2018 in Review

2018.
It definitely was quite a year.

After being sidelined for three months (in 2017), from the sport that I love so much, 2018 was all about rallying back. It was a year of gratitude. It was a year of taking nothing for granted. It was a year of new adventure. And, it was a year full of action-packed fun, both in and out of my running shoes.

There were plenty of races.
For example:
*my first-ever 1-miler
*seven 5K's
*one 5-mile
*three 10K's
*one 20K
*six half marathons
*one full marathon
*one 76-mile team relay
*one stair climb event

There was lots of beautiful bling brought home.
In addition to lots of pretty event shirts, there also were numerous finisher medals. On occasion, there were some age group awards.

There were some great moments.
*My youngest daughter's first-ever race, the Dam to Dam 20K. Running her in, across her first finish line, is a memory I will treasure forever!

*Celebrating a finish line victory with the hubby, after his extensive summer of rehabbing his wonky knee.

There were some "WOW, I actually did THAT?!?" achievements.

Placing third in my first-ever 1-mile race, out of a field of 74 gals in my age group.



There were some new things added to my fitness regime.
HIIT workouts and speedwork and burpees, oh my!

There was a whole lotta redemption.

*Sully Freedom 5K, finally a 1st-place AG win (after four previous 2nd place finishes).

*Midnight Madness 10K, a 3rd place age group award after a humbling DNF two year's prior.

There was a major rally-back conquest.

Running my first marathon post-surgery, the Cannonball Marathon (my 8th marathon to date). This course was very hilly and mentally tough with its lack of crowd support and dangerous open highway segments. The finish line endorphins were oh-so-sweet, though.

There was an awesome blogger meet-up in Chicago, during the Rock 'n' Roll ReMix weekend!

There was a horrific tragedy, that hit very close to home.

Mollie Tibbitts, a friend of our youngest daughter, went out for a run and never made it back home. The entire nation, and the running community in general, rallied in support of her family and runners everywhere. There was a memorial run held, in Mollie's honor, on the route that she never finished, and over $20,000 in donations were made to the Stead Family Children's Hospital at the University of Iowa in her honor. The legacy she left behind is a mighty powerful one.

And, finally, there was the annual Runner's World Winter Run Streak.
This year, the run streak was the longest one ever, at 41 days. I was able to run every run outside, finishing with a grand total of 88 streaking miles on New Year's Day (in the company of friends).

I have to confess (runfess???) that I'm a little sad to see 2018 end, The memories and achievements were pretty awesome. Alas, I am looking forward to ushering in 2019. I look forward to all that is yet to come!

How did 2018 play out for you? Any big goals met? Favorite races run? Setbacks that you were able to overcome?

**I'm also linking this with Debbie and Rachel and Marc and Lora for the Running Coaches' Corner

**And with Nicole and Annmarie for the Wild Wednesday Workout

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