It started off badly: too much work at the new weekend jobs and a winter that wouldn’t leave. Then there was the summer injury that took months to recover from, but finally things got back to normal in the fall. So 2013 was The Year of Seven Races. I remember each one fondly and all have their tale to tell. They were just too damned few. Oh well, 2014 will be a new year and I am not complaining.
February brought the Seabees 5k for which I travelled to beautiful sunny Hawaii.
In early June there was the Hatfield McCoy Half Marathon where I went possibly slower than ever but had the most fun at a 13.1 miler.
Late June held the Disco Dash, a 5k in Chicago that I ran with my cousins, and got to see the Village People in concert afterward (along with some really cool people in costume) once the rains cleared up.
Then in July came the Achilles injury flare-up and I ended up doing pretty much nothing until September when I began gingerly training for the three half-marathons I had signed up for earlier in the year. So it was October before I raced again.
October 20 was the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon which was extremely cold but a thrilling chance to run from the U.S. to Canada and back.
November 3 was the Red Eye 8k, a local race in town, which I’d never run before but will certainly do again.
November 16 the LEO Run to Remember Half Marathon in Meridian MS was the hilliest hellfest ever but I still did enjoy it.
Thanksgiving Day, another new race for me, the Poultry and Pie Predictor here in Joliet, whose entry fee was less than $10.00 (how unbelievably low is that?!) — in which I didn’t even try to “predict” because I didn’t really get the whole thing about predicting your pace then running without a watch so you could win a turkey — but had great fun anyway.
And that was it! I had registered for the St. Jude’s Marathon Weekend to run the half (if I could raise $500 which I couldn’t) and then for the 5k but ended up running n-o-t-h-i-n-g because the whole thing got cancelled due to an ice storm.
The closest I got was the banners on Beale Street the next afternoon during lunch after driving for 12 hours and not even getting as far as Tennessee the night before because traffic slowed to 20 mph on the dangerously icy roads:
.
But it was all good. St. Jude’s made some money from my efforts so they can continue their excellent care of kids with cancer, and I’ll get a chance to register before everyone else in 2014. I’ve already reserved my hotel for December 6 and I’m ready to run.
2013 was The Year of Seven Races but I won’t remember it as a bad one. I got a slow start and then overcame an injury. 2014 will be better. I already have some spectacular plans. I’m going to run farther and maybe even faster but no matter what, I am definitely going to have fun.
As 2013 ambles off over the hill, I bid it farewell and look forward to the future.
More later….
Boldly running where I've never gone before 