Look-back on 2019

I always like to review stats and my favorite running memories from the year on New Year's Eve. For the last few years, my yearly mileage goal has been to run more miles than the year before. It took be a bit to figure out my stats from last year compared to this year so I'm pulling it all together in a blog post so I can make a summary.

Annual Miles:

2017 - 1,005.6

2018 - 1,179.9

2019 - 1,364.6

I was running before 2017 but prior to 2017 I was using different tracking apps and programs. Since mid- 2018, I've been successful at keeping my monthly miles at 100+. That keeps me at a good base and allows me to easily jump into training. My mileage goals for 2020 is to keep my monthly total over 100 and end with a yearly total over 1,365, aiming for continuous improvement.

I ran a total of 27 races in 2019. Including:

8 5ks

2 5 Milers

1 8k

2 10 Milers

1 12 Miler

12 Half Marathons

1 Marathon

I was 1st place in my age group at a local 5k. I was 2nd in my age group and 3rd female overall at another local 5k. I ran lots of "new to me races" in 2019. Some that I really enjoyed were the Delaware Half Marathon in Wilmington, DE, Harrisburg Half Marathon in Harrisburg, PA and The Rocky Run in Philadelphia, PA. I also had a great time doing quite a few local 5ks in the lull between spring marathon and fall half marathon training. During training, I typically do a longer run and that's usually Saturday morning so it's fun when I'm between training plans and can go out and do a nice fast 5k.

I hit a 5k PR several times throughout the year, in some cases my PR only lasted a week before I ran a faster race. I also ran a 5 mile PR, 10 mile PR, 12 mile PR, half marathon PR, and marathon PR.

A challenge that made me nervous but I had been wanting to try was running consecutive half marathons (Saturday and Sunday). I did that twice this year, once in September and once in October. I was pleasantly surprised with how good my legs and body felt those weekends.

My runstreak still lives, as of today, I've run 1,313 days in a row. That's over 3 years, looking forward to hitting 4 years in May 2020.

Here are few fun photos from this year:

(I clearly have favorite running clothes! These are 3 different races from 3 different weekends throughout the year. I didn't realize I was wearing a 'uniform' until I saw the three photos together.)