This year, next year - 2016/2017 edition
So we've already established that 2016 was not a great year. It was so miserable that I didn't even think I wanted to bother with my annual This year, next year post. But then I decided to just write one to recap the year. I might be glad I did it later. For posterity or whatever.
This will be pretty short this year since I don't have a ton of highlights (exactly zero PRs this year and I ran my lowest mileage ever except for the year I was pregnant - sigh) and I have even fewer goals. But hey, here I am. In the name of tradition.
Last year's highlights:
Running three Disney races with my friend Jenn - I have yet to recap our Wine & Dine 10K and half marathon experiences, but I did manage to post about the Disney Half last January. I paced her for all three races and while our January and November half marathon times were literally within seconds of each other, our November race was run with negative splits and the last mile was a full minute faster per mile than the last fastest mile! Her goal was to finish strong for the November race and that's exactly what she did.
Surviving the awful races. I had asthma attacks at more races than I care to discuss (including one that ended in an ambulance) and then my undiagnosed (until December) iron and vitamin D deficiencies turned me into a tired turtle in the last 6 months of the year. I may not have set any PRs, but I did set a lot of personal worsts or near personal worsts. Wonderful.
Despite having no PRs this year, I did manage (somehow) to get a few age group wins and placements.
I ran my first relay, the Palmetto70, and somehow managed an 8:30 pace for 16 miles while dealing with my asthma and being undertrained (I think "sick and undertrained" was 2016's theme). But really, this race was more about the camaraderie than anything in this race. When I'm feeling better, I'd love to do another one. (Side note: I was terrible this year about posting race recaps...maybe I'll get around to some of them soon.)
My son ran his first race - a 20 yard dash on the beach at the IOP Beach Run - and had a blast!
We ran our first race as a family. We've all run the same races before, but never together. But since I have no race mojo right now, I ran the Nexton Cocoa Cup 5K with my husband (who ran exactly twice in 2016) and son (who I pushed in the stroller). I'll get a race recap up of that eventually, too.
I did lots of barre workouts this year and definitely increased my strength.
Even though I've been sick and exhausted, I kept running even if the runs were shorter, slower and less frequent. I'm not really sure if that's a highlight or pure stupidity, but I did it.
2016 by the numbers:
8 5Ks (including 2 beach and 1 trail)
2 10Ks
4 half marathons
0 PRs
3 AG wins and 1 AG second place
2017's goals:
Get well. Regain my running legs and maybe some speed. I have no idea if or when I'll be in PR condition in 2017. I hope to be, but I'm not holding my wheezy, asthmatic breath. So yeah, I want to get all of this health nuttery under control and get better so I can at least consistently enjoy running again.
Keep up with barre classes and do more yoga. I've been good with barre classes, but let yoga slide a bit in the last half of the year. Time to get back to Savasana.
Get my eating and nutrition back on a solid track. I got it back under control (mostly) at the beginning of December, and then the week of Christmas and New Year's there were too many Christmas cookies in the house. Now that those have cleared out, it's time to get serious.
In semi-related highlight news, while this was my worst year ever for running, it was the best year so far for my blog. This was the year I upped my game and landed several ambassadorships and managed to grow my reader base (and met new friends in the process!). I also have a (mostly) solid plan for products related to my blog. So at least there was some running related progress, even if it took place on a screen instead of the road.
But really, in 2017, I'm hoping to make progress on both my blog and my actual running. I'm ready to be well and take on some new challenges.
