2015 in Review

These year end posts are always a little daunting, but they're hardest when I'm not really ready to say goodbye to the year. This time, I feel ready. 2015 was fine, but it wasn't a highlight year for me. I've been looking forward to 2016 for months now...so it's definitely time to bid 2015 adieu.

This year I ran twelve races, including my second full marathon and multiple "distance challenges" (Gasparilla and the virtual Runner's World Festival hat trick). What I lacked in speed, I made up for in mental strength and stamina. I pushed myself to new limits this year, and came away better for it.

January
Highlight: January marked my 5 year runniversary, which felt like a pretty big deal.
Noteworthy Post: I dug through old photos and data and found information about my first-ever race, a small, church-organized 5k that I ran without expectations and just for the cause. It's interesting to see how much things have changed for me since then, at least where racing is involved.

February
Highlight: Running a colleague's first 5k with her - it was extremely emotional and wonderful to see her finish. I'll never forget experiencing that with her. A close second would be Gasparilla Weekend with Kristin and Mari. The distance challenge and back-to-back races were difficult, but made me feel like Superwoman!

Noteworthy Post: My recap of the A1A half marathon. I don't think I've ever felt happier at a race than I did that weekend.

March
Highlight: Getting to play volleyball on a faculty team against other schools in our network. I really need to consider joining a league, because I miss it!
Noteworthy Post: My slightly snarky post on reasons I won't follow certain blogs still makes me laugh, and still rings true.

April
Highlight: Running with Kristin and her daughter and Meg and her step-daughter in the Girls on the Run 5k. Being out there just for fun and seeing all those active kids was so fulfilling!

Noteworthy Post: Remember that time a drunk teenage couple parked their car in our driveway and we had it towed? Ah, good times, good times.

May
Highlight: My annual trip to DC with my students was definitely a highlight, as was seeing my oldest friend get married.
Noteworthy Post: This one's a tie between my thoughts on word choice and things you'll find in a runner's mouth. I had forgotten I ran to Celine Dion this spring and wasn't ashamed to admit it!

June
Highlight: I received a Teacher of the Year Award, which was humbling and surprising, and I got to see some of my fellow All-Star Teachers in Tampa! It was a good month to be a teacher.

Noteworthy Post: I'd been debating posting about my favorite picture ever since it was taken, and June 2015 I finally did. I'm glad, too. Everyone was so supportive and I hope my story spoke to others. It was a scary post to make public, but I feel a lot freer and stronger since doing so.

July
Highlight: Traveling to St. Croix to see Scott and help him move in was a nice summer trip to celebrate Matt's and my anniversary.
Noteworthy Post: Matt and I celebrated our five year anniversary, and it was a nice excuse to look back on how young we looked and how pretty our wedding was!

August
Highlight: I found gluten free Cheerios at my grocery store! I know, it seems like such a silly thing, but there's no accounting for what makes us happy!
Noteworthy Post: My response to things non-runners say, because very few of us were just born runners from day one, and we've all been there.

September
Highlight: I'd like to pretend this month never happened. Honestly, there were no highlights, and the entire month I was depressed and moody and completely emotionally absent...And looking back at my blog archives for September brings back the pain of Archie's death as if it only just happened. This month sucked.
Noteworthy Post: Matt answered questions about my running, and he did a pretty good job!

October
Highlight: I hit 100 miles in a single month for the first time ever, and I was stoked! I ran my longest solo long-run to date, and Matt had Chattajack, which was a crazy adventure and a definite highlight for both of us, and my little sis got married. Talk about a full, good month!

Noteworthy Post: I let you guys see a little bit behind the scenes of what I'm really like in real life. Now that Megan and Kristina have seen my home and spent some quality time with me, they can verify if these things are true!

November
Highlight: I hit another mileage milestone - running 20 miles totally solo. This was definitely a strong training year!
Noteworthy Post: Despite not meeting my goals for BDR, I still stand behind the determination and self-assurance in this post.

December
Highlight: Running BDR...mostly because I got to spend quality time with my sister and two of my favorite bloggers.

Noteworthy Post: Looking back on my thoughts post-race, after I'd had some time to come to terms with BDR's outcome, I'm really proud of how far I've come as a runner and as a person. I feel mentally stronger and more confident than ever before, and I think that comes across pretty clearly in how I talk about my successes and setbacks.

Looking back, I can see that 2015 was mostly a fairly solid year. I do think this year made me a stronger runner mentally, and physically in some ways, but I lost a lot of speed; at times, I really coasted.

I did find this year that I can knock out a respectable half marathon time without too much training, which made me happy, but I also learned that no matter how prepared I am, sometimes race day conditions will get the best of me.

I'm ready to take the lessons I learned from 2015 into the new year and make 2016 a year to celebrate and remember!

How was your 2015?

ABK

Christmas & 3 Gifts I'm Already Loving

This year, Matt and I were able to split our time nicely between families for Christmas Eve and Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I ran in the morning (the longest I've run since BDR) and then we went to his mom's and helped cook dinner and spent the evening together.

I saw lots of deer on my run, and they stood still and made eye-contact with me while I stopped to get pictures. Deer are considerate like that.

I enjoyed a nice sunrise and 5 miles.

Christmas Eve dinner!

On Christmas, we spent the day with Matt's dad's family and got to see his cousins and Nana. It was a very full (and fulfilling) day.

A very green Christmas.

After dinner with Nana!

This year, it was clear to me that no one is easier to shop for than runners! We're drawn like magpies to new gadgets and accessories. I don't usually make a post about "gifts to get your runner this Christmas" because I feel like the internet is full of them this time of year, but this holiday season, I've received three gifts I really wasn't expecting and already love, so I had to share my delight!

1. The Apple Watch. Now, it's no Garmin, but for me, that's a plus. I love that the Apple Watch lets me access my apps and has a workout app of its own. I can dictate texts through it, which is a must for me, and it's so pretty!

I've been playing around with the workout app vs. Activity vs. Nike+ via the watch, and all three have their benefits. 

Yes, that's a picture of a picture of a picture ad infinitum.

I love that the Nike+ app lets me track my pace during runs and brings up the cheers as they come through, so I can see who's cheering as I go instead of when I'm finished. The display is easy to read and the watch itself is super easy to use.

I also like that I can use the watch as a remote camera, which I know will come in handy once I practice working with it more.

2. The Palm Massager. Steph surprised Matt and me with this mini TENS unit, but Matt is a little skeptical about giving it a try so it's mostly mine for now. When I was in college, I had really bad migraines and used a TENS unit as treatment, so I'm familiar with it and already know how it works for me. I know the effects might be mostly psychological, but who am I to knock the power of placebos? If nothing else, it feels nice to have a little electric-massage after tweaking a muscle.

Who's up for a little light electrocution?

I've started my 30-day cross-training challenge, and Tuesday my back was a little sore from all the core work. After 30 minutes with the Palm Massager, I felt better. Not perfect, but much less stiff! This is definitely a gadget I wouldn't have even thought to get myself, but it's going to become a recovery staple for sure.

3. The Lululemon Wild Tank. This was a gift from Kristin and my first piece of Lulu apparel. Kristin owns it in multiple colors and I always comment on it when she wears it; the strappy bra and the low back is just really cute! Most of my running clothes are pretty basic and utilitarian, so it's nice to have something pretty, eye-catching, and fun in my drawer.

Lulu isn't something I'd ever splurge on for myself, so I'm especially grateful that Kristin snapped it up for me! I wore it on my Christmas Eve run and during my core workout afterward and it was so comfortable.

I received some other wonderful gifts, like a daily running calendar I can't wait to break into on January 1st and some decorative accents for our house, but these are three gifts I wouldn't have thought to get myself and they're fast favorites. I guess my friends/family know me better than I know myself!

Did you receive anything surprising this year?

What is your favorite kind of gift to receive?

Are you a good gift-giver? Admittedly, I'm not great at it. That's why I always include a handwritten card - I work much better in words than gifts sometimes!

ABK

Up For Debate: "Passing!"

A few weeks ago, one of the women in my online running group posted this story about a Negative Nancy she encountered during a trail race:

This led to a bit of a debate in the comments (all very cordial, of course).

Most of us were surprised that Negative Nancy was obviously so offended at being warned that she was being passed. Isn't it good etiquette to warn runners that you're passing, especially on a narrow trail?

Some runners, however, opined that they never warn that they're passing, especially in a trail race because headphones usually aren't allowed and their upcoming footsteps can be heard clearly. Still others said they only warn that they're passing if there's limited space to do so. A couple said that they cough or purposely make noise to passively warn runners they're coming, but rarely fully announce themselves.

Originally, I felt like I warn people when I'm passing 90% of the time. But the more I thought about it, I realized that that's not true. I only warn people if I'm going to have to make a narrow dodge between them, or if they begin to meander into my path at the last minute.

Then of course I got to thinking about the fact that announcing rarely works out anyway, since people only have a split second to react, and then this happens.

Either way, passing is necessary sometimes, and announcing you're passing isn't meant to be rude. But is it necessary?

Negative Nancy may have been having a bad day, or maybe the original "Passing!" comment sounded harsh because some of us tend to shout when we're running without meaning to. (I'm pretty sure I announced at the top of my lungs, "I'm stuffing ice down my shorts!" at BDR last weekend.) Maybe she was new to trail racing - or racing in general - and didn't know the etiquette; she may have felt singled out. There are many reasons for her overreaction, but the question remains: is announcing that you're passing necessary etiquette, or not?

What do you guys think? Do you announce when you're passing other runners? Do you prefer to be warned if you're going to be passed?

ABK