2015: A recap of a year of awesome!

2015 was really, really good to me running-wise. And in life too. I made a few goals at the beginning of the year:

Kick more ass

Run Boston

Finish an ultra

Volunteer at a race

Take a non-racing vacation

 

#1 is kind of subjective, but I feel like I probably kicked ass a bit. #2 was a dream come true in April. #3 happened in a last minute entry to a timed race in preparation for a longer ultra. #4 was the perfect way to spend my Thanksgiving morning. And finally, #5 was executed in August on a whirlwind family trip to Arizona and Kansas.

 

Boom!

 

But I'm most proud that I conquered something new in running each month of 2015.

In January, I went streaking. Nothing crazy, but considering I had been off and on warming the bench with a mild case of bursitis in my Achilles for the last few months of December in 2014, I was happy to make it through month without a peep of pain. 3+ miles minimum every day was a great way to start the year.

February brought my first trail marathon. I was unsure of what to expect other than 26.2 miles on a surface other than pavement. It was a lot of fun, I made friends, and I even ended up placing 6th overall and 2nd in my age group with a 4:07:41 finishing time!

March was the first time I ever reached 200 miles on a month. I was gearing up for Boston and I was racking up the miles.

April was Boston! Despite the drizzle, I had a fantastic race and PR'd by 5 minutes with a 3:26:27 finishing time. It was everything I could have hoped for and more.

May was the first time I attempted to run marathons on back-to-back days. One Saturday, one Sunday. I raised over $1000 for LLS in the process with my RB Steve and we rocked tutus for both days of the Mitten Challenge. We finished Wisconsin in 4:46:16 and Kalamazoo in 5:04:13.

June was the first time I completed a daily double. I ran 5 miles in the morning and 5 miles in the evening. I also took off an entire week of running in the first of the month because I believe I drank some contaminated water. It just happened that I got a nephew at the end of the week so it kind of worked out that I could just enjoy spending time visiting him at the hospital.

July kicked all sorts of ass. I ran my first ultra at the 6 hour Merrill's Mile on July 3rd. I ran 39.3 miles and ended up winning first overall. Beat the girls and the boys. I recovered quickly and ended up with my biggest mileage ever for a month--212. Most remarkable was that every single mile was outside. In Georgia. In July.

August was the last full month before I started to taper for the Woodstock 50 mile race. I completed an unassisted marathon in the midst of training. Definitely the craziest thing I had done so far in running.

September was as rad as July. I completed my first 50 mile race at Woodstock in Michigan. It was a super fun weekend with my RB Steve (even though he had to DNF we still had a great time) and I got to see some of my favorite Michigan Loopsters who were kind enough to wait 8 hours, 43 minutes, and 10 seconds in the cold rain for me to finish. Winning 1st overall female was just the icing on the cake!

October was meant to be a recovery month. I wasn't really sure what to expect after 50 miles mentally and physically so I just set my sights on getting a base ready to complete a marathon. Instead, I ended up finding a bunch of awesome speed and endurance waiting to come out and play once the temperatures dropped. I set a half marathon PR (1:38:12) and an after work distance PR (12.1 miles).

November was supposed to just be the month I volunteered for the first time. But then I ran a 5K, 10K, and half marathon PR too. Guess I was getting ready for something big!

December was the perfect way to end a really, really great year. I ran a marathon PR at Rehoboth (3:20:12) and felt amazing the entire race. Then I reached 2015 miles on the year--what seemed to be a stretch after 2014's biggest year of 1438 miles. Today, I headed to the trails on a gorgeous New Year's Eve day for 20+ miles and completed 2101 miles on the year.

2016, I'm ready for whatever awesome you have in store!