2015 Running Accomplishments

I said I would run fewer races this year, and I meant it. I wanted to work on quality over quantity. While I didn't really make any inroads with speed training, I did enjoy not feeling obligated to run so many marathons. And taking more breaks in between races felt great.

January: My first marathon of the year and also my Marathon Globetrotters qualifying race: Marathon Bahamas

Here's how my year of running looked in 2015:
  • I qualified for the Marathon Globetrotters at the Marathon Bahamas in January.
  • I ran marathons in my 49th and 50th US states, finishing my 50 states goal in May at the Newport Marathon in Oregon.
  • I ran marathons in three new countries: Bahamas, Germany and Jersey.
  • I completed my second World Marathon Major (Berlin Marathon).
  • I was a pacer for the first time (at Georgia Half Marathon).
  • I ran a total of 7 marathons.
  • I ran a total of 7 half marathons.
  • I ran a total of 7 shorter races ranging from 5K to 17.75K.
  • I ran one marathon relay, though the race was called for weather and my teammates didn't get to start their legs.
  • I kept my blog current and also wrote several "throwback" race reports from 2013, when I was blogging less.
  • I was elected as the second Director of Publicity for the Marathon Globetrotters in October.

May: After finishing my 50th State Marathon in Oregon: Newport Marathon

And here's what I did not accomplish:
  • I did not PR in the marathon. I didn't even come close. I didn't train hard enough to meet that goal.
  • I did not start every race for which I was registered.
  • I did not finish the full distance of every marathon in which I was registered, dropping from the marathon to the half in a couple cases.
October: Marine Corps Marathon, my last of the year
There's a lot of room for improvement. First, I need to find the motivation to train more consistently, and to challenge myself more during training runs. Then I need to add some cross training into the mix. This year I tried to do some yoga, strength training and various other things, but I didn't stick with them. I need to do some thinking about my 2016 running goals. For now, I will celebrate the things I did accomplish in 2015. By a normal person's standard, it's still a lot, and I am thankful that I can do it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 Hong Kong Marathon Race Report

Image
I registered for the Hong Kong Marathon  on a whim. I was already going to Asia to attend my friend Christine’s wedding in Thailand and then run the Tokyo Marathon the following weekend. My friend Dave posted on Facebook about the Hong Kong Marathon, which was a week before the wedding. I entered the lottery not expecting to be selected, but I was. It was going to be a two-country-marathon adventure.  It’s the year of the pig (or boar) and we got this medallion in our race packet.  I was woefully under-prepared for the Hong Kong Marathon. My training suffered through the winter, but knowing I had a 6-hour time limit for the marathon, I wasn’t terribly worried - until I got sick. At the end of January I caught a severe cold that I’m still not fully over, three weeks later. I was weak, slept little, and worked out zero times in all of February. But the Asia trip was coming anyway, and being a realist, I gave myself permission to DNS (did not start) or DNF (did n...
Read more

2017 Hefei International Marathon Race Report

Image
Most of my regular followers will know that I was selected as part of a team of five to represent Columbus, Ohio at the marathon of our sister city Hefei, China. I blogged about the announcement here and here , and about my team's fundraiser here . On November 8, 2017, we set off to the Far East, arriving in Hefei, China late evening on November 9th. We spent five days in Hefei, after which everyone went separate directions. My travels took me to Bangkok, Thailand, and then back to China to spend time in and around Beijing. But this post is about Hefei and the marathon I ran there. Post marathon with Courtney, Bernard, me, Echo and Lily in back The Hefei International Marathon is a large event, with tens of thousands of participants across all race distances (marathon, half marathon, 5K and 10K). The marathon had the smallest race field of all events, but included some very competitive elite runners. The Lead-Up Through the sister city marathon exchange, our team o...
Read more

2018 Running Recap

Image
I haven't blogged all year. In fact, I didn't even finish my 2017 race reports. What happened? I still ran. In fact, I ran several races, and did meet some of my annual running goals. But I also focused on other areas of my life that needed attention. I dropped the ball on some things, and I missed some of my other running goals. Right now I'm not going to write new running goals, because I'm not ready. I will, however, state one broad goal, and that is this: I will post a running-related story once per month in 2019. So, here's the 2018 recap: My 2018 Goals I will lead the 11:00 pace group for CWRC. CWRC is the Columbus Westside Running Club , which I joined after moving to Columbus, and this goal was about the winter/spring training program leading up to spring races. I started this, but I didn't finish. Very early on it became clear to me that I was not in the game mentally and not prepared to lead others on a weekly basis. A January training run ...
Read more