Hey all! What a doozie of a year–as a human and am American, I’m pretty ready to forget about 2016, but as a runner it’s been a pretty cool year. I’m linking up with the lovely Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC to do a recap of my year of running. Read on below!
- Best race experience: I absolutely loved this year’s Cambridge Half Marathon. I put so little pressure on myself for this race and I truly blew my own mind by finishing in 1:36:55, which is a 7:24 average pace. Everything just felt right, and after missing my BQ goal in Chicago, this race reminded me of just how far I’ve come this year.
- Best run: This is incredibly broad, but I’ve had so much fun learning about speedwork at my Tuesday track workouts with Nike Boston. Plus, the (free!) incredible professional photos are pretty darn cool.
- Best new piece of running gear: I finally upgraded my Garmin this year and am pretty much obsessed with all of the new features and the much more user-friendly display of the Forerunner 220. It’s a little big for my teeny tiny wrist, but other than that I give it two thumbs up. The one GPS wish I have on my wish list is figuring out how to get my watch to time indoor track workouts–does anyone know how to do this with a regular Garmin??
- Best running advice you’ve received this year: You don’t have to run, you GET to run.
Most inspirational runner: I pick two! My buddies Danielle and Alexa were absolutely incredible training partners for Chicago. I’m constantly inspired by their tenacity and positivity. This has been a fantastic year of growth in terms of my running circles, and I’m so glad to have more running friends in my life to push me, inspire me, and open my eyes to all kinds of new things!- Favorite picture from a run or race this year: This is actually a really hard choice, since I finally figured out how not to look like I’m dying in race photos, but truly the pictures from track are the ones that make me feel fit, fierce, and powerful.
- Race experience you would repeat in a heartbeat: I had so much fun at the Harpoon 5 miler–it was my first race ever hitting 6:xx splits and it’s such a nice race distance–long enough that you really get to feel warmed up but short enough to push the pace pretty hard the whole time. Plus, this was J’s first race beyond a 5k, so that was a cool experience to share together. And, all of the cider afterward 🙂 I definitely hope to sign up for this race again next year!
- If you could sum up your year in a couple of words what would they be? Discovery, challenge, and strength! I set PRs at every race distance I tackled this year and found out I’m capable of way more than I ever dreamed:
5K: Previous PR 29:08 (9:22 pace), 2016 PR 21:59 (6:45 pace)
5M: Previous PR 42:39 (8:31 pace), 2016 PR 34:09 (6:49 pace)
Half Marathon: Previous PR 1:46:29 (8:07 pace), 2016 PR 1:36:55 (7:24 pace)
Marathon: Previous PR 4:05:54 (9:23 pace), 2016 PR 3:36:03 (8:14 pace)
And a little future planning nugget–I signed up for my first race of 2017! I’m going to be running the New Bedford Half Marathon on March 19th. I really love the half marathon distance and I think with some targeted training I have the capacity to cut my time down even further. Back soon with some training updates, but in the meantime, let’s all be glad the shitstorm of 2016 is over and cross our fingers for a better new year.
Shorter and Faster 
Holy crap – your PRs are incredible! Those paces!!! What a year. And I LOVE your track pictures 🙂
Thanks so much! Congrats to you too on a fantastic year–thanks for hosting 🙂 Aren’t the track pics amazing?? http://www.joshcampbell.com/ takes them at our Nike track workouts and he’s the best!
Track workouts with FREE professional photos – I want in!! That is awesome!
Right?? Go Nike for offering an such an awesome program!!
Congrats on such a fantastic year of running. I’m definitely with you on wanting to get on with the new year. Any big races planned for 2017 aside from the Bedford Half?
Thanks so much! I actually literally have nothing else on the books just yet. I’m either thinking of going all in for a full marathon or really trying to bump up my 5k and half PRs. What about you?
You should totally run a marathon! I ran my first one this year and I had a blast. I’d definitely recommend a large one if it’ll be your first. Crowd support made the biggest difference for me. 🙂 I’ll actually be running the Chicago marathon in 2017. I’m hoping to shave down my marathon time by 15 minutes.
That’s awesome! It’ll actually be my third–I ran NYC in 2015 and then Chicago this year–and cut 29 minutes off of my time, so you’re in for a great experience 🙂 I have to decide if I’m going to invest the time to train for a BQ… we’ll see. I came super close last time so I know it’s in the cards!
Oh nice! If you do decide to try and BQ, please write about it! I’d love to read about it. I want to BQ, but I’m so far off time wise. Maybe in 5 years. I think I’ll just work on logging in more miles and do more speed work.
Oh I absolutely will!! I actually really revamped my training for Chicago and added in a ton of speedwork to ALMOST BQ (I ran a 3:36)–definitely check out my weekly recaps if you’re interested! You can totally do it–it’s all about the time and hard work, as you know!
Thanks! I will definitely check that out.
You had a great year, I look forward to following another 4’11” runner in 2017. I’m training for my first Boston Marathon. I agree with this year, as a person and american 2016, yuck. As a runner, it was pretty awesome.
Thanks for stopping by–so fun to have another shortie to follow! Congrats on starting training for Boston–that’s super exciting. Good luck with your 2017 goals (your times are incredible!!)
Wow! Your speed really improved over the year. Congrats!!
Thank you so much!
I couldn’t resist commenting on how your speed has improved this year! So cool!
Great job!!! And the photo of you on the track- you look like you’re flying! 🙂
Thanks so much!!