December 31, 2017 – A Girl on a Search for Adventure

I started 2017 with crazy ambitions. Here are some of them.

I wanted to run 1000 miles; I ended with 1375 miles. Woohoo!

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I wanted to publish a 1st author paper, graduate, and get a job; I nailed it. LOL

I wanted to stretch 3x a week and even cross train; Yeah, that didn’t happen. Oops. LOL

I wanted to beat a personal record in at least one distance; I PRed in 3 distances – the 5k, half, and full. Woot woot!

I wanted to do another 100 happy day project; Super failed. I blame depression.

There were several more, but those were the ones I really wanted to achieve. Even though I didn’t succeed at all of them, I gave most of them my best shot. I probably could have tried to stretch a bit more, but I was just lazy.

2017 was a rollercoaster of a year for me. There were a lot of ups and downs and honestly, I’m super surprised I survived through it all. Let’s recap the more memorable events – highs and lows, shall we?

In January, I placed 3rd in my age group in The Great Chocolate Race 10 miler in Long Beach.

In February, I joined BibRave and was introduced to some amazing runners and incredible opportunities.

In March, I beat my personal record in the half marathon distance at the San Diego Half marathon.

In April, I beat another personal record in the 5k distance by a whopping minute and a half at the Carlsbad 5000 and I also conquered the La Jolla Half Marathon again after swearing to never do it again. 🙂

In June, I ran my 15th half marathon at the San Diego Rock N Roll Half Marathon.

In July, I began experiencing the craziest stress I’ve ever endured while writing my dissertation.

In August, I ran the SeaWheeze Half Marathon in Vancouver, my first half marathon in another country, defended my thesis, received my Ph.D in biology, and got my first job offer outside of academia.

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In September, I started my new job.

In October, I ran my 2nd full marathon at the Chicago marathon and completed 1000 miles for the year. Highlight of the year. Shortly thereafter, my long distance relationship ended.

In November, I crossed off a bucket list race by running the Las Vegas strip at night at Las Vegas’ Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I also suffered an extreme bout of low motivation and depression.

In December, the depression got very real.

So the year didn’t end on a high note, but writing this recap has helped me remember that I did accomplish a lot this year and that it shouldn’t be overshadowed by the last few months. Here’s to hopefully a better 2018!