Running in Circles

Spring 2023 | Crochet

A tapestry of every run I completed in 2022; the first year I got into running as a hobby and started running consistently. It started as a small experiment combining crochet and data, and grew quite organically into a fascinating storytelling piece and time capsule of a year in my life.

I ran 884 km, which took 18 hours and 22 minutes, and climbed 9,141 metres.

It was a total coincidence that I ran exactly 128 runs, perfect for a 16 x 8 grid.

Legend

Each circle represents one run

  • Colour = pace
  • Size = distance
  • Texture = elevation gain
  • Beads = the time of day (as if the circle were a clock)
    • Gold beads for AM
    • Silver beads for PM

(More information to come about the process)

Charting it out

A friend was kind enough to lend me their floor to make some charts before I stitched it all together. Aligning the data by hand really makes you appreciate digital tools!

Each square was numbered, which made sorting faster. It still took forever.

Distance

1 km increments

The longest run was my first half marathon!

Hour of day

1 hour increments

I ran early in the morning and late at night during heat waves, but mostly I just went out on my lunch break.

Pace

30 second increments (8 min / km and slower are combined)

The fastest run was a time trial to see how fast I could run 1 mile

Weekly calendar

In two columns due to floor space limitations

My training plan before the half marathon changed every 2 weeks

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