2015: Peaks and Valleys

2015 is coming to a close and I guess I am obligated excited to review what my year has looked like as far as running is concerned. This past year went completely opposite to how I thought it was going to go, and ended up with some big goals accomplished just at a time when I wasn’t expecting it.

So when the year opened I was focused on having a strong spring season, since I had missed the fall due to my stress fracture suffered in Chicago ’14 training. Of course, since I am a human disaster, I ended up pushing too far waaaay too fast and once again was out of commission thanks to anemia and exhaustion.

After focusing on my nutrition and a proper training program with hard/easy days built in, I was able to bounce back in the last summer with a winning race and discover that trail running is the shit and I love it.

Sadly, once again I suffered a minor set-back, and had to rush through my Chicago training in order to get fit for the big race. This meant I had absolutely zero expectations and was able to enjoy the race and experience for what it is… which resulted in a new and unexpected PR and Boston 2017 qualification. Favorite race ever? You better fucking believe it.

2015 ended the same way it began, with pain and injury. Being forced to take some time off from running has been hard (you think I would be used to it by now), but I have learned that I have other athletic pursuits that I really enjoy. My love of cycling is only just starting to sprout, and I am devouring any and all knowledge I can get my hands on.

If I can say anything, it’s that this year I learned some big lessons on patience and to trust the training process. I learned that I really enjoy hard workouts, and need to learn to enjoy the easy runs as well. I learned that I can live without running (but who wants too?) but that I am not the happiest person when I am not running. I also have to say that looking back I have a lot more hard times than good ones, but it was all worth it to get that solid BQ.  I would say over all my running has improved, my paces are faster, the races that I did run I placed extremely well, but I tried to do too much and missed out on a lot due to lack of proper recovery and focus. Hopefully with 2016 I will use this experience to avoid so many problems and setbacks, but knowing myself I won’t. 😉

To anyone who has bothered to read this blog for this year – thanks for your support and I hope you were at least entertained by my journey this year. Here’s to a better 2016!