2013: Year of Running

I'm taking this post idea straight from Miss Zippy.  Thanks for the idea.

Best Race Experience: I'm going with the Flying Pig 3 Way Challenge which was two races on Saturday and one on Sunday, including my current half marathon PR and one of my slowest 5K races ever.  Being at race weekend on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday made me feel much closer to the experience.  I'm just glad I didn't have to run a marathon on Sunday.  Honorable mention to both Brew to Brew and Ragnar Relay Great River.

Best Run: It's a toss up between my second 20 miler and third twenty miler of marathon training.  It was nice to have a friend run with me at the end of both of those runs.  It really made running alone easier, gave me something to look forward to, and just generally put the fun back in running.  Honorable mention to running in Washington DC and Virginia which was an unexpected amount of fun.

Best Piece of New Gear: My iPhone.  Seriously.  Running with reliable GPS tracking, taking more pictures, and even getting to listen to Pandora on select runs was awesome.  I'm having some serious issues with the battery in the cold though, and wondering if anyone else has noticed this?

Best Piece of Running Advice: came from this article about energy gels.  I'd long had GI issues when running, and the advice to take smaller portions of the gel more frequently was really helpful.  I haven't had a single problem since.

Most Inspirational Runner: The most moving thing in running this year seemed to me to be the events of the Boston Marathon.  Seriously, if not for that event, I wouldn't have signed up for Twin Cities this year.  Stephen Colbert summed it up best when he said all the terrorists could ever do is show just how strong we are. 

Sum up your year in a couple of words: Just keep running.  Just keep running.