2013 In Review

I have been debating whether to even bothered to write about how 2013 went.  To me, it was a wash between being a great running year and a sad running year.  At the beginning of the year, I had the following goals:

A - 2500 miles

B - 12 marathons earning me a third star on the maniacs

C - No asthma attacks

Although I basically succeeded in achieving goals B and C, the reason for me not achieving goal A is both sad and complicated.

The first part of the year went really well, I finished the following marathons/ultras: Walt Disney World, ING Miami, A1A Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, DT Endurance 50K, Puerto Rico, and San Francisco, a feat in and of itself.  I almost PRd at Disney and earned my current marathon PR at the A1A Ft. Lauderdale.  Overall, I was optimistic that training for the Chicago Marathon would bring me a new PR and the sub-4:30 I know I am capable of when the stars aligned.

But they did not.  Training for Chicago went great and Walter (my coach) and I had to adjust my goal MP to 10mm because I was doing so well and effortless.  The mileage was high and I was responding well.  Yet, when I arrived in Chicago, I started feeling off and later DNSd the race at Mile 11 due to pain.  At the time, I thought I had hurt myself and believed the best was to leave all my efforts for the MCM marathon coming up in 2 weeks.  But, it was not muscle related, as my previous RRs have mentioned.  I had some bigger non-running issues that after seven years, they decided to make themselves more noticeable...and painful.  Oh, the pain.  Chicago was the beginning, MCM was done and I had fun but the pain was there.  During the New York City Marathon, everything went great until the pain started.  I was demoralized and felt I would never be able to PR at this point.  At the time, I suspected surgery was the next step and a visit to the doctor in December confirmed it.  But I wanted to do something amazing this year and I signed up for my first double marathon weekend: R.A.G. 26.2 and Ft. Myers Beach.  They went great.  In fact, I had no pain during the second race.  So, I went to Space Coast hopeful that I would be able to run strong.  And I did, in part, running the fastest marathon of this season but still with a disappointing time due to the pain.

The next few weeks were sad.  One kitty got very ill with liver lipidosis and I spent most of the time force feeding her, giving her meds, and losing my running mojo.  I had made an appointment with another doctor who would give me a second opinion and if confirmed would do the surgery I wanted.  So, until December 23, I had no mojo.  Once I confirmed the plan included surgery and scheduled the surgery for February 14, my mojo returned.  I still have pain but my runs have been strong since then.  My kitty is getting better (although a second one fell ill and I am repeating the same steps I did with the first, albeit more of an expert at force feeding).  But the fact that I have a plan for 2014 and that I know what I want to do post surgery and what my goals will be, has my running mojo on fire.

So, I did not run 2500 miles, I barely made it to 2300.  I did run 12 marathons but instead of a third star, I earned a fourth one due to the doubles.  And I had no asthma attacks and made it past a year without needing to use albuterol.  In and of itself, the year was not bad.  But until I take care of that other problem, my racing is on hold.  My true racing, not my marathons, hello?

Here is to a new running year!