I don't know what to do
Why not join me in kicking off 2025 with some directionless floundering?
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Slight problem: I’m entering 2025 all aimless because I’d smashed my main goal by 9.40am — I ran my 100th parkrun! On paper, New Year’s Day is a GREAT day to hit a big running milestone. In reality, the weather was terrible and the cafe was shut, making for sub-optimal parkrun conditions. But! I came, I ran, I wore the official Catford parkrun cape of milestone dreams and I borrowed some silly glasses for a photo opp. And within an hour of finishing I’d ordered my official — some might say iconic — black milestone t-shirt.
So… now what? This time last year I was a slave to my London Marathon training schedule. Four months of grind, no bump required, were all that loomed ahead, and I was planning my work days, social life and family times around running for hours, as well as spending a lot of time studying the Thames Path on Google Streetview to work out how murdery it might feel at 6am on a Sunday.
Now, though, that’s all a distant memory. I have the London Landmarks Half in April, but otherwise there is nothing in particular I’m working towards, fitness-wise.
Writing-wise, I’ve just achieved a big goal too — just after Christmas I hit 2000 Substack subscribers! Thank you, new faces, and I hope this post doesn’t lead to 60-odd instant unsubscribes or I’ll be instantly deflated.
Work-wise in general, though, there was also an awful lot of shit I wanted to do and didn’t get round to last year, due to the unbearable pressure of instead doing work that leads to guaranteed financial reward (ugh, how common), so maybe my goal should be to *wafts vaguely* maybe actually do some of that other stuff too?
Not yet though, don’t be ridiculous. The real new year doesn’t start until Monday, when the tree is down and the kids are back at school and the last of the Christmas delicacies have been digested even though you don’t even like how they taste anymore.
In the meantime, I don’t have any official resolutions or goals and I certainly don’t have a cute little “word of the year” like everyone else seems to (“FLOUNDERING” is the only one that currently springs to mind tbh), but I do have a series of questions that I’m currently mulling over that could form some sort of cohesive 2025 plan. Here are some of the more trivial ones…
Shall I start taking creatine? Or collagen? Or both? Should I try to eat less sugar? What plant would look nice in that empty pot in the kitchen? When can I fit in a trip to Stafford to conquer the Isabel Trail parkrun? Will I ever get my bike serviced or just continue to moan about it being a bit squeaky? Is it OK to just ignore my wisdom tooth for a bit longer? What book shall I listen to next? Shall I start going to boxing classes again? Shall I bother going to see the Robbie Williams film at the cinema or wait until I can watch it at home? Should we sell the car? Shall I do Veganuary? Shall I do Dry January? Shall I do Hyrox?
Current most likely answers: maybe, probably, possibly, definitely, dunno the names of plants, how about March Nicky?, keep moaning, probably not but I’m gonna, How To End A Love Story by Yulin Kuang, yes, wait, probably, probably not, almost certainly, no I can’t really be arsed.
So instead of really looking forward, instead I’ll do a tiny bit more looking back, in the form of My Top 5 Most Popular Posts From Last Year — yes, this is the Substack equivalent of one of those terrible all filler, no killer, “Top 79 Most Shocking Celebrity Moments of the 21st Century So Far” Channel 5 talking head shows in which that Botox-happy woman I worked with briefly 15 years ago and that obnoxious man I had lunch with about some possible freelance work in 2012 deliver blistering clichés insight about Kylie Jenner against the backdrop of an empty cocktail bar.
My FIFTH MOST POPULAR SUBSTACK POST OF 2024 was my mile-by-mile London Marathon recap (which I’d definitely recommend reading if you’re signed up for a big race this year and want to experience both pulsating excitement and dread).
My FOURTH MOST POPULAR SUBSTACK POST OF 2024 was about Gymshark’s intimidating and inconsistent marketing techniques.
My THIRD MOST POPULAR SUBSTACK POST OF 2024 was about the joy of parkrun.
My SECOND MOST POPULAR SUBSTACK POST OF 2024 (but actually the one that brought me the most new subscribers) was me pondering whether growing up with a socially unacceptable body actually makes it easier to get older because IDGAF.
And, my NUMBER ONE MOST POPULAR SUBSTACK POST OF 2024 was the one in which I slag off you, and you, and you, and you, and most definitely you. And also me.
Thank you for reading! Happy new year! And I look forward to floundering together in 2025.
100 Parkruns 🥳🥳🥳
Congrats on 100 🎉🎉🎉🎉 (should have saved you an actual one for today) xx