2017

What a year!  I'm not even sure where to start.  The first year of my life where I put in a full year of not just running, but training.  My highest yearly mileage ever, by almost 100 miles.  My 2 longest runs ever (27 and 30 miles).  My 3rd, and strongest, marathon.  Some solid half marathon performances.  Many Track Tuesdays.  Many miles with friends.  I didn't achieve the goal I was working towards all year, but I still achieved so much this year.

It is easy to get sucked into disappointment over my failures this year, but I'm not letting that happen, because I can also see all my triumphs, and they are so much bigger.  Things can't go perfectly all the time, that wouldn't be real, and wouldn't help us appreciate them as much either!  I just completed a strong, almost injury-free year, and I am going into 2018 stronger than ever.  I am ready to crush some marathon training for Pittsburgh in May.  I'm going to keep working on my speed in the hopes of someday PRing in the half marathon.  Maybe it will happen in 2018 and maybe it won't, but that doesn't matter.  What matters is that I keep on believing in myself and working hard to achieve what I want in life.

I just finished the year with roughly 1585 miles, my highest ever!  I'm setting the bar even higher for 2018 with a goal of 1700 miles.  To achieve that, I'm going to try to up my weekly mileage from 30 to 35.  BUT I will always strive to do what's best for me and if it turns out that goal is too lofty and I just can't manage 35 a week, I will scale it back.  Running strong is more important than running far. (However, I feel like 35 miles per week is still pretty low for most marathoners, so I'm not expecting it to be too big of a problem...)

Here's my monthly recaps from Instagram

Year in Review

My goal for 2016 was to get 1300 miles.  Twice over the course of the year I was 30+ miles ahead of the goal.  And at least once I was about 30 miles behind it.  This year was a lot healthier for me than the past two, but it still wasn't injury free.  I think the bad ankle sprain in February was the worst that happened though.  Foot pain after my last half marathon had me cut back miles when I was over 30 ahead, but at least I managed not to ever fall behind.  I finished up the year with 1311 miles.  Would have been higher if I hadn't lost the last day of the year stuck at home waiting for a cable guy who never showed, but apparently a run was just not meant to happen that day.

2016 run stats

2016 vs 2015

380.3 more miles 

53 more hours

17,024 more feet of elevation gain

79 more runs

2016 race stats

11 races, 4 were half marathons

2016 bike stats

2016 vs 2015

1648.3 fewer miles

101 fewer hours

154,495 fewer feet of elevation gain

68 fewer rides

...clearly biking was not my first priority this year...because I was able to run all year without having to take any breaks more than a couple of weeks long!

Overall I'm pretty happy with my year.  Still haven't quite gotten back to where I was in 2013 but I am getting closer.  I definitely feel a lot stronger than I have in a long time, and am looking forward to an even better 2017!  I've upped the mileage goal for this year to 1500, and I'm off to a great start with 10.5 on January 1!

2015 in review

Earlier this week, Strava informed me that I had run 906 miles so far this year, and wanted to know what my goal was for the year.  First, I was sad to see that I hadn't made it to 1000 for the year.  Second, I was confused as to why they would wait til there were only a few days left in the year to ask me what my goal was.  Little late for that, isn't it?  Anyway, I spent a day or two thinking it was terrible that I only had 900 miles for the year.  And then this morning I looked back at my summary for 2014, and saw that I only ran 690 miles that year.  So...now 900 isn't looking so bad.  It's a far way from the 1490 I had in 2013, but I guess it's not bad for all the tendonitis and asthma issues I've been dealing with.

Although I managed to get more miles this year, I ended up with fewer races.  2014 had 9 races, 6 of which were half marathons.  2015 got me only 8 races, and only 3 of them were half marathons, none with particularly stunning times.

There's a part of me that says it's time to give up on my half marathon goals and accept that my body has decided to be old and broken.  Of course there's another part of me that says never give up.  And of course that is the part I want to listen to.  I clearly need to be smarter about training now, and much more patient.  Neither my lungs, legs, nor feet will be ready for a half marathon tomorrow or next week.  If I want to get back to half marathon shape without getting injured in either the training or the race, I am going to have to be careful.  I only hope that I can rise to this challenge.

2015 running

2015 biking

(2014 bike : 2291 miles / 158,000 ft elevation)

I have no idea what 2016 has in store for me.  After two years of tendonitis woes I am wary of making any lofty running goals.  Maybe 2016 will be my glorious comeback, and maybe it won't.  Only time will tell.  I am looking forward to finding out what I will achieve in the coming year!

2014 in review : The year of the money-hemorrhaging foot

I finished out 2014 with 2 runs (unintentionally).  I've been in a bit of a running-rut for the last week or two.  I've been running 4-5 days a week, but my heart hasn't been in it.  I've been going out the door and putting one foot in front of the other for about 4.5 miles and then returning home and maybe remembering to stretch.  Today, I was in the mood to run.  I was going to actually run, instead of jog like I have been.  I headed out the door and started up my usual starting hill.  And then I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to use my inhaler.  But I felt strong.  I wondered if I could complete my whole run without the inhaler.  Thankfully, I decided against that.  As I looped back home, breathing got harder and harder.  It was pretty rough by the time I reached my door.  I dashed the stairs, used the inhaler, and headed back out to try again.  Take 2 went better.  My lungs didn't fully recover from Take 1, so I wasn't able to run quite as fast as I had envisioned, but I was happy to be running, and that was all that mattered.

2014 in Review

2014 in running didn't quite turn out the way I had planned a year ago. But looking back, it has still been a great year.  Maybe I didn't run a record number of races, or a race every month.  Maybe I didn't officially achieve a half marathon PR.  I didn't even get close to running 1000 miles this year, making it the first year since 2008 or 2009 that I didn't run over 1000 miles.  Maybe I took 10.5 solid weeks off from running, plus a lot of other time off before I had to get serious and quit for real.

But I did run about 690 miles.  And I did run 6 successful half marathons, 3 with foot pain, and 3 after my long time off.  And I did bike 2291 miles, that included over 158,000 ft of elevation gain.  And I did have an amazing year in so many ways that had nothing to do with running.  2014 was possibly the happiest year of my adult life.

2014 wasn't perfect, what year ever is?  But after a few rough years, I learned so much about myself, and about how to deal with life's punches, and it has made such a difference in my life.  I no longer let myself get completely stressed out or depressed over things that go wrong (most of the time).  Some things just aren't worth that kind of energy.  Being able to tell the difference is such a powerful tool.

2014 was also a great year for my photography.  I registered GMcD Photography as an LLC, and while it is not much of a money-maker for me, it does bring in money occasionally, and has given me some amazing opportunities.  I can't wait to see where photography takes me in 2015.

I don't know where 2015 will take me in running.  I don't think I am going to schedule any races during this winter.  I might just take some time to run for fun without any thoughts towards race/distance training.  I expect to run local races in March and April, and of course I plan on running the Blue Ridge Half Marathon in late April.  I haven't made any plans beyond that, and for once, I am ok with that.

Happy New Year!

2013 : Year in Review

What. A. Year.

2012 was a great year of running for me, but 2013 was even better! So many incredible miles run and races completed.  I finally broke out of my 1:30 half marathon plateau, and am hopeful for a PR in 2014.

Yearly Mileage

2010 : 1088 miles

2011 : 1447 miles

2012 : 1363 miles

2013 : 1490 miles

My highest mileage month in 2013 was March, with 172 miles.  My lowest mileage month was November, with 90 miles.  June had exactly 100 miles, and only the last 2 months of the year were less than that.  

2013 was my highest mileage year, and held the greatest number of races I've ever done in one year : 16. 7 of those races involved PRs of some sort.  And instead of running 4 half marathons like I did in the past two years, this year I ran 7, three of which were under 1:30.  

2013 PR List

 5k : 2 PRs

4 mile : PR

10k : PR

13.1 : 2 course PRs

15 mile : PR

I didn't PR in a marathon, but I did finally get around to running my 2nd marathon.  

I believe I would have PRd easily if I had actually been in shape for the distance...

I am looking forward to 2014 and another year of racing.  I'm hoping for at least one race every month this year.  Last year, I didn't race in January, September, or December. This year I already have a race scheduled for January, and believe I have a race to do in February as well.  March and April are also taken care of, so I should be off to a good start!