2024 Running Recap: A Year of Good, not Great

2024…where to even begin. Do I say that every year and every month? Probably. But really, where do we begin here?

2024 was a theme of good races, but not great. I believe I’m the fittest I’ve been since 2021 but none of my races have really shown that. There have been some good races, but not great. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a fun year, because it has, but man it’s been a weird year.

Quick Facts:

• Number of 5ks: 14
• 10ks: 4
• 13.1s: 8
• Marathons: 3
  • *Started 3, finished 2. Planned.
• Other distances: 4
• Swim Events: 2
• States raced in: 5 (CA, NV, CO, VA, FL)
• States run in: 6 (CA, NV, CO, VA, FL +Japan)

That’s it? Wow, it feels like I’ve run in many more states. 

January:

A lot of January was spent coming back from my hip injury. The injury didn’t take me out, that long but it did take a lot longer than I hoped to recover. I missed my December 2023 marathon (CIM). I ran two races: Castle to Coast 8.2 miler and Rose Bowl Half Marathon. Neither race went well. They went fine but not well, my body just didn’t seem to have it.

February:

Ommph, in February, I believe I caught COVID. It wasn’t the worst sickness I’ve gotten, not even the worst of the year but it did take me out for a week or so and it took me about 4-5 weeks to feel better. In early February, I started the Surf City Marathon. I ended up running 20 miles as planned, getting progressively faster. I often wish I had just finished the race, because I was feeling so good but that was never the plan.

The day before the symptoms hit me, I ran the Redondo Beach 10k. I was shocked to run 7:00 pace in a 10k, something that had alluded me for a few years. Then I prompty got sick. During that time, I ran the USA Women’s Half Marathon in Key West. I was unsure if I would be able to race it, and ultimately I ended up running not racing.

March:

March was mostly dedicated to the Los Angeles Marathon, my favorite race. About a week before, I had a hamstring thing pup up. Then I just overdid it the day before, so the race was somewhat rough for me. It was so much fun though and I was fornatute enough to run in the sub elite corral. Which meant I got to run most of the race alone. It also meant that how I felt was on full display to everyone.

Another highlight was running the Screenland 5k dressed as Top Gun. LOL, cringy based on what my spouse and I both do for work, but it was a lot of fun. Although running a 5k in full spandex in La spring…is not easy.

April:

April marked getting into summer of speed (fast girl summer), although the Carlsbad 5000 never felt great. Honestly, I just felt like I had no pop in my legs. (shocking, just a few weeks after Los Angeles). My husband and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary with a hike. We didn’t hike as much this year and that was mostly because after Mt. Fuji, I was done with hiking.

May:

May brought yet another sickness, omg just why? I got a throat virus, where I thought I had strep, but it was a virus. It was the most painful thing. I missed Mountains 2 Beach. I could have run, but I would have gotten others sick and it would have just been dumb.

A couple weeks later, our in laws came to visit and we ran the OC Half Marathon. It took over 2 hours to pick up our bags and we ultimately just never did. (They mailed them).

Then in late May, I ran the La Jolla Half Marathon, one of the hilliest road halves in the US. It wasn’t my day until Mile 10, when I ran my fastest last 5k on that course. So I was happy to end with a bang.

Until looking back at blog posts, I forgot I ran two 10ks as well. The one on Edwards was low key, but the Laguna Hills Memorial 10k, I ran a 42:21 and my fastest 10k in several years. As the name suggests, it was not flat.

June:

Summer of 5ks was in full swing by June. I also ended up achieving my goal of sub 20 minures. Just a few years ago, that wasn’t a huge goal for me and I could do it without training. These days, running doesn’t come as easy to me and so finally being under 20 ago, was so satisfying. Plus, I got to break the tape at Long Beach.

The rest of the 5ks were fun and served a purpose. I got out of the area and enjoyed some speed.

July:

In July, we went to visit my brother and his wife in Japan. It was a lot of fun, but man running in Japan in the summer is hard! I ended up running on the treadmill the entire time we were there. We climbed Mount Fuji, which was the hardest hike I’ve ever done and I haven’t been hiking since. (5000 feet in 4 miles).

I ran the Angels 5k before we left and set a course PR (the race is always short). Then when we got back, I ran the Conquer the Pier 5k which was chaotic and my body was jet lagged. I can’t say Venice is my favorite spot in LA.

August:

August and September are what I call the “dark times”. Really I should just call them the hot times. Los Angeles gets very hot and sunny, which means it’s not great for racing. LOL, of course that applies to the Mojave Desert where it can be 120.

I ran two 5ks including one on the track. Every year I do the track race, I forget how hot it is. It’s funny, I started in last place in my heat but was able to pass a few people due to the heat carnage. I also did the Edwards Aquathon which was a 2 mile run, 1k swim, 2 mile run. We started around 4:30 and luckily it was a “cooler” day. By that I mean it was over 100 degrees.

Finally in August, we took a fun vacation to Colorado and ran the Mt. Sneffels Half Marathon. They had to change the course due to flooding and it was significantly harder. Running uphill at 6000 feet of elevation. The highlight for me was stopping to take a photo with a spectating cat and somehow still getting 3rd woman overall.

September:

September has some of my favorite races in the Los Angeles area, unfortunately they did not go great for me. I ran the Conquer the Bridge where my legs just felt tired. Followed by the Santa Monica Classic which was shortened due to heat (and thank goodness because 5k was more than enough for me). Then finally the Surf City 10 miler, which I did after running 13 the day before with a friend.

Between starting a new job in July and beginning to increase my mileage for the marathon, my body was just tired and it meant races were not as fast as I had hoped.

October:

HAAA. In October, I ran two 5ks and a half marathon. I had planned to run RnR San Jose again, one of my favorite races. But I wa going through some things and mentally didn’t have it in me to drive to San Jose. So I ran the Long Beach Half Marathon. It was hot but the lowlight…highlight? was getting locked in a concrete bathroom. I went in and once the door shut, I quickly realized the “pull” piece had fallen off and I was unable to pull the door back open. It was traumatizing but luckily someone heard me yelling and karate kicked the door open. Seriously, it would have been a great action movie. After that, I was done with my race but I wanted the medal so I finioshed.

November:

November felt like I was finally making fitness gains. I ran two halves: Las Vegas and Richmond and both were in the 1:31 range, about 2 minutes faster than recent halves. They both had things happening that made them not perfect. Las Vegas was extremely windy (with a headwind the entire way because it was point to point) and Richmond I was getting sick…again. But I’m happy with my efforts and I know I ran run a sub 90 minute half on a good day.

I also ran two turkey trots including one at Edwards where I won a turkey and ended up jogging home with it. I was able to gut out the O’Side Turkey Trots (2x5k) and I know I would have been back under 20 minutes if I felt perfect.

December:

That sickness led into another sickness that I got just a few days before California International Marathon. To be honest, I have no idea why I got sick so much last year. It’s probably more than I have in the last 5 years (being in the office so much did me no favors).

California International Marathon feels like I’ve talked about it more than enough, but it was just not my day. Getting sick made the entire race a grind and I almost puked. Somehow I ran my fastest marathon since 2018, but it was not what I trained for.

Thoughts:

Whew, if you made it this far you can tell 2024 was the year of imperfect races and getting sick way too much. I still managed some decent races and while nothing was the “best ever,” I was able to run some of my fastest times from the last few years.

In 2025, I’m hoping for a race or two that aligns with feeling good. I’m also hoping to avoid getting sick so much again next year.

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Question for you: How was your 2024 of training?