This year was a big year for my running. After spending most of 2013 doing as little running as possible, Lisa and I hit the ground running (ha!) as soon as we could in 2014 with a full docket of races planned. I decided to start the year off by doing a small running streak. This meant committing to running at least 1 mile per day for as long as I could. I managed two months of a streak, with only one day that didn't really count. So I considered that a relative success.
Once my streak gave way to a more serious running program, I began training for the first major races of the year. The first race was the Goldy 10 Mile, a fun jaunt around the Mississippi River roads. This was followed by the Get in Gear Half Marathon. This was the first year I attempted the half on this course (only 10k before), and despite finishing well, I don't think I'd do it again. It's such a small half marathon, that you end up running alone for long periods of time. I was lucky in that a running partner from my old job jumped onto the course and paced me for a few miles, but my wife was quite lonely on the course.
I also managed to run in Nevada in April. I was out there for the first time, on a brief vacation and got to experience running in a desert. It was so different from anything I've done before, and I encountered such different landscapes, that I think I stopped more than I should to snap pictures.
Finally, the biggest race of the spring was the River Bank Run 25k in Grand Rapids, MI. I had run this race previously, but my wife had not. We worked our training program as best we could and both of us met our goal times for the race. I wanted to beat my previous time (2:40ish), and I managed to finish under 2:30, so I was quite pleased. Apparently I was also fighting some kind illness since I got very sick as soon as I got back to the hotel, making the weekend a bit less fun, but still a good race overall.
By this point in the year we had decided to commit to running the Twin Cities Marathon in October. I know that I had said I would never run another marathon, but my wife wanted to give it a shot. Enough time had passed since my miserable experience previously, so I felt like I could give it another try. I opted for a different training program this year than before. I chose a 3-day per week plan that was designed to get in all the miles for a marathon training plan, but keep you doing other activities on other days of the week, to help avoid injury. Cross training has always been a great benefit to running, and I feel like the plan worked out great for me this year. I got a lot of biking in, some swimming, and some general weight training. I could have been more committed to the non-running workouts, but overall I felt like I made progress over the previous attempt.
Throughout the summer we picked up a few other races. We did our traditional Red, White and Boom half-marathon relay on July 4th. The Lola's 10 mile was a wild excursion that included a rain delay at the start. There were a couple shorter races in the summer as well, and we rounded out the season with the Minnesota Half Marathon in the sweltering head of August. That race was a pain in the butt, and way too hot. Lisa hated the course, but I didn't mind it too much. We'll see if we ever attempt that one again.
Once Fall hit we focused on the Marathon, with only a small local half-marathon that I did one weekend. Marathon weekend hit and everything went mostly according to plan for me. Until mile 20 that is, when cramping in my leg made it impossible to run. So I ended up not making my goal time of sub-5 hours (5:13 finish time), but I wasn't disappointed. The first part of the race was amazing, and I put down my best 20 mile time ever. By the time I had to start walking I was feeling accomplished and happy with my performance, so I didn't dwell on the fact that I didn't quite make my goal this time. Additionally, I walked away from this race feeling like I wanted to do another marathon, which is a night and day difference from my first experience a few years ago.
Because we wanted to look at doing some trail running next year, we decided to take the weekend after the Marathon to head up to the Superior Hiking Trail to walk the course of the Spring Superior 25k race. We managed to walk the course in just over 6 hours, and I enjoyed it, but it was more than Lisa expected, and she felt that she found her limit for what she wanted to attempt. So next year I'll probably be the only one focusing on trails.
We finished out the year with the Monster Dash Half Marathon, which follows one of my favorite courses in Saint Paul, and has an overall 400ft decline in elevation over the length of the course. I had a decent run, and enjoyed the experience. It was a nice way for me to wind down my running season for the year (apart from a quick Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving).
I've started putting together the training plan and race plan for next year, and so far I have a few big races on the docket. I'm going to attempt 2-3 trail races including Zumbro 17 and Superior Spring 25k. We're also going to attempt Grandma's Marathon in June. It's one of the most publicized races around this area, so it seemed like a good choice for a big race this year. We've also signed up for the Looney Challenge on Twin Cities Marathon weekend. We'll be running a 5k and 10k back-to-back on Saturday, and then the 10 mile course on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it, and think it will be a really fun time.
So that's my year in review for running. I'm sure I could have gone on more about various aspects of training and gear, but I'll save that for another post sometime.
Final 2014 stats:
Total runs: 175
Total miles run: 903
Total time on feet: 156:11:44
Total elevation: 14,580
Pairs of shoes: 3
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