to to the anti-knowledge sentiment that society is currently wrestling with.
Then came the formal bit. It is all done in Latin. There was a lot of smiling and nodding. My parchment is also in Latin.
This was followed by a reception in the Great Hall.
I’ve been in psychology for 12 years now, and it is a long journey from initial qualification to chartership. It doesn’t really finish here: I’ve already had an email from the BPS telling me about the fellowship track. But this is a wonderful milestone to reach. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey, especially Elina, Venla and my parents. Like Formula One, it’s a team effort where one person takes all of the glory.
Good views guaranteed.
Lovely little museum. Security was so lax that they let an Englishman inside.
Bohernabreena Reservoir offers an 8.5 km loop, which includes an initial out-and-back section. It has some nice views and is relatively accessible. There isn’t much in the way of hills so not very strenuous.
We wanted to hide Tonelagee. But when we drove into the hills, it looked like this:
So we diverted to Bray instead. Even Bray Head was in the clouds when we arrived, but after a snack break the mist cleared and we were able to get good views. We walked was far as Bray Head Hill which is the highest point between Bray and Greystones.
The moisture had left all of the spiders webs visible.
Djouce is a mountain in County Wicklow. Ireland sometimes has a generous definition of mountain, but at 725 metres high, it is starting to feeling like a proper hill. It is a 7-8k round trip that takes around two hours to complete, a lot of which is on boarded paths.
It forms part of the Wicklow Way which was created by J. B. Malone. Malone was a Leeds lad, so we’re claiming the Wicklow Way and hill-walking as a Leeds invention now.
