Last race of 2015. I love determination that I have. The photo has also shown me some work that I need to do on my form in 2016.
Like many people do at this time of year, I’ve done a bit of a look back at the last year. All in all its been a very good year. My work as a pastor has been going well, and connected to this my life as a runner has been amazing. I say these two are connected because I discovered a couple years ago that running has been a wonderfully spiritual activity. It is when I pray, meditate, relieve stress, and thankfully get a lot of sermon prep done.
I cannot count the times that I’ve discovered solutions to various problems while running. I cannot count the times that I’ve been able to just let my mind go and relish the moment, enjoy the scenery, and feel that life is wonderful. And those weeks in the past year that we’ve had very bad news in our country, running has helped me to process my own anger and grief. I hope that this has made me a better leader.
From a physical standpoint, running along with a vastly improved diet has helped me move from obese to merely overweight. I am working hard to lose more weight as part of becoming a better and faster runner.
As for improvement in the last year I’d say that the biggest impact was my participation in a training program for the 2015 Ventura Marathon. I wasn’t able to run with everyone due to my schedule, but I still felt part of the group… And the people in this group are awesomely nice, accepting, and encouraging. Now I’m a member of Vendurance Running Tribe and it has been great. I highly recommend joining a running club. I’m still kind of new in the group and hope to become more acquainted with people in the coming year.
Here are some statistics for the last year:
- # 5k races: 8, all part of the Boogie Nights summer run series in Ventura.
- # 10k races: 1, 4th of July in Oxnard (this was part of a training run so in all I ran 16 miles that day).
- # half marathons: 2, in October (PR in the this race) and November (and another PR, beating my October time by 4 minutes). I also ran a half marathon relay with my daughter… making it 2-1/2 half marathons.
Scott was nice enough to accompany me (via bicycle) on a 20 mile run. This photo was after 10 miles.
- And 1 marathon, The Ventura Marathon in September. This was my second marathon and I improved my time from the first (Sept 2014) by an astounding 47 minutes!
- Total miles run: 1,220 (compared to 846 in 2014, an almost 50% increase in distance).
- Total hours run: 231
- Weight at beginning of year: 220
- Weight at the end of the year: 182 (goal is 155, which puts me at the top of the suggested weight range for my height).
Scott, Ethan (new son-in-law this year), Megan, Me, and Matt
A bonus is that my husband and my adult children are also running. It’s been a good family activity. When looking at all this I can say it has been a good year and I am looking forward to continued improvement in 2016!
It’s not really a resolution and will actually (hopefully) be accomplished in 2017… but my big audacious goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This will require me to improve my marathon by an hour… more on this later.
Happy New Year!
