The Monthly Milestone (December 2025) plus year review
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Greetings to My Readers
I started my Substack in August 2023. Where possible I am still going to try to upload weekly in 2025 on Wednesdays at 17:00 JST. These posts serve as update posts to keep myself accountable with my training and to also give an update to those who are following me.
Milestones will stay up but for the rest of my articles they will generally be archived after one month. After they are archived, they will be accessible to my paid subscribers. Free subscribers can read everything I post for free as it comes out.
This month…
In this Monthly Milestone I’m going to be covering the following:
Substack Stats
Monthly Training Stats (plus a look at 2025)
December Race/Event Results
Reading List (what I’m currently reading (including audiobooks))
Final Thoughts and Hopes for January (and 2026)
Substack Stats
I ended November with 742 subscribers and I am ending December with 738. A bit of drop off but still relatively stable. Thank you to those who have stuck around for so long and also my new followers.
Monthly Training Stats (plus a look at 2025)
Here are my training stats for December alongside the November stats for comparison:
December run total: 300.9 km (November: 236.5 km)
December walk total: 6.6 km (November: 16.1 km)
December run/walk total: 307.5 km (November: 252.6 km)
December elevation total: 2,070 m (November: 1,186 m)
This December I managed to get the total to just over 300 km and also get my elevation over 2,000 meters. I almost didn’t hit these targets after already passing my year goal in mid-December. Speaking of which…
2025 run total: 3,767.8 km
2025 elevation total: 23,396 m
2025 run time: 343h 1m
I was aiming to get my run total to 3,650 km in 2025. That would make my daily run total 10 km per day. After crossing that point in mid-December I started backing off a little and focusing on more specialized training (mostly focusing on trail running). By the last week of the month I noticed I was able to get to 300 km if I ran 45 km in three days, so I ran 15 km the first day, 22 km the second day and 8 km on the final day to take the total to just over 300 km.
At the end of all this, my daily run total averaged out to 10.32 km. That’s a pretty good year.
Race/Event results
I entered 4 parkruns (5 km races) during December:
December 6th: 25:13. 23rd overall (4th in age group) (Instagram pics here)
December 13th: 20:23. 14th overall (4th in age group) (Instagram pics here)
December 20th: 19:39. 7th overall (2nd in age group) (Instagram pics here)
December 27th: 20:38. 12th overall (4th in age group) (Instagram pics here)
December was a decent month for parkruns. I managed to get a sub-20 on one of the runs and the slow 25 minute run was planned due to another event I was running.
Also, in 2025 I took part in 45 parkrun events with two of those events taking part in different countries (Singapore and the UK).
In December I also ran the Shonan International Marathon for the third time. I was jet lagged, under the weather, and probably under prepared, but I still managed to complete it in under 3 and a half hours. The race report for that can be found below:
In December I also took part in as many beach runs as I could manage. The sand is getting colder and conditions are not always in our favor, but the challenging conditions make every session worth the effort.
We had a cross training session at the end of December for karate where my legs were well and truly smashed in. It made running at the end of the year a little more challenging but it was a good session. Iaidō was very much business as usual with no special events to report.
Reading list
I finished two audiobooks ongoing in December:
Titandeath by Guy Haley
This book really didn’t focus too much on Space Marine battles, but it was quite an interesting drama about the titan legions. The creation of chaos titans really stood out in that book.
The Buried Dagger by James Swallow
Final book in the Horus Heresy series before the Siege of Terra. A long time ago I was a Death Guard player, so this book was a long time coming for me. It focuses on the downfall of the Primarch Mortarion. I enjoyed learning more about the background of this legion and in the end I felt kind of sorry for Mortarion. This felt like a good ending to a series I’ve been enjoying for almost eight years now. On to the Siege!
I had one ongoing audiobook in December
The Solar War by John French
Straight into it. Siege of Terra, book 1. The traitor legions start smashing up the solar system on the way to terra. LFG!
Final Thoughts and Hopes for January (and 2026)
December was a successful month to cap off a successful year. In 2025 I got a new PB in my marathon time (Shizuoka Marathon 2025), ran my first 100 mile run (Yagurazawa Okan), completed one of the toughest 100 km ultras in Japan (Nobeyama Ultramarathon), and smashed my original distance target by running 3,767.8 km. It’s going to be tough to follow this year.
I have several races booked already for 2026. I have the Shonan Fujisawa City Marathon (half-marathon, 4th time) in January, the Shizuoka Marathon (full marathon, 2nd time) in March, the Mt Fuji 100 (Kai) (70 km trail) in April, and the Hida Takayama Ultramarathon in 2026 (100 km) in June. (I reported that I missed the entry window in November but I received an email in December saying the entry opened (again?) so I managed to get a place).
Shonan is going to be a fun run. Shizuoka is going to be another swing at a PB. The Kai is my first time to enter an international running tournament (I aim to simply complete this one). Hida Takayama is part of a multi-year project where I am trying to complete a series of 100 km runs (this is the third of a series that now has five races). Not sure what I’m going to do in the second half of 2026 but I already have a lot on my calendar in the first half of the year.
For iaidō, my first tournament is on January 12th. This will be a prefectural tournament where teams are sent from each city to compete. I am one of the representatives of my city. I’m mainly going for the experience but I’ll do my best. Hopefully I’ll have a solo tournament to enter later in the year.
For karate I’m not sure how things are going to go in 2026. I just want to keep training and keep getting better. I have no plans to enter any tournaments or do any gradings right now but this may change depending on discussion with my instructor.
As for the new year, I’m not the kind of person who really does new years resolutions. The “new year, new me” attitude implies to me that I need to become a different person. I’m more about trying to keep the momentum going and starting as I mean to go on. If I report this in the next milestone it will be out of season so I’ll do it here. On January 1st I woke up VERY early and ran a solo marathon. I heard there was a parkrun event a few cities over so I ran 38 km to the start line then completed the parkrun to get to a full marathon (plus 1 km for luck).
I ran a marathon on January 1st, 2025 and I ran another one on January 1st, 2026. This year I want to keep pushing myself and getting better at whatever I do. I’m still considering what shape this should take, because I want to focus on quality training rather than simply racking up miles to reach a certain number.
Happy Year of the Horse to all my readers. There are 26.2 miles in a marathon and this year is 2026. Time to channel some of that equine energy and get it done. Think of this as the universe telling you to run a marathon this year.
Thank you to all my readers
I hope you had a fantastic December and are ready to get after it during January and 2026.
Osu!
