Year of Running, 2018

It’s that time of year! 2018 was a bit of a weird running year for me. I went from mid-April to late October without doing any races, I somehow got two distance PRs, I tried heart rate training to no avail, and I ended the year not running for over a month because of a seemingly unending sickness and normal December busyness. Yeah: weird.

Let’s dig in!

(You can also read my previous Years of Running: 2017, 2016 (the year I did a half-marathon every month AND a full marathon), 2015.)

Best Race Experience

runDisney’s Wine & Dine Two-Course Challenge was probably my favorite this year. I had never done W&D before (somewhat out of protest for them changing it from a night race the year I started running) and I really enjoyed it. The shirts were the best I’ve gotten from Disney and the medals were nice too. The theme of this race weekend is really broad so really anything Disney-related works for costumes. The after party late night at EPCOT was super fun even in the pouring rain. And I did both the 10K and the half-marathon completely with my husband, so that was extra fun! We dressed as Haunted Mansion stretching room portraits for the 10K, and Anger and Sadness from Inside Out for the half. A highlight was a security guard telling Isaac, “Calm down, sir! Calm down!” because he had his flaming hair going. I love Disney races.

Best Run

I think I have to go with the Best Damn Race half-marathon in January because somehow I PRed! I have no idea how I did that. It was a good course and the weather was great, but that’s happened before and there was no PR to go with it. I was truly shocked!

Best New Piece of Gear

I didn’t really get any special new gear this year, I don’t think. Unless fuel counts? I finally tried the extra salty Clif Bloks and they are really great since I sweat a lot and lose tons of salt.

Best Piece of Running Advice You Received

Last year was the first I heard anyone talk about the difference between motivation and discipline. It struck a chord with me because with my depression I often lose all motivation. In 2019 I’m going to try to be more disciplined, whether or not I’m motivated.

Most Inspirational Runner

A Tale of Two Sarahs:
– Sarah R. is a long-time friend of mine and a trail-running badass who does crazy things like run the Pike’s Peak Ascent every year. In March of 2018, however, she tore her MCL. It sidelined her from a lot of her usual awesome feats, but she followed her PT’s instructions to the letter and has come back strong, and more motivated than ever to get her goal times. She also went through a really rough year apart from that but she is still chasing down her goals. She’s doing a 50K this year!!
– Sarah W. is mostly an online friend of mine, though we met in person last February when she came here to run the Donna Marathon. She has battled injuries and for the Donna came back from a long time off doing marathons, which she loves (she’s crazy), and it was to be her big comeback. Well, you know Florida. When I ran the Donna it was 40º on race day. When she ran it it was 80º. She was aiming to qualify for Boston, but obviously did not. And yet instead of letting a bad race get her down, she stayed upbeat, kept working, and eventually qualified for Boston with time to spare!

Biggest Achievement:

Probably doing back-to-back half-marathons (one Saturday, one Sunday) without really training for it. It wasn’t fun to do it ill-prepared… but I did get to check off two states!

Favorite Picture From a Run or Race This Year

In addition to those already posted, I have several others! Top row L-R: Meb out on the course at Gasparilla!, Isaac and me with a pirate after Gasparilla, freezing my toes off in single-digit weather in Illinois, Spanish moss above me after finishing an 8k. Bottom row L-R: Gate + Jags, Gate + friends, running while stretching and haunting, and running while joyous and angry.

Race Experience You Would Repeat in A Heartbeat

Wine & Dine! I’d also like to redo Go! St. Louis when I didn’t just do a half the day before too. It was a really nice course and great race. I’d also like to redo the Rotorua half when it’s not so dang rainy.

I’ve run half-marathons in:

2015: Tennessee, Florida, Connecticut
2016: Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, California, Hawaii
2017: Pennsylvania, FRANCE
2018: Illinois, Missouri, New York, NEW ZEALAND

If you could sum up your running year in one word, what would it be?

Weird.

Running Goals for 2019

• Sub-2:40 half. Still. Oy. I missed it by 56 seconds in 2018!
• Sub-1:50 Gate River Run 15K. That would be a PR by 3 minutes.
• Sub-32 5K. That would be a PR by 34 seconds, but I haven’t gotten close to that for quite a while.
• Do at least eight half-marathons
• Check off half-marathons in at least two more states
• Maybe do a 25K?