All things considered 2016 was a great year.

I joined not one but 2 running groups.  The Somerville Road Runners is the local road running group that I do most of my weekly runs with.  I have run with them in the past unofficially but 2016 was the year that I wanted to really get involved.  It has been a great support finding other runners in my pace group.

Trail Animals Running Club is the trail running group in the area. Their reach is wide (runners in most New England states) and their energy is contagious.  It is really fun to see runners from all levels and abilities meeting huge goals at some of the TARC ultra races.  I hope to do the Spring Classic trail marathon in April.

Volunteering with these two clubs was a priority of mine this year.  Volunteering really made me feel like I'm giving back to such a great community of runners (both road and trail runners) who have helped me in this pursuit of mine and it's a ton of fun.  I hope to have time in 2017 to continue do this.

My running calendar took a bit of a hit this year due to abdominal surgery in the fall.  I took two months completely off and I'm pleased to say that I am back to running somewhat consistently again.  Surgery was without a doubt the necessary and best route and I'm already feeling much better than I did pre-surgery.  Even with those two months rest, I was still only 10 miles off of last year's mileage.  I hit 690 miles this year!  PTL!

Also in 2016!

I bought my first pair of Hokas!  Hoka One One Cliftons.  They're nice :)

And...my first hydration vest, the Nathan Fireball. Now I can carry tons of water and snacks.  Convenient!

And...finally made running on trails a regular occurrence.  I'm still pretty slow at it but oh well!

Between a slow start to the year, surgery and then recovery from surgery, I've learned many lessons in 2016.  Trust, patience, perseverance are just a few.  I trust that God has a plan in everything.  Sure, I was anxious at times but reminders of God's past faithfulness lead me to trust and produced in me patience to seek/wait for the solutions and the perseverance to keep on.  

I ran a lot of 14 minute miles this year as I was figuring out my health issues because running slow was better than not running at all.  "A mile is a mile".  I took a lot of encouragement from that common saying.  I hope to carry this same hope into the new year.  My theme for 2017 is "Going for it".  Life is too short and injuries are too common :) First, the trail marathon.  Then...a 50?  Who knows!  I'm just going to go for it and see what happens.

Enjoy this short video I made of my last run of the year.  Let it encourage you to keep on and to appreciate even those toughest workouts.  God has a plan in everything!

Two thumbs up for tonight's run.  I was scheduled to do 6 miles and was able to have my friend Adele who is visiting from out of town run with for half it.  First of all, it was a beautiful day and evening and I picked a route in the West part of town that I really enjoy doing even though I have to walk a lot on the hills.  

Though the pace was slow, I'm still proud to say it was steady.  We did not walk AT ALL and only had to stop at a couple of stop lights.  I was for sure tired at the end but gained a lot of confidence.

Selfie after our run

I have been working on not taking so many walk breaks and trying to get mentally tougher when it comes to pushing through tiredness.  Tonight was definitely a victory.  6 miles.  The farthest I've gone in a while and the end to the first official week of marathon training.

Yep, you read that right!  Marathon training. 

The goal race is the TARC Spring Classic Marathon the end of April.  It is a trail race in Weston, MA put on by my running group, the Trail Animals Running Club.  I figure even though I've never done a trail race it will be a good low key intro back into running. I'm really just looking to get back into a running routine and do my best!  No pressure.

Check the blog from time to time for training updates :)  Also, I'll definitely be updating my upcoming races page soon as I plan out 2017.  Exciting times!

I'm prepping for abdominal surgery tomorrow and to be sidelined from running for a couple months.  This has been a while coming so I think I'm ready.  


I tweeted this earlier this year. 

Just a few short months after I'd posted it, I realized it might not happen.  :\  That age old passage came to mind.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, 

spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' 

 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  
What is your life? 

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  

Instead, you ought to say, 

'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that'.” 

-James 4:13-15

This passage always gets me thinking and challenges me to be open to the many detours life has to offer.

This year is not the year of my first ultra after all.  It stinks but it really is ok.  When asking me about my surgery and impending time off, a friend asked me whether not being able to run would make me depressed.  I don't think so.  

I learned this lesson from my previous injury; a closed door doesn't always stay closed and can even be a catalyst to some serious growth if you're open.  The silver lining with surgery is that there is usually a clear prognosis from the beginning.  I've been given a 6-8 week recovery time.  That puts a light at the end of the tunnel to run towards (pun?).  In 6-8 weeks I can start trying to be active again!  Running will be there.  The fact of the matter is I feel awful now and surgery is supposed to help.

I believe there is a purpose in everything.  God's purpose.  It's gonna be good. 

August Run Streak
So... in my preparation for surgery I wanted to do one last epic thing.  Originally, I thought the TARC Summer Classic 50k ultra marathon would be it, but there was no way I would be in shape in time.  I settled on a month-long run streak.

"Streaking" is running every day at least 1 mile a day.

I set out to run every day in the month of August but started a little early, July 23rd to be exact.  I made it 34 days of running before I skipped.  It was awesome. 

Before this, my longest streak only last 5 days.  I just happened to be feeling good that week and things worked out for me to get that 5th day. This 34 day streak really surprised me.  I was surprised how long my body held up.  I took each run easy so as not to strain myself too early.  But even with a few long-ish runs thrown in there, I still managed to be recovered and ready for the next day.  I started to feel tired around day 24/25 but that's to be expected.  I ended the streak on August 26th.  It was a hectic day and I wasn't feeling too well.  

It was a really good streak.  34 days for a total of 147.1 miles.  I'm proud!


Favorite pictures from the summer
Here are a few of my faves from my running adventures this summer.  Enjoy them until I'm back out there snapping fall foliage shots!   

Reservoir trail!  I've hit the trails more this summer than ever.  My goal was to get out there once a week but it ended up being more like twice a month. :P

Me and Lize on the Resevoir trail

No love for geese.  This was taken on my new favorite route to run home.  It's about 7 miles with this little mile stretch along the river.

I love this picture because it was taken on an impromptu explore run with Liza after work.  I've been in Boston for 14 years or so and I'm amazed how there are still places I have been and views I haven't seen.

Pic from one of the tougher 10 miles I've done this summer.  Don't let the peaceful lake scene fool you.  This was hard from beginning to end.

Copley sparkle

Saturday long runs with my running club were clutch this year.

Pictures of the Charles never get old.

 

Run collage from my last long run of the summer.  I crossed through 6 towns on this 10 mile run..  Boston is such a little big town.

Game Plan

I'll be down but not out. :)  I'm thinking of this as an extended rest time.  After all, forced rest is still rest.  I will try to enjoy all the free time, give my foot a much needed break from all the pounding, and finally get some consistent practice on my guitar (after i'm feeling a bit better that is).

Happy running, all!

 

Have you ever had that kind of run that keeps you up at night?  Makes you want to go back because you know you can do better?  That's how I felt about the Reservoir trail run I did with my friend Liza earlier this month. 

It was rough.  Took me out for a week but I really wanted to do it again.

The Reservoir trail really is a beautiful trail in the Middlesex Fells Reservation.  It's about a 6 mile loop around 3 reservoirs; South Reservoir, Middle Reservoir, and North Reservoir.  The trail crosses two towns, Medford and Winchester and is marked with orange markers.  It can be hilly but it's not very technical.  It has a lot of little nuisances in the many rocks and roots waiting to trip you up.  The Skyline trail (white markers) also circles the reservoirs as well as some access roads and smaller unmarked paths.

This weekend was the Vermont 100.
  
I went up this year as a volunteer with a couple of folks from my road running group, Adena and Shaun.  

The Vermont 100 Endurance Race is one of the oldest in the US and one of the only races that still have horse race.  I got turned onto this race a few years ago when I started following ultrarunning.  It is a part of the Grand Slam Series which attracts some fast people.  Some of these folks can run 100 miles at a faster overall pace than I can run a 5k!  Really exciting.  The race is put on by and supports the Vermont Adaptive, a local conservancy group.

Two weekends ago my friend Liza and I attended the TARC Trail Running Camp held at the Hale Reservation in Westwood, MA.  

TARC (Trail Animals Running Club) is a local trail running group with active members mostly in New England but in other states as well.  I have been interested in running with them for quite some time but haven't up until now. 

I raced both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.  Who am I?

This weekend was perfect, weather-wise...for sitting in the shade on the beach.  

It was a little hot for running.   

Thankfully both races started early and were short.  Saturday morning was my club's relay challenge which began at 8:30am.  I only had to run 1600 meters.  Sunday was a 10k starting at 8am.  Having run a 10k before, I was much more nervous about the 1600.  Running a mile on a track is hard and everyone is watching.  It was okay though. Everyone was so supportive and I beat my goal at both races!

This is going to be a quick one.

A couple weeks ago my friend, Laura and I ran in the Boston's Run to Remember Half Marathon.  I've run this race once before in 2011 which was my debut to distance running.  The 2011 race was okay.  I remember getting sick the week before it and being miserable the whole time.  

This race was kinda similar.  I was a little off to start but got through.

Official race photo. cred:Runner Buzz Media

Halfs are not really my thing...  

My year started out with another plan but due to some setbacks early in the year and an ongoing health issue, training for a spring marathon (or ultra as I was originally signed up for) was out of the question. I threw this into the schedule mainly as motivation to keep running. 

The goal:  take it easy and try for even splits.

Somewhere in the back of my head I thought I could maintain an 11:30 min/mile pace for the whole race.  I had been working hard at track and have been getting more consistent with my reps.  On easy runs, my mile times have been in the 11:50-12:30 min/mile range which, though much slower than past years, is a great improvement from this winter and from last year's marathon (avg'ing 13ish pace).  For the shorter faster stuff, I can now get down into the 10's and I have been getting a lot out of our group long runs once a month.

Joining my running group at the track this winter and coaching myself to stay positive has made the world of difference.  For this race, I made the decision to run my own pace and not get distracted by the crowd or what others were doing.  I had some mild abdominal cramping at the start but I was confident that my goal was attainable.  I kept with the plan.  I aimed to walk all the hills and water stops [and smile for all the course cameras].  In the end, I was surprised at how close I was to hitting the 11:30 pace!  Below are my splits.
 

Official race photo. cred:Runner Buzz Media

                    mile 1- 11:22
                    mile 2- 11:19

                    mile 3- 10:55
                    mile 4- 11:57
                    mile 5- 11:08
                    mile 6- 11:36
                    mile 7- 11:39
                    mile 8- 11:19
                    mile 9- 12:12
                    mile 10- 11:24
                    mile 11- 11:53
                    mile 12- 11:24
                    mile 13- 11:03 


 
All things considered, it was a good race.  Perfect cloudy 60 degrees.  Perfect-ish pacing and super sweet race pics. :) 

My friend also had a wicked good race.  We decided to run separately and she finished up in 1:48 something!  Congrats, Laura!

How about you?

How is your race training going?

Have you had to make adjustments in your 2016 race schedule? 

Do you ever plan walk breaks in a race?