Posted in Running, Thoughts

A Year of Running in Review – 2016

Posted on by Once_upon_a_run
Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve everyone! With the year coming to a close, I figured I’d recap my year of running and boy was it a fantastic year. 🙂
Best race experience: Oh man, that’s a tough one. Can we just call it a tie between the San Diego Holiday Half Marathon and the TCS NYC marathon? With the San Diego Holiday Half, I PRed by a full 8 and a half minutes and with the TCS NYC marathon, I RAN IT. It was my first marathon and with such an amazing crowd support, it was the most fun I ever had in a race.

Best run: Hmm, I would have to say running my 20 miler 2 weeks before my first full marathon. I was in a happy mood all morning and was able to keep a steady pace for the full 20 miles. It was at that moment that I realized I could actually finish a marathon because 6.2 more miles was nothing anymore.

Best new piece of running gear: I bought 3 pairs of running shoes. Two pair of Brooks Ghost 8 and a pair of New Balance Vazee 2090. LOL. I just couldn’t help myself. The Ghosts helped cushion my feet and the Vazee 2090’s helped a lot with speed work. I never thought I’d be able to run that fast. haha

Best running advice you’ve received this year: When you’re really tired, repeat a mantra over and over again to get you through. Mine was basically a pep talk to myself. “You got this. Push it!”

Most inspirational runner: I would have to say it’d be Kelly Roberts. I really like reading stories from runners that I can relate to. I discovered her blog recently and her posts have been extremely motivating. After reading her struggles, I think that if she can do it, so can I.

Favorite picture from a run or race this year: This picture definitely takes the cake. I finished my first ever marathon with a sub 5 time and a negative split. Of course, I’d kiss my hard earned medal.

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Race experience you would repeat in a heartbeat: TCS NYC marathon – I had such a blast and would run it again, no doubt.
If you could sum up your year in a couple of words what would they be? Your limits are only defined by you.
Thanks Courtney for the Year of Running questions!
How was your year of running? Did you accomplish your goals? PR? What’s in store for 2017? 

Author:

My name is Mai and I am a recent PhD graduate. :) When not hard at work, I can be found training for a race, traveling the world, or talking about Disneyland. Come join me on my journey and help me navigate this world. :)

27 thoughts on “A Year of Running in Review – 2016”

  2. Congrats on your huge running year! So many awesome accomplishments :)) reading this makes me want to run again! I have taken too long of a break. Btw I love how active you are on Twitter! I am trying to get better at it & have noticed you’re very engaged there :))

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    1. Thank you! You should totally run again. 🙂 It makes me happier and my mental health is super important to me. I love talking to fellow runners. I can never get most of my friends to run so I’m having a blast on Twitter talking to other runners. 🙂

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      1. I feel the same way about Twitter! It’s cool how accessible everyone is lol. And whaaat?! That’s awesome news about joining Twitter — it’s been an amazing for networking & learning! I’ll let you know after I do my first run back again :))

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    1. I was struggling all the miles leading up to the 20 miler, which made that day extra nice for me.
      And oh I’m sure that it was gorgeous! Iceland must have been beautiful. Did you see the Northern lights while you were there?

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  7. You ran your 20 miler only 2 weeks before the marathon?!! Mine took me 2 weeks after just to run normally! You had an awesome year! My mantra is the same as it’s always been “Just keep running” but with all the walking breaks I should probably change it to “just keep moving”. 🙂

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      2. That’s great! I’ve been wanting to run a half each month, but I just don’t make enough to afford it. Maybe you can do a Fall marathon? There are so many great ones then.

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      3. Well, it’s only each month until June. I have nothing June because of I don’t want to road trip anywhere because of money and we don’t have anything local. I’m also not 100% set on my April race. It’s local and I’ve run it before but they just released a major course change that I am not a fan of. Boo.

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      4. Yeah, traveling is expensive. I kept looking for local races, but I’ve done most of the interesting ones so I wanted to branch this upcoming year. Whatever happens, I hope you have a fantastic 2017 work and running wise! 🙂

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