Hey everyone! I hope you all had a fun and safe holiday with your family. I have been gone for quite a while and I missed the running community a lot.
I am back in Kansas again (finally!) after traveling pretty much all over our hemisphere. After Utah I left for Virginia for a week and then I went home to visit family in South Florida. Frank and I then flew from Fort Lauderdale to Cabo San Luca in Mexico and traveled up the length of the Baja peninsula to San Diego before heading home. I have been pretty exhausted from travel, but now I’m back and ready to train (although I should have been training prior to now, but really, that’s water under the bridge).
Elly was pretty thrilled to see me after I got back. Honestly I was a little worried she would forget about me.
I have some crazy stories about our travels, but now I’m just glad to be home and getting back into a rhythm.
I want to take a moment to reflect a little on 2015. I had a crazy year, with a big move, big travels, new friends and jobs, and a whole lot of running. I ran my first half marathon, and then PRed twice on the half (including at Estes Park, CO). I trained for the Chicago Marathon, and even though I turned my ankle and couldn’t run it, I still trained hard and learned a lot about what I am capable of.
So 2016 is here and I have a few goals. I guess it’s easiest if I list them out…
1. Get back to real training again. I haven’t really gotten back to the level of training I was at before I turned my ankle, so first and foremost, that is my goal. I know it’s possible because I already did it. I want to get back to running 35+ miles per week.
2. PR the half marathon either at A1A in February (that’s so freaking soon), or at Rocky Mountain in July (this is where my current PR is).
3. Run the Colfax Marathon in May… and not get injured this time, so no mountain biking for a while. I have no time goals. I just want to finish injury free.
4. Run the Chicago Marathon in October. I need to redeem myself from last year.
5. This may seem like a crazy one… but PR in the Marathon at Chicago (since I’ll have a time from Colfax).
and finally (and most importantly)… go injury free this year. No ankle turns, no knee issues…just some good ole’ injury free running.
I think in 2015, although I did manage a lot, I got too caught up in race times. This year I want to run by feel, and if I run a little slower sometimes, honestly, I don’t care. I don’t want running to stress me out, which it occasionally did last year.
So, there you have it… and I can’t wait to see how it all goes! I’m super glad to be back!
How was your holiday? Any cool new travels? What is your big 2016 goal?
She Runs the Wasatch 
Glad you’re back! I take it that both your ankles are now pretty much healed up? If so that’s great! Welcome back to training and blogging!
You sure have a lot going on this year!! I’m sure that after all the stops and starts this fall you have a new zest for running and the energy to tackle lots of big projects. I don’t think your goal of PRing the Chicago Marathon is too ambitious – with the timing of your other races, you can essentially use Colfax just for the experience and then you should have enough energy left over to spend the summer continuing to build up and introducing harder workouts. I’m excited to follow your progress this year and I hope you’ll have time to blog more often again!
My big goals this year are to run sub-3:45 at my marathon this Spring, and then run a sub-1:45 half hopefully this fall, but I’m trying to hold back on committing to it this far in advance.
LikeLike
Ah the post below is meant to be my response to you. Haha! My phone has been acting so weird when I post lately!
LikeLike
I hope you get that sub-3:45 so you can qualify for Chicago! I have been feeling really discouraged lately because of the injuries. Honestly, my ankle still feels weird. I don’t know if it’ll ever feel 100%. But I made a decision last week to stop putting things off and just go run. Haha! It worked out pretty well.
LikeLike
Wow I am planning a trip to CO this summer- Estes Park and RMNP! Sounds like this is your neck of the woods or at least somewhere you like to visit. Now I am going to go stalk your about me page. 🙂
I have kitties too! Did someone watch your little Elly while you were gone?
LikeLike
Yeah. I hired a pet sitter. I live in Manhattan, KS… which is in the middle of the great plains. There is really nothing to do there, so Frank and I frequent Denver/Boulder/Estes Park, since we have tons of friends there. If you’re planning a trip, you should think about doing that race while you’re there. It was awesomely fun and there was fantastic scenery. RMNP is pretty packed in the summer, but there are some nice longer trails that will be a little less crowded.
LikeLike
That would definitely be cool but the elevation REALLY affects me every time we go to CO. I don’t think I would be able to handle a marathon there. BUT it is good to know what weekend it is to avoid race crowds!
LikeLike
I can’t wait to read about your travels!!
I hope to see you at A1A!!! I’m glad you’ll be there!! I told Kristina we should try to do dinner or something that weekend…I’ll be in for more than just the race because I don’t have work Monday and it’s my birthday weekend! So I hope you can join us!
LikeLike
Yeah! We should get together. I’ll be there for the whole weekend. The only issue is that I don’t get to see my family very often, since I live in Kansas, and I’ll have to make sure things work with their schedule.
LikeLike
Welcome back! I’ve sort of dropped off the face of the blog world lately… juggling too many things I guess. I also never got back to you about Mexico, but you probably guessed I wasn’t going to make it. How was it? I can’t wait to hear about it!
Big goals for the year! So exciting! I hope you get back to blogging so I can follow along. I ran a half yesterday and am in recovery mode at the moment but I’ve got LA coming up in about 5 weeks. Crazy!
LikeLike
Mexico was amazing! I have some pretty wild stories and pics. I figured you were busy when you didn’t get back to us. How’d the half go? I can’t wait to hear about that and LA!
LikeLike