Miss Zippy did a great post inviting the audience to review their year of running. I’m late to the game but here goes nothing!
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What was your:
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Best race experience?
I would have to say the Bracebridge Triathlon. The course was fun, the race was well organized, the weather was just about perfect, and I carried the Lightning Kid across the finish line. Maybe it’s cheating to put a triathlon in a running post… but I’m a rogue, OK?!
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Best run?
Maybe it’s too fresh in my memory, but we have a quarterly race for the run club organized by the corporate wellness centre. I hadn’t joined the run club this season, and in fact, I hadn’t been doing much running overall, so I was reluctant to join the race at all. While I normally do the 10k, I opted to do the 5k for lack of conditioning and general laziness… but at least I was getting out there right? I ended up winning the race with a hard effort (only by 10-15 seconds). It did a lot to boost my (running) self-esteem… maybe I gotten that bad!
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Best new piece of gear?
I had to go back over my gear posts to see what I’d acquired this year… nothing really blew me away, so I’ll say the sweet technical jacket I got from the Chilly Half-Marathon.
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Best piece of running advice you received?
Something along the lines of “Just Come Out!” to the aforementioned 5km. A nice simple kick in the pants to get me outside and running again and not looking for other ways to train.
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Most inspirational runner?
Krysten from Darwinian Fail. Since I’ve started reading her blog, she’s conquered the marathon, and jumped into triathlon and now she’s about to overtake me (on my left! 😉 ) by doing a Half-Iron next year… did I mention she had surgery and lost her father all this year while this was going on? She models the ideal character for the endurance athlete: strongest on the inside, with a warm and welcoming heart.
I have to give an honourable mention to the Pavement Runner. He is “That Kind of Crazy” having done a half and full marathon in the same day along with many other accomplishments this year. He’s also warm and welcoming and is all about the running community… I know he’ll be the first one to give me a thumbs up for nominating Krysten, in fact.
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If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
I don’t know if I’m ready to confront this or not… I used to think my swim was strong, my bike weak, and my run fairly good, but I’m seeing more and more that my run is probably on a par with my bike. I’ve found my old benchmarks for running have been slipping and slipping, and I think I know that following a real structured program would be the cure… I’m not sure if my life and current priorities are compatible with that. Answers aren’t going to come to me magically just because it’s December, in fact, quite the opposite. My running, along with the rest of my life is a work in progress of course.
How are you looking back on running in 2013?
Blushing (and maybe tearing up) over here! You are too sweet!! I think you rocked this year!
Blushing (and maybe tearing up) over here! You are too sweet!! I think you rocked this year!
PS I also love your picture with lightning kid!
PS I also love your picture with lightning kid!
Well I'm a fan of both Krysten and Brian so I like your choices! And I like your write-up–sounds to me like you have a great, balanced approach to racing and training. Thanks for linking up!
Well I'm a fan of both Krysten and Brian so I like your choices! And I like your write-up–sounds to me like you have a great, balanced approach to racing and training. Thanks for linking up!