Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to recap all the running fun I’ve had this year. I’ve been doing the Year in Running post for several years now. I’ve done it in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012, so I’m thankful that Courtney has continued to host it. I write this post for myself, but I hope you enjoy reading it as well.
Best Race Experience: By far my favorite race this year was the Ragnar Pennsylvania race. While the race itself had some issues, I had the most amazing team and I discovered that running Ragnar as an ultra is truly the most awesome way to experience Ragnar. I’m currently getting ready to register an ultra team for Ragnar Minnesota this coming summer.
Best new piece of gear: A friend gave me his Garmin 620 when he upgraded. It’s a pretty cool watch, but it may be smarter than me. Funny thing happened the other day though. We both ran at run club and afterwards he was looking at his Strava account and freaked out by a slow 3 mile run that showed up on his account. Turns out he’d forgotten to unlink the watch I was wearing and my run messed up his stats LOL.
Favorite picture from a run or race this year: My race in New Zealand was not awesome. I was hungover, undertrained, and most of the course was meh. But I looked strong and even happy to be out there. It was a once in a life time experience to race there, so I’m happy I got the chance.
Race experience you would repeat in a heartbeat: Marine Corps Marathon. I was horribly undertrained, but I am so glad I ran it again. Running my favorite race in memory of an Arlington soldier through Wear Blue: Run to Remember made it even more special for me. I’ve heard rumors that I might be running again in 2019, but I refuse to comment.
If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
A roller coaster mixed with a tilt-a-whirl.
2018 was a crazy year. I had some great races before injury took me down. I still managed to race a few more times, but nothing went quite as well as I’d hoped. I had an amazing year traveling and working with ZOOMA and can’t wait to do it again in 2019. I have some plans in the works to start knocking out a few more states, but will have to coordinate that with taking my high school student to visit colleges. Not sure how he’s going to feel about only being able to look at schools where I can find races LOL.
Congrats on a solid year. Can see why Marine Corps tops your list – hard to not with the Blue Mile. Funny re: smarter Garmin. Sometimes I feel the same with mine
OMG looking at colleges!!! Wow! It is so crazy that we missed each other at all these races! Hope to see you at some in 2019. Thanks for linking up 🙂
Look for colleges in places where you can race! Love this as it is something I would so do! Injury can really throw a spanner in the works, but so glad you managed to get as much done as you did! And I can really see why that’s your favourite photo – you look strong and determined.