2015 Year in Review: Racing

Since starting my running hobby in spring of 2014, my entire world has changed.  Most of the biggest changes occurred in 2015, including major relocation and the end of my marriage, and these changes tore away my focus and sometimes my drive to stay active.  I ran fewer events in 2015, but I took those events more seriously and performed far better this year than last.  I also started participating in the production side of more races and running events, which pulled me off the course and behind the scenes, but those experiences were equally (if not more) rewarding than pounding the pavement as a racer!  I'm anticipating even more major changes in 2016 (if all goes well) that may continue this trend of race production instead of race participation, but I'm definitely excited to keep racing in my heart and on my schedule.  Here's a quick breakdown of this year's running before I switch gears into 2016!

Total mileage: 117.49 miles

Month with the most mileage: June (37.27 miles)

Month with the least mileage: December (0 miles, whoops)

Longest run: 13.1 miles

Total number of races completed: 12

Number of 5k races completed: 7

5k PR time: 26:56 (Turkey Trot 5k)

Number of half marathons completed: 1

Half PR time: 2:15:37 (Sunburst Half Marathon)

Oddball distance races completed: 4 (2M, 5M x 2, 10M)

Favorite race this year: Dirty Girl 5k Mud Run

Least favorite race this year: Muddy Monk Punk the Monk 5k - but only because of the parking issues!  It was actually still a fun race!  There weren't many bad experiences this year!

Accomplishment of which I am most proud: Honestly, I'm still pretty juiced about smashing some of my previous PRs!  Knocking a half hour off my half marathon time was unbelievable, and that whole race experience was top-notch.  Then crushing my old 5k PR by over two minutes was icing on the cake!  I hardly "trained" for my races this year, in the sense that I did minimal running outside of actual races, but I was overall much more active than last year which is probably why I saw so much improvement.  Cross training (both strength and cardio) was likely the key!

Primary goal for next year:*takes a deep breath*  I believe in 2016 I am going to tackle my first marathon.  This means I might actually have to train for running, which didn't happen so much after moving this year.  I'll be looking to plan a training series and (hopefully) sticking to it, with the end goal of picking an early fall race to finally try that 26.2!

 What are some of your biggest running accomplishments (runcomplishments, can we make that a word next year?) in 2015?  What are your goals and big plans for 2016?  Who wants to run that marathon with me - and can we go to an exciting destination location for it?