Year of Running 2016

As 2016 is coming to an end, I am participating in a linkup with Courtney from Eat Pray Run DC to look back on some of my running highlights for the year. Click on the button to read her blog and join the linkup!

• Best Race Experience: This is a hard one because I really enjoyed all the races I participated in this year. I am careful to select races that I feel represent me and my running tastes, but I would have to say that my experience at the Great Western Trail Half Marathon in May was the best race of 2016. This was my first race of 2016 and after training all winter with Hansons for the first time I had no idea what to expect. Not only was this my fastest half marathon but it was the first race where I felt strong the entire time and did not stop to walk once. The last 5k of the race were my fastest mile times ever. It was the first race where I felt like I truly "raced" and that my hard work was celebrated. I can honestly say I left it all out there that day and pushed myself far beyond what I thought I was capable of.

Happy at the GWT Half Marathon

• Best Run: This is another hard one to answer because I love so many of my runs. While this sounds cheesy, I just love running and enjoy all my runs. One run that really stands out to me was during marathon training. The weather was finally starting to cool off and transition to fall temps and I had my first 9 mile tempo run. I remember running around Whalon lake and the sky was so beautiful. I felt strong and happy, and I had a runner's high for almost the entire run.

That sky!

• Best new piece of running gear: This is probably my transition to Altra's in 2016. I ran in Hoka's for most of 2015 and with the narrow foot box I was having a lot of toe and blister problems. I switched to Altra's at the beginning of 2016 and have enjoyed the benefits of a wider toe box, zero drop, and proper running form landing. I was able to stay injury free and only had a few blisters. 

Altra Paradigm

• Best running advice you've received this year: There was an email that came from Luke Humphrey (Hansons Coaching) a few weeks before the Chicago Marathon that contained the following advice in regards to accepting pain and discomfort. This email came at a time when I had just been laid off from my job and it was probably the best time for someone to give me advice on how to use that pain to my advantage during my biggest race of the year:

Lastly, know that it's going to be tough. It better not be tough the first half, but that last 10 miles to 10k will test your mental strength and physical ability. Accept that discomfort. In fact, welcome it, because what you are doing is tough. This is an opportunity to prove to yourself that you can overcome whatever life throws at you. I actually relish in this aspect. Knowing that it's going to get hard, and how am I going to react to overcome? That's what is exciting. Seeing yourself break through self imposed limits. - Luke Humphrey

• Most inspirational runner: I have to say Kate Grace for this one. While I really enjoyed watching Kara Goucher fight to compete in the Olympics, watching Kate at the Olympic games was so inspiring to me. I have also continued to be inspired by runners all around me as I have watched teammates qualify for Boston, tackle new distances and PR's, and recover from injury.
• Favorite picture from a run or race this year: There are a lot to choose from, but I think a picture that was taken of my by a Team PAWS photographer during the Chicago Marathon is one of my all-time favorite pictures. Granted it was during the first few miles of the marathon when everything is still exciting and fun, but the happiness on my face ruly reflects how I felt. I really understood at that moment what it meant to represent such an amazing cause and I used my passion for animal rescue to get me through the tough miles of the race.

Thumbs up for animal rescue!

• Race experience you would repeat in a heartbeat: This would be a tie between the Great Western Trail Half mentioned above and the Chicago Marathon. The GWT half I would repeat because it is the best I have ever felt during a race. The Chicago Marathon I would repeat because of the crowd support and city experience. I signed up for the Chicago Marathon in 2017, so clearly this is one I am repeating! To be honest, I think running the GWT half again would never quite be the same and while I haven't ruled it out for 2017, I always want to remember that race as perfection. 
• If you could sum up your year in a couple of words what would they be? With one of my favorite running quotes: 

"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. 

Then willpower will be no problem." Emil Zatopek