2018 has been another good year, both on a professional work front and a personal front. Here I am going to look back at some of the achievements and failures, starting with goals I set at the end of last year.
Review of my 2018 goals
Well these have been nothing short of a massive disappointment. I set 2 main goals. One to run 1,100 miles and the other to reduce the amount of alcohol I drink.
I have categorically failed on both counts, but more detail on the specifics later.
Running and personal fitness
My running goal for 2018 was to run at least 1,100 miles. This was set as I ran 1000 miles in 2017. I failed to achieve this in 2018 mainly because of 2 reasons:
- Injury – I have had some back problems pretty much all year, starting in about March and only just getting right as I type this post. Having a sore back has meant at the time I was very restricted in what activity I could do. Hopefully, this will be behind me know and not get in the way in 2019.
- Cycling – this year I have been cycling a lot more on the https://markwilkinson.blog/2018/05/first-proper-bike-ride-in-years/bike I purchased in the middle of last year. This should have been my goal, to be honest rather than a running distance as going both is pretty difficult.
I have really enjoyed my cycling and at the time of
My running, although thwarted by injury has still gone well. I have run 566.1 miles in 2018 with a total of 123 runs, running for a total of over 70 hours.
I was also really pleased that I managed to run at least 1 10km run in each month of the year and in fact many months had more than 2. The furthest I have ever run in one stint is just over 8 miles and I hope to beat that in 2019.
Work at Highrise Digital
It has been a mixed year with our WordPress development company – Highrise Digital. Whilst we have worked on some great projects and completed so fantastic work, we have seen profits dip a little (nothing too alarming) which is something we are looking to address in the new year.
Highrise Digital selfie, using the fancy portrait mode on the iPhone Xs 
The WPEngine team had free swag in the form on a fish eye lens for mobile phones. Here is the Highrise Team! 
Action shots from gaming on the SNES. 
Playing Sensible Soccer and Micro Machines on the SNES mini console and projector.
I also was pleased to attend some lovely retreats with colleagues. We stayed in London in January and then in the summer we have a lovely few days in the small village of Clifford Chambers near Stratford-upon-Avon. Being a remote company it is always good to get together in person now and again. I am also looking forward to our trip to Italy early in the new year.
On my travels
Nowhere exotic I am afraid but I was lucky enough to have some great holidays both abroad and in the United Kingdom in 2018.
Edinburgh Castle 
My birthday meal in Cala Bona. 
Racing James on Tractors 
Watching Ed Sheeran and Anne-Marie at the Etihad in Manchester. 
I am looking forward to more travels in 2019 with family and friends.
Goals for 2019
As I failed miserably this year to meet my goals (of which I am not a massive fan of
- Complete a single run of over 8.5 miles – this would beat my current single run record and something I feel that I could achieve.
- Complete a dry January – yes that means no alcohol in January
