This Year in Running: 2014
I can’t believe that 2015 is only a little over two weeks away! A new year means new looking forward and setting new goals but before I get ahead of myself I like make sure to look back at the past year and soak up all the great things that happened one more time. So many things have happened in 2014 both personally, professionally, and with my running that it’s hard to sum it all up so just like I did last year I’m jumping in on Miss Zippy’s Year of Running link-up. It’s simple, short, sweet and to the point, just what I need!
Best Race Experience
This was the hardest category to pick from because this year I ran a total of 13 races, the most that I’ve run since graduating from college. It came down to a toss up between the Cal 1020 10 miler in February and the Chicago Marathon in October.
The Cal 1020 was amazing because the course was beautiful {right along the Pacific Ocean}, the music along the course was rocking, and I ran much better than I expected to (60:38). Breakfast at Snooze afterwards didn’t hurt either. 😉
I loved Chicago so much because it reignited my love of running and my confidence in my ability to run a good marathon. Running a 4 minute PR without really training for it was a surprise and made me believe The other reason that Chicago was such a great race is because I got to experience it with so many people that I love! My sister, her boyfriend, and my friend Courtney all ran their first marathon that day and it was so special to get to be there with them!
Best Run
Every.single.run. during our vacation in Wyoming! Running through the nature of Jackson and the national parks that we visited was so peaceful, and getting to see some bison along the way was wild!
Best New Piece of Gear
The Garmin Forerunner 620 that I got for my birthday. I do love the Forerunner 10 that I’d been using for almost 2 years BUT the 620 has so many more features that I need for the kind of training that I do. Intervals are much easier to track and I LOVE knowing my cadence – especially during workouts and races!
Best Piece of Running Advice I Received
It’s not exactly advice but the best thing that someone told me about my running this year was when Henri told me that I HAD to run the Chicago Marathon. The conversation basically went something like – “You paid almost 200 hundred bucks so you might as well run it”. He’s a really smart guy… haha 🙂
Most Inspirational Runner
Hands down the most inspirational runner of the year is Kayla Montgomery. I first heard about Kayla in this New York Times article and recently found out that she is now a collegiate athlete running for Lipscomb. If you haven’t heard about Kayla and her running take some time to read these two articles, hers is such a touching story!
If you could sum up you year in a couple of words, what would they be?
Difficult and full of ups and downs, but totally worth it!
How was your year of running in 2014?
Answer one of the above “questions”!