More than a week late, but better late than never, amiright? I’ve enjoyed writing these posts over the last 4 years as a way to reflect on the past year’s running and to help me focus on goals for the coming year. (Here are the recaps from 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.)
Best race experience:
So many diverse ones to choose from! I loved pacing with TVRC this year, as well as setting new PRs, but I think my favorite overall race experience was the Healdsburg Half. It was my 40th birthday race, I ran my 3rd sub-2 half marathon, I finished really strong (especially as part of a 16 mile FFLR), I ate great food before and after the race, and last but not least, I had loads of fun with good friends. 
Best run:
I’m going to cheat and say that the Woodside Ramble 10K was the best run, even though it was technically a race as well. Cat and I didn’t really approach it as a race, so I think it counts! I really enjoyed running through the redwoods and chatting. Plus the 10K distance was perfect – long enough to satisfy my need to run on dirt, but not so long as to exhaust me.
Best new piece of gear:
Garmin Forerunner 235. It finds GPS much faster than my previous Garmin, plus it’s got a heart rate monitor. I like that it syncs wirelessly with my phone so I don’t have to manually enter data, nor do I have to hook it up to my laptop to sync. The bells and whistles (phone notifications) are fun and useful too.
Best piece of running advice received:
The things that have stuck with me the most this year have been a few quotes from podcasts I’ve listened to – words of wisdom about embracing the moment while racing, even when it “hurts” (in quotes, because it’s all relative, plus we’re choosing to do it). Matt Fitzgerald’s How Bad Do You Want It? was also chock-full of great advice.
Most inspirational runner(s):
This is a two-way tie among two friends: Jess and Angela. Jess had a terrific year of racing, storming her way around the country as she conquered her first 50-miler at Run Rabbit Run (CO), did a “recovery” half marathon a few weeks later – her 3rd best time- at Healdsburg (CA), ran a relay in Kentucky, negative split at the Philadelphia Marathon (PA), and ended the year by coming in first female at a 50K (I think it was in Kansas??). Angela worked her ass off all year (really, over the last 4 years) to perfectly execute the marathon that we all knew she was capable of at CIM. Oh, and she BQ’d by like 8 minutes. NBD. 😉
If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
The time on the clock is just one of many ways to measure a successful race.
Happy finishers! (Pacing at Tiburon Half)
**
And now for the numbers:
Miles: 1,303 (Garmin Connect) — just shy of 1310 miles from 2013
Races: 14, in reverse chronological order
- Woodside Ramble 10K
- California International Marathon
- Berkeley Half Marathon
- Dream Mile Half Marathon (pacing)
- OktobeRun Half Marathon (pacing)
- Healdsburg Half Marathon
- Tiburon Half Marathon (pacing)
- Summer Breeze Half Marathon (PR)
- Danville 10K (PR)
- LMJS 4th Sunday 10K
- Oakland Half Marathon –2nd part of “We Run This Town” Challenge
- Bank of the West 5K (PR) – 1st part of “We Run This Town” Challenge
- Post Oak Challenge 25K
- Crissy Field parkrun 5K
PRs:
- 5K: Oakland Bank of the West 5K – 24:52 (33 second PR)
- 10K: Danville 10K – 52:24 (27 second PR)
- Half Marathon: Summer Breeze – 1:56:58 (1 min 51 sec PR)
Summer Breeze Half
Age Group Awards: 1 (2nd female at Crissy Field parkrun in January)
Reflections:
Though it wasn’t my intention at the start of the year, my big goal for 2016 ended up being to PR at the 4 major distances: 5K, 10K, half, and full marathon. I was able to get 3 out of 4 – not bad! I felt like I definitely could’ve run a personal best at CIM, but it just wasn’t my day for whatever reason. I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I might be, mostly because I had just PR’d at Santa Rosa last year, and I know that so many things have to come together for things to go well at the marathon distance. I’m still interested in getting faster, but I think I’ll take a break from the “training” mentality for a while. I didn’t expect to like speedwork as much as I thought I would, so there might be more 5K and 10K races in my future! I’m also looking forward to spending more time on trails in 2017.
Happy 2017, y’all!
Howdy! My name is Jen and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I like to eat, run, and blog, but not usually at the same time.
Running Tangents 
Awwww thanks!
“The time on the clock is just one of many ways to measure a successful race.” <– So true!!
Here's to a bigger & better 2017!
Congrats on a great 2016! Looking forward to seeing what 2017 brings!
I always enjoy these year-in-review posts! You PR machine! (If you want to work together towards upcoming half marathons, I’m doing one in May!) And wasn’t pacer duty so satisfying? 🙂 Here’s to a greater 2017! #teamgluteusmedius
Heh, thanks. No PR goals in my imminent future, but I’ll cheer you on from CA. 🙂
Pacer duty was *very* satisfying – in many ways, helping others was more fun than running for myself. Happy New Year! #teamgmFTW
What a great year with so many triumphs. You’re no doubt going to have many more successes down the road, in no small part due to your awesome attitude about running. You go. (+1 to pacing being totally awesome, too) hopefully see you soon!!!!!!
Thanks, Erin! Hope that we’ll finally get to meet IRL in 2017!
I made it for Best Run! It was an awesome run, wasn’t it!! xx
Yes it was! As always 🙂
MORE TRAIL MORE TRAIL. I am envious of your mileage totals, trying to get close to that in 2017. Great job on the PR’s and hopefully I can make it for one of those trail races with you guys this year.
Yeah! You should do Rocky Ridge with me. That one is a MONSTER.
[…] CIM and the “2016: Year of PR Attempts”, I decided to approach 2017 with a more organic, laissez faire approach to […]
[…] Even though this past year has been quite lackluster on the blog posting front, I thought I’d stick to my annual tradition of doing a year-end summary. Here are the wrap-ups from 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. […]