In 2025, I’ve been running for 5 years, almost as long as I’ve been a parent — and yes, the two are connected. I started running a few months after our daughter was born; there was a COVID lockdown and the only outside activities we were allowed to do were going to the shop and exercising. We lived in a small flat at the time and you can only go for so much shopping.

Record 5k and 10k

A small goal I had set for myself at the start of the 2025 was to improve my 5k time. While I didn’t have the training to hit the 20 minute mark I was hoping for, I did break my previous record twice in one week, the second time while running a 10k race where I also improved my 10k personal best.

Especially the latter felt amazing, I had been eying the magical 45 minute milestone for a 10k, and I not only hit that, but cut an extra minute off it. I owe a lot to a woman who around the 5k mark started running with me. We paced each other, alternating several times throughout the course. She ended up running slower than she was hoping for, but in doing so she definitely contributed to me running at a pace that even a year ago I would’ve not thought possible.

Mila’s first run

I’m probably most happy that Mila did her first few runs this year. While we took several breaks, she ran for almost 2 kilometer, and I’m very proud of her. I hope that we can continue to encourage her to live an active life. I didn’t realise what I was missing until I was 35, and I hope our kids will learn this throughout their growth.

In the last few weeks, Mila’s done a Parkrun twice. And sure, those 5k tracks were long (and slow), but she flipping finished 5,000 metres of running. With her short legs that’s definitely more than 10,000 steps.

This sadly has likely also been the last year where I can take Mila in our Thule running pram. She’s just getting too big for it. The most fun pram runs with Mila this year were probably the two times I ran her to school (about a 9k distance). During the one I did in early December, she sang for probably the whole 50 minutes. I’ll miss doing pram runs with her. We closed off the year with a 10k race early December. Imagine your personal trainer (whom you’re pushing), shouting, for almost 50 minutes in a row: “go faster, papa”, “why aren’t you going faster?”, and “we’ll never win if you don’t run faster.” I loved it.

1,000 kilometres

2025 is also the first year wherein I ran over 1,000 kilometers. 5 years ago, my first run was a 2k and I struggled with that. The fact that I did 500 times more than that this year is simply mindblowing. I hope to do this again next year.

The only massive downside of this milestone is that the shoe budget suffers. While I could even reach a year and a half with one pair, I now need several per year. And that while — probably because of the global increased interest in running — shoes have gotten a lot more expensive.

The marathon that didn’t happen

Shortly after running my first marathon, I signed up for the Cape Town Marathon again. The main reason was that if I competed in 2025, I would have the first option in 2026, 2027, and 2028 to sign up. Cape Town Marathon was expected to become the first African Abbott Major in 2026, so my hunch was that the number of applications would increase drastically.

On 19 October, I had taped myself up, had prepped my gear, and was still having my breakfast and coffee when the message came in that the marathon was canceled. First — and I assume like everyone else — I thought it was a joke or a hack, but as it was confirmed in several channels, the disbelief soon turned into disappointment. Four months of training down the drain. Countless hours of working hard, sometimes at the cost of social life. Then also pity came through realising that thousands of people had traveled from far and spent lots of money to be here.

Within 2 hours after getting the message, I had found another marathon in the neighbourhood. In February — and if all goes well — I’ll be running the Peninsula Marathon, which starts super close to my door and arrives in Simon’s Town. It had been on my wishlist to one day do that one, and I guess the cancelled Cape Town Marathon just sped that up quite drastically. I’ve also taken up the Cape Town Marathon offer for a free 2026 entry. So, I’ll be running a second marathon in May. Other than that, I have no specific plans for next year, and that feels pretty good.

International running

Every year, I get to run in other countries as well. This year, the highlights would’ve definitely been running up the Kemmelberg, a notorious cycling icon in Belgium — I ended up conquering it twice in one run — and exploring Strasbourg in the very short time I was there for work.