2013 IN REVIEW

Highlight of 2013... Marathon finisher!

Looking back, 2013 has been a very productive and successful year running wise. If 2012 was the year I became a runner, then 2013 was the year I became a successful and accomplished runner (in my mind). I did my first marathon (huge!), won a half marathon against an admittedly terrible field, and set PRs in just about very distance. I've kept running after the Portland Marathon despite the cold, wet, and darkness that I so hate.

2012: Ran 134 times for 704 miles.
2013: Ran 188 times for 1420 miles.

Didn't realize this until I just researched the stat above, but I ran DOUBLE what I did last year! My goal for 2014 will be to run at least 100 miles every month and beat my mileage from this year. I'm thinking 1600 miles would be a good goal, that's just a touch over 130 a month and I'll have two marathons in 2014 I'll be training for.

Almost 100 each month. February was the Las Vegas trip
where I got really sick.

Overall the highlight of my year was definitely completing my first marathon without walking or breaking down. I had a really good first marathon experience and I basked in the glow of that for quite some time. I have to say that glow has faded though and I'm eagerly anticipating Vancouver, BC so I can capture it again.

I am really looking forward to 2014. I have two marathons to train for, will be doing Ragnar SoCal with a bunch of strangers, and am traveling to Miami at the beginning of February for a half marathon. Should be an action packed year with lots to keep me motivated. Right now the cold and dark coupled with the lack of upcoming races is kind of hard, but I know in a couple months it'll warm up, lighten up, and the races will come fast. And I need to be ready!

One goal to start in 2014 is to have more effective training. I am not training hard enough while at the same time not training easy enough. I kind of keep doing my workouts toward the middle of the spectrum and the improvement is much more gradual. I am slowly getting better, but I can also see myself plateauing here very shortly. I need to really focus on some hard workouts and then make sure I am getting some easy miles in there too to. Ideally my week would have a tempo run, intervals, an easy run, and my long run.

I'll be kicking off the new year right, with a bunch of runners doing a 5k! It isn't one of those big events, like the First Run in Portland, but I am going to a party with ~25 other runners and we'll be running a 5k right before the new year, celebrating at midnight, then doing a short jog around the neighborhood for our "first run." The couple that puts it on is super nice and does it up with bibs, medals, etc. Should be fun!