2014 Year in Review! Welcoming 2015!

As 2014 comes to a close, I figured I'd write one recap post for the year. This year was an interesting one to say the least. Kimi and I started the year off by training for the Rock the Parkway half marathon in April. It wasn't our best training leading up to that race as we both have a hard time dealing with the cold temperatures and Kimi was sick for a week or two about 5 weeks prior to the half.  That definitely slowed us both down a bit. However, with that in mind, I still managed to run a 1:16:30 and Kimi was still able to win the race outright. The times we ran were a huge eye opener for us though. We knew that we were going to have to get some serious training in for the next two months heading into the Grandma's marathon in June.

This year's Grandma's marathon was one of our best experiences yet. Kimi ran amazing and qualified with a B-standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon which will be held in February 2016 in L.A. I will never forget the feeling watching her cross the finish line just shortly after me.  She ran a 2:41:54 and I ran a 2:38:05. Both P.R.'s.

After that race, we were both pumped up with the results which caused us to go right back to training with very little rest. This made running for the next few months feel almost like a chore rather than something we just craved doing like before. We still managed to put in some good training but our performances were more hit or miss rather than always being hits like we're used to.

We definitely traveled a bunch this fall.  We went to KC twice, Columbia once, and Tulsa once.  The races didn't all go as planned but we were still able to learn some good lessons from each experience that will help us in 2015.  We capped off our racing season with our annual appearance at the Bass Pro half marathon where Kimi brought home another 1st place effort and I managed a 4th place time.  It was a bittersweet day for me.  I had finished in the top 3 for the past 3 years so this was disappointing to have that streak broken.  However, I am quite proud of my efforts after fighting the side stitch that nearly debilitated me at mile 8.

In all, 2014 was a pretty solid year of running. Our total miles were the least we've run in the past 4 years but our marathon performance makes everything else from this year just not seem as important. We are both looking forward to 2015's running challenges and races. In 2015 we plan to run the Rock the Parkway half again followed by the Grandma's marathon just like this year.  However, the intent is to literally 'rock' Rock the Parkway this time around as prep for our June marathon where we intend to run some new personal bests again this year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Year Recap-
2536 miles
2:38:05 Marathon - New P.R.
1:15:20 Half Marathon
16:30ish 5k