The Life of a Running Momma: 2023 Running Review

This year started with a big high, running the Houston Marathon and qualifying for Boston. I had such a blast training for and running Houston, that I couldn't get excited about training for anything other than a marathon in the spring. I typically only run one marathon a year because I mentally need a break after a marathon training cycle and doing shorter races for the next season is the re-set I need. I decided to run a summer marathon and needed somewhere up north for cooler temps and landed on Grandma's Marathon. At the end of my Houston training cycle I was doing a yoga move and suddenly had quite a bit of pain in my foot. It was similar to an issue I'd had about 5 years before so I picked up the PT exercises I had done then that helped. As I tapered for the race the pain let up and I didn't have issues during the race so I thought nothing of it. Training for Grandma's the pain kept ramping back up and the PT exercises weren't clearing it up, just making the pain more manageable. On our drive to Minnesota for the race, I'd get out of the car and could barely walk. After the race my foot was bruised already as I took my shoe off and it was swollen. Finally in July I went to a sports medicine doctor and he did an ultrasound on my foot. He diagnosed me with a fancy name for bone spurs which were caused by Achilles Tendonitis. He mentioned surgery if PT didn't help and I was scared enough to back off and do half my workouts as cross training. The benefit was I discovered I love cycling. The downside was that I missed running. Between cross training and PT appointments 3 times a week, I was feeling pretty decent by August and got the go ahead to start slowly building my weekly mileage. I've since learned between my PT exercises and about half my miles on trails, I can keep the pain at bay. Even though the middle of the year took a turn with an injury, it came back around and I was able to get back to training and ran some fun races in the fall. I wasn't as fast as I would have liked, but I was happy just to be running! So overall, this year was a success even though it included less running than I would have liked. Read past recaps here: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.

Total Miles Run:

1,758 miles

For Comparison I Ran:

1,921miles in 2022

2,161 miles in 2021

2,020 miles in 2020

2,019 miles in 2019

1,918 miles in 2018

1,546.41 miles in 2017

1,332.6 miles in 2016

Average Weekly Mileage: 34 miles

Average Daily Mileage: 4.8 miles

Total Time Spent Running:

256 hours

For Comparison I Ran:

289 hours in 2022

331 hours in 2021

292 hours in 2020

283 hours in 2019

271 hours in 2018

223.5 hours in 2017

191.5 hours in 2016

Total Elevation Gain:

70,610 feet

For Comparison:

85,344 feet in 2022

91,021 feet in 2021

71,963 feet in 2020

75,483 feet in 2019

70,513 feet in 2018

Total Active Days/Days I Ran:

316 (I think this may include when I've done races and tracked my warm up and cool down separately because there's no way I was so close to the same number of runs as in 2020 and 2021 with so many fewer miles than those years.)

For Comparison:

304 in 2022

319 in 2021

319 in 2020

338 in 2019

308 in 2018

Weekly Mileage:

Weeks with 20-29 Miles: 12 (8 in 2022, 7 in 2021, 3 in 2020, 0 in 2019, 5 in 2018, 21 in 2017, and 24 in 2016)

Weeks with 30-39 Miles: 16 (17 in 2022, 14 in 2021, 20 in 2020, 23 in 2019, 25 in 2018, 8 in 2017, and 11 in 2016)

Weeks with 40-49 Miles: 14 (22 in 2022, 18 in 2021, 21 in 2020, 29 in 2019, 17 in 2018, 9 in 2017, and 7 in 2016)

Weeks with 50+ Miles: 6 (4 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, 0 in 2019, 3 in 2018, 7 in 2017, and 2 in 2016)

Highest Weekly Mileage: 60 miles

I had 4 weeks under 20 miles during the height of my bone spur pain this summer.

Cycling:

17 rides

21 hours, 17 minutes

304 miles

6,335 feet

Elliptical:

2 hours, 54 minutes, 53 seconds

PRs:

None

I included my cycling and elliptical totals because they are for sure PRs for me. I am pretty good at preventing and managing injuries so this was the most prolonged period of cross training I've ever experienced.

My big accomplishments this year were qualifying for Boston at the Houston Marathon, getting into Boston in September, and getting my 7th Tulsa Run 60/70 Mug after battling back from bone spurs which caused a lot of pain and months of cross training followed by low mileage.

Races:

January

15th- Houston Marathon in 3:28:18 (7:52 pace), 58th in my age group