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Duluth, MN - half marathon

Sunday, January 14, 2018

2017 in Review

3183 miles
10 races (some used as workouts)
Marathon PR
Highest weekly mileage - 100 (which is a life time high for me!)
29 miles for Penny


The Good:

1. I walked away with a new marathon PR and ran in my first "World Major". . . the Chicago Marathon. I was 12th female overall and the 7th American. This is where I punched my ticket to the 2020 OLYMPIC MARATHON TRIALS!! So close to the "A" standard. (Recap for Chicago - click here)

2. I also hit a triple digit week! It was hard, and I'm not sure it will be in the books for 2018. . . but we will see. I'm not sure I was recovering from the high mileage with work, summer heat, and then throwing in some really hard/long workouts. But I'm not fully ruling it out yet :) 


3. I finished 15th at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. This is the first time I haven broken into the top 20 at a championship event.( Recap for USATF Champs - click here )



29 miles for Penny this year :)
The Not So Good:
2017 was not the year for ideal race conditions:

  • The year started with snow during The Big 12 12k. 
  • 20+ mph head winds at Rock the Parkway Half Marathon 
  • Extremely humid and storms/severe weather (they pulled people out of the race!) at the USATF half champs
  • Both marathons were (fairly) hot (60 at Chicago and 80 at Bass Pro) (Recap here)
My favorites of  2017:
  • Best Race Experience - Chicago marathon - First world major, new PR, over 1 million spectators, high finish!
  • Most Memorable Race - Big 12 12k. While the race was really uneventful, it was one of the coolest prizes I've won. I got a year supply of gas cards AND 2 tickets to attend the Big 12 CHAMPIONSHIP game. They even brought out the race winners to the court at haIf time. It was extremely fun and worth battling the snow and wind (I was all-out bundled up with a jacket, full tights, and probably a pack of hot hands. . . I can't remember). Although, I was having second thoughts during the race. 
Snowy and cold!
  • Best Run/Workout - 10 x 800 (w/2.5-3 min recovery). All were 2:35 or faster. This was 2 weeks before Chicago, and why I thought I would get the "A" standard - but we are always chasing the "perfect" race conditions, which I probably need to get the "A" standard of sub 2:37.
  • Best New Piece of Gear - I tried a new brand of Shoes. The brand is 361° and the shoe was called 361 - Onyx. It is a trainer, but the bottom is foam and looks similar to a flat. So I was able to wear them for several workouts and it still felt like I had on a fast shoe. I did not get the miles I expected out of them, but I guess that is expected since the bottom is foam. 
    Decent price and held up okay
  • Most Inspirational Runner of 2017 - I'm gonna go with Jordan Hasay's breakout year for the marathon. She finished 3rd at Boston (fastest debut by an American women). Then she ran even faster and took 3rd at the Chicago marathon.
Goals for 2018:
  • Run a good half/possible PR. I'm not sure which races yet where this will be ideal. If I do well at Boston, I will probably run the half at Grandma's in Duluth again. 
  • This might be far-fetched, but I'm going for the "A" standard of sub 2:37 again. I just keep telling myself that I'm actually closer to the "A" than I am to the "B" standard. I need to take 80 seconds off my PR 2:38:19. My best chance is Boston in April. Then Marshall and I are trying to decide between Grandma's in June or CIM (California) in December as a back up. I really want to go skiing (still mad that our plans fell through. . . we were suppose to be Skiing as I am typing this), so I'm having a hard time fully committing to CIM as both these trips would be very expensive.

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