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Well it's that time again where we tick off another year. Congratulations all. I am personally pretty pleased this year is over running wise. I managed to get myself the fittest I have ever been only to pick up a long term injury and not run for the rest of the year. The fine line between a break through and a break. Short term goal is to get back running and lose some of this seasonal weight!

So apart from my injury what have we learnt from 2011…

Sammy Wanjiru RIP

The two things that really stick out for me were both quite personal. To this day I still cannot believe we lost the greatest marathon runner of our lifetime. It was only back in May that we lost 2008 Olympic marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru. A clear reminder to all that no medal can make you invincible even though his legacy will live on. I reread the blog I wrote after it and watched his famous Chicago marathon finish. Have a watch again. I still get goose bumps!

Watch more video of Sammy Wanjiru on flotrack.org

On a more positive note it was a perfect year for my good friend Mo Farah (BTW- thanks for voting for him in SPOTY the other week). What he achieved last year was quite amazing and I cannot wait to see what 2012 will have in store for him. Mo may be world 5,000m champ and 10,000 silver medalist but that means nothing when Kenenisa Bekele is fit. Bekele was not ready for the world championships but a couple of weeks later produced the fastest time of the year over 10,000m.

Kenya - Home of Champions!

One final reason why 2011 will go down in the history books as a very remarkable year indeed in marathon running: on the 2011 world list (as per early December and only counting “record legal” courses) all of the top-20 runners come from the same nation – Kenya! Not even traditional rivals Ethiopia managed to break into the top-25! In this day and age of truly globalised athletics and in an event available to everybody (no need for special arenas or expensive equipment) in every corner of the earth such complete domination by one single nation should not be practically or theoretically possible. In 2011 Kenyans won 83/ 100 big city marathons throughout the world.

World Marathon Majors dominance

Every single male World Marathon Majors event was won by a Kenyan in 2011 (Geoffrey Mutai – Boston/New York, Emmanuel Mutai – London, Patrick Makau – Berlin inc. World record, Moses Mosop – Chicago, Abel Kirui – Daegu, World Championships. Female athletes are not far behind - Florence Kiplagat -  Berlin (2:19:44), Mary Kietany- London, Caroline Kilel- Boston, Edna Kiplagat – Daegu, World Championships (Kenya females scored a 1-2-3!). How about that for dominance.


What do we have to look forward too…
The Olympics is just round the corner and I cannot wait for London to show the world the tradition and passion we have for sport in this country. I saw some pictures of the Olympic park and it is going to look stunning with all them flowers around. I was lucky enough to go to Athens in 2004 and they were no where near ready for it and it showed. Yes it is costing a bomb but it will be quite a show. I am on the other side of the world at the moment yet I keep on hearing London in every other sentence.

Well that’s the elites, what do you have to look forward to? As I said my goal is to get over this injury, lose this beer belly and hopefully run an Autumn marathon. Many of you will be running a spring marathon and I will start off with some training advice in the new year to kick start you into action. It is important to start off with the right mentality but to also be controlled and measured to avoid over training/ injuries.
I am coaching a few people for the London Marathon this year so please use me if you require any help with your training.

Thank you for reading  and commenting on my blogs over the year. Without you I am writing to myself so I hope you all had a great xmas and have a happy new year!