2015 was an eventful year!
In summary, I ran another marathon, got married and moved. Not to mention the oodles of 5ks I ran.
Short version:
In early 2015, I came back from an injury. Then in the depths of winter, I ran my second marathon and finished with a bum butt and hip issue. I recovered and got married in April. Then the later half of the year I ran a whole bunch of 5ks, moved yet again and that’s where I’m at now. If you started reading my blog in the last 6 months, you’ll know I’ve been focusing on shorter races.
This post will be long so I’ll divide it up into two and conquer.
Long Version:
Chapter 1: Marathon Training January and February:
In early 2015, I spent the winter months training for my second marathon. I was coming back from a stress fracture the previous September. During both January and February, I logged high mileage and long runs through the colder months. My biggest confidence booster came from the Icicle 10 miler. I ran a 1:07 on a hilly course. I hadn’t run that far or that long in months. I felt as if I was finally coming back.
Then the week before my marathon I ran a disappointing 5k. The Feel the Love 5k, was fun but not where I was hoping my fitness was during the final week before the marathon.
Chapter 1 Finale: The Marathon
During the last week of February I flew out and ran the Phoenix Full marathon. Until typing this post out, I forgot about all of the craziness with the travel. My flight was delayed over 8 hours, the airline damaged my suitcase, and I arrived the night before the full exhausted. Ultimately I was reimbursed for my luggage which was awesome. Mentally, however, it caused me more stress than anyone wants for a goal race.
Anyways I finished Phoenix in 3:14.59 which is a PR for me.
While I did PR, I also finished with a moderately serious muscle issue in my butt, hip and back. It wasn’t the smartest idea to keep running, but I did and I paid the injury price afterwords.
Chapter 2: Recovery After spending March recovering but also (not smartly) running my favorite half marathon, Shamrock, I traded the running shoes for heels and a wedding dress. I ran Shamrock with a few noticeable twinges in my butt and logged my slowest time in quite a while. I decided to truly recover after that. After roughly a month, I completely healed and have had no issues yet.
Chapter 3: Getting Hitched
The day before my wedding, I ran the Dismal Swamp 5k, and won. It was a beautiful day and a very flat and fast course. I ran a 19:45 and ended up winning! It was the first race since February that I did not feel muscle twinges. It was the slow beginning of running a ton of 5ks.
My wedding was amazing, and I married the man of my dreams while celebrating with some of my closest friends. My honeymoon brought me exactly what I needed, relaxation, a break from thinking about running and the return to being 100% healthy.
Chapter 4: Assimilating Back into New “Real Life” I arrived home from my honeymoon and ran the Broad Street 10 miler. Broad Street gave me a lot of confidence because I was only 15 seconds slower than the year before. It was motivating because I was not in the same fitness as 2014. I had a great day.
Chapter 6: The Beginning of the 5k Life
After Broad Street in early May, I began to focus on 5ks and speed. My last 5k was PR was in July 2013 and I’ve been wanting to focus on that. I told myself to focus on speed and turnover. I ran an 18:35 over two years ago and my goal is to get there.
In May and June, I focused on one race each week. I didn’t do speed work because I was getting speed from the race. I wasn’t ready to add more than one-speed component to my training.
Both May in June brought a series of mentally challenging 5ks. I was putting in a lot of effort. However, I wasn’t making the fitness gains I had hoped. I repeated to myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I still didn’t see the improvements I had wanted.
On a personal note I did a regrettable thing and dyed my hair blonde. While blonde looks great on many people, I’m not one of them. Thankfully it only lasted about a month and once my hair was healthy again, I quickly dyed it back. Live and learn right?
Back to running: On July 4th, I finally broke through my plateau and ran a 19:15 5k. It was a surprising but great race for me. After running a series of 19:45-20:30 5ks, it was nice to see such a huge jump.
To be continued tomorrow…
Questions for you:
How was your 2016?
Did you reach your goals?
Love reading about your year! I started reading your blog right after your marathon, so it’s been great to see how well you bounced back after the injury. My goal this year was to break 2 hours in the half and I did that! I also set PR’s in the 5k, 5 miler and 10 miler, so it was a very successful year for me. In 2016 I’m going to try another full and have more halfs on the schedule!
You were all aboard the PR strain Gretchen and that’s awesome!
Woah I totally forgot how much change you’ve gone through this year! It’s fun to see posts like this to get the bigger picture.
Ah this is great! I am starting to write my own summary of the year as well because it is just so nice to look back on everything. I crashed and burned at two of my goals but aced my first goal – finishing sub 4.30 at my first marathon and enjoying it! (the enjoying it bit was just as important as the time bit). I am in awe of people who can run it as fast as you can.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it and aced your goal! I appreciate your support! 🙂
what an epic year! you should be extremely proud of yourself for all you’ve accomplished, that’s great. You came back from injury swinging and man is that inspiring.
Awe thank you and thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it!
So glad I stumbled upon your blog today! I’m in NJ too just outside of New Brunswick. I just moved here a bit ago and am so glad to see there are so many great running opportunities around here. Your blog is hilarious and so honest, I’m loving it! Keep up the awesome work love.
I was wondering if you lived in south jersey. I live right outside of Philly 🙂 not too far!
What did you think of Phoenix? I would love any info you have. I am currently training for the marathon and am attempting to BQ! I hope the weather is cooler than warmer, and that the downhill course is accurate. Thanks for your insight!
I thought it was a really well put together race and don’t give any complaints. You’ll be running alone and without spectators for a good portion but it’s a beautiful race. I don’t remember a lot past mile 18 because I was all aboard the pain train. I would,however, recommend it to anyone. I hope one day I can go back.
Thanks! Was it as downhill as they say? I am getting very excited for the race and glad to hear that you’d recommend it to anyone- super helpful to hear!
It was downhill but there are also a few inclines too. For me (personally), I found the Inc,one to put too much pressure in one area of my body. I think I actually prefer the elevation change.
So long story short, the majority of the race is flat. There are a few small up hills but there are a few more downhills. You aren’t running downhill the entire time!
What a fantastic year in review. Can’t wait for the second part!
Awesome year and way to overcome injury and break through that 5k time! You’re so speedy. I hope to break the 20 minute mark January 1st!! I didn’t achieve my BQ goal but did PR in the marathon. 2015 was my first full year of being a married woman and now we are buying our first home!!! 🙂
My only running related goal going in to 2015 was to build up my running again and be able to easily run a 5k without stopping. Nothing lofty, but it was exactly what I needed to avoid putting too much pressure on myself and seeing running like a chore like so many times in the past. Totally squashed that goal
2016 will be about pushing myself a little harder.
You look so fit! Amazing! 😀 I admire people so much who have the endurance to actually keep up with running and the like! *quietlypickingupchocolatebar* :p
Ha, you are hilarious. Thanks for stopping by Noemi. To be honest, I love my chocolate as well.
Wow I am so impressed.
I love these “year in review” posts because it gives us a great opportunity to look back, see what worked well, and what we can improve next year.