Get In There!
Wowww! I never thought I'd get to this point at the beginning of the year - 2,020 km is a VERY long distance but on Boxing Day (26th December 2020), I did an 8.3 mile / 13.2 km hike with a good friend, Laura, who captured the moment this happened:
This challenge has pretty much haunted me throughout 2020 even with the Coronavirus situation but we won't talk about that, positive stuff only here! So with 5 days to spare, I made it to 2,020 km through a combination of running and hiking and these were not activities from just walking around the house and in the office (at the beginning of the year anyway) but actually separately tracked! Yes, officially a nutter!
Although this started the year as a silly personal challenge, it quickly became something bigger, culminating in setting up a Just Giving page to raise money for Alzheimer's Society. At time of writing, the amount raised is over £350 which is an incredible amount so thank you to everyone who spared a few pennies for the cause.
I know it's been a right stinker of a year but hopefully this is a good news story that can shine some positive light all round - even Strava gave me a thumbs up on the route! I zoomed out on the map it tracked on my final hike and the bit on the right looks a little like a thumbs up!
Now I'm just going to put my feet up, gorge on leftover Christmas food and take it easy for a few days! I certainly won't be doing anything as massive as this challenge in 2021... but ask me on 1st January and we'll see where we're at haha!
I'll leave you with the stats from the whole year so you can see the breakdown of activities with a bit of information about what it shows along with some of my favourite pictures I took along the way - what a year!
Catch you soon and let's hope for a much better 2021!
Nicky
2,020 km Challenge
- Total distance: 2,020 km / 1,255 miles in 2020
- Hiking: “cross-country” or “cross-terrain” walking
- Running: putting one leg in front of the other quickly
- Daily required distance: 5.52 km / 3.45 miles per day
Distance Covered Each Month
This table compares the distance I covered each month with where I should have been, with the difference between them in the end column. A minus means I was behind, a plus means I was ahead:
| Month | Accumulative Distance Completed, km (%) | Should Be At, km (%) | Difference km |
| January | 145.00 km (7.2%) | 171.09 km (8.5%) | -26.08 km |
| February | 312.46 km (15.5%) | 331.14 km (16.4%) | -18.68 km |
| March | 495.32 km (24.5%) | 502.23 km (24.9%) | -6.90 km |
| April | 672.26 km (33.3%) | 667.80 km (33.1%) | +4.46 km |
| May | 877.14 km (43.4%) | 838.89 km (41.5%) | +38.25 km |
| June | 1,054.37 km (52.2%) | 1,004.46 km (49.7%) | +49.91 km |
| July | 1,226.64 km (60.7%) | 1,175.55 km (58.2%) | +51.09 km |
| August | 1,433.41 km (71.0%) | 1,346.64 km (66.7%) | +86.77 km |
| September | 1,627.87 km (80.6%) | 1,512.21 km (74.9%) | +115.67 km |
| October | 1,795.58 km (88.9%) | 1,683.30 km (83.3%) | +112.29 km |
| November | 1,928.67 km (95.5%) | 1,848.87 km (91.5%) | +79.81 km |
| December | 2,020 km (100%) | 2,020 km (100%) | Complete! |
Daily Required vs Daily Actual Average Distances
The graph below compares the daily required average distance (the red line) and the daily actual average distance I covered (blue line). The daily aim was to always to do more than the distance dictated by the red line.
Hike vs Run Activity Count
The table below shows the number of runs and hikes each month, along with their proportions (percentages) of the total number of activities. This shows how I split the 2,020 km challenge up between running and hiking throughout the year.
| Month | Runs (%) | Hikes (%) | Active Days | Total Days |
| January | 16 (73%) | 6 (27%) | 22 | 31 |
| February | 14 (70%) | 6 (30%) | 20 | 29 |
| March | 15 (68%) | 7 (32%) | 22 | 31 |
| April | 10 (45%) | 12 (55%) | 22 | 30 |
| May | 10 (39%) | 16 (61%) | 26 | 31 |
| June | 10 (48%) | 11 (52%) | 21 | 30 |
| July | 9 (39%) | 14 (61%) | 23 | 31 |
| August | 3 (12%) | 22 (88%) | 25 | 31 |
| September | 3 (12%) | 22 (88%) | 25 | 30 |
| October | 13 (52%) | 12 (48%) | 25 | 31 |
| November | 13 (57%) | 10 (43%) | 23 | 30 |
| December | 6 (46%) | 7 (54%) | 13 | 31 |
| Total | 122 (46%) | 145 (54%) | 267 | 366 |
Distance Contributed Per Activity
The table below shows the distance contributed from running and hiking each month along with the proportions (percentages) throughout the year.
| Month | Distance by Running (%) | Distance by Hiking (%) | Total Distance |
| January | 90.99 km (63%) | 54.02 km (37%) | 145.01 km |
| February | 89.82 km (54%) | 77.63 km (46%) | 167.46 km |
| March | 99.41 km (54%) | 83.46 km (46%) | 182.86 km |
| April | 71.7 km (41%) | 105.23 km (59%) | 176.93 km |
| May | 74.45 km (36%) | 130.43 km (64%) | 204.88 km |
| June | 63.9 km (36%) | 113.33 km (64%) | 177.23 km |
| July | 64.16 km (37%) | 108.11 km (63%) | 172.27 km |
| August | 23.34 km (11%) | 183.42 km (89%) | 206.77 km |
| September | 19.15 km (10%) | 175.31 km (90%) | 194.46 km |
| October | 79.36 km (47%) | 88.35.19 km (53%) | 167.71 km |
| November | 59.26 km (45%) | 73.82 km (55%) | 133.09 km |
| December | 22.91 km (24%) | 73.36 km (76%) | 96.97 km |
| Total | 758.46 km (37%) | 1,266.88 km (63%) | 2,025.34 km |
Snaps
Here are some of my favourite snaps from the year:
This blog has been copied over from the original blog posted on my website