“And they call him, Sandy… Clawssss…!”

Jack Skellington, The Nightmare Before Christmas

Well, where do I start.

With Christmas I suppose. Merry Christmas! Or Merry whatever it is you do or don’t celebrate at this time of year.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be the most ‘wonderful’ time of the year without the Notbuilttorun Christmas Special, delivered as always without fail on December 24th. Apart from that time I posted it in April. But we don’t talk about that.

So before we dive into watching the greatest Christmas film of all time (it’s Die Hard by the way, don’t @ me), let’s take a look back at 2025.

I was trying to think of a word to sum up my running year. If I was one of those influencer wankers, it would probably be something like ‘Epic’ or ‘Humbling.’ But I’m not. So the word is ‘Busy.’

I’ve literally put the miles in this year. As we stand, I’m going to finish up just shy of 2,000. I’m knackered.

It all started innocently enough back in January with the North Tyneside Trail Run – a 12km slog through the mud, snow, and ice of my local Dene.

I only did it as a last hurrah before knuckling down to Marathon training a week later. It was hard work, reminded me of why I don’t do cross country, and I vowed never to do it again. Anyway, I’m signed up to do it again.

As just mentioned, my main focus of the year was running the Belfast Marathon in May. 16 weeks of training started in January and, bizarrely, I really enjoyed it.

The Marathon itself could not have gone better. Perfect running conditions, I felt fantastic on the day, finishing just under my target time in 4:06.

It was definitely the high point of my year. Hell, it’s probably the high point of my running ever. I was buzzing. I’m still buzzing. I’m a Marathoner now, and I TELL EVERYONE.

After the epic feat of completing that Marathon, it would have been easy to stick the feet up for the last 6 months of the year, stuffing my face with carbs and getting podgy.

Instead, within weeks I attacked three 10k races – Cookson 10k , The Blaydon Race and the Tynedale Pie and Peas 10k. On all three occasions I smashed my 10k PB, taking advantage of the superpowers acquired from 16 weeks of hard slog between January and May.

I felt good all summer if I’m honest. To the point that I thought I had a great chance to also PB my Half Marathon time. In July, at the Newcastle Half Marathon, I went for it, hitting an amazing (for me) 1:44:50.

I follow this up in August with the Blyth 10k, where I’m robbed of another 10k PB – the new course being measured short by 0.02 of a KM. The swines.

Then in September it’s an old favourite and an ever present on the running calendar – The Great North Run. The M25 of organised races, I knew there was no way I would find the space to match my sub 1:45 from a couple of months before. However, I still manage to break my course PB, finishing in 1:46:20.

Another race I do every single year is the North Tyneside 10k. Usually held on Easter Sunday, due to work going on down the sea front, it’s postponed till the end of September. And, yes, you’ve guessed it, my 10k PB falls again. This time it’s a 45:26.

Having then said I never do anything that even vaguely resembles cross country, in October I somehow sign up and run the Coxhoe Trail Run. Thankfully, it’s rain, mud and cold free, but hard bastard work. I still do a credible 46:38 on quite a hilly course.

Then, finally, in November, it’s my favourite race of the year, the Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race. A glorified club piss up with a pesky 10 mile race beforehand, I feel fantastic on the day and put in probably my best performance of the year. I knock nearly 4 minutes off my 10 mile PB, with a 1:15:56.

Phew. What a year. Not even mentioning the running I managed to squeeze in during trips to London, Edinburgh, and France.

There we go. The Christmas Special is done. You can crack out Die Hard 2 now (actually more of a festive film than the first one), tuck into a cheeky Toblerone, and breathe.

See you in 2026.