The Life of a Running Momma

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Wordless Thursday

Ready for my long run wearing lots of new gear I got as presents: new shoes, shorts, headband, and fuel belt!

Carter's new Lego work bench Ty found for $20 at a thrift store!

Starting the morning with some Lego building!

Using his new Lego bench.

Playing with her fake makeup set from Uncie Taco.

Planning out her year with a new journal, also from Uncie Taco.

It came with tape, a stamp, stamp pad, and a bunch of pens and highlighters. It was a hit!

Sweet snuggling siblings!

Coloring in her new coloring book.

Carter trying out his new Crayon Melter from Oma and Opa.

Elise was super excited to discover banana bread Uncie Taco made and brought over.

Using Ty's Raclette for dinner.

Now that's a grilled cheese!

He's definitely gotten A LOT of use out of his Lego desk! Now with a stool Ty found as a set for $10.

Playing with the Crayola animals you draw on and then give a bath to wash off from Thomas Hurford.

Elise enjoyed helping me clean when it meant she got to use this!

Tesla made a pillow fort.

Using the Raclette to make breakfast for dinner.

The kids turned Carter's bed into Arendelle.

Elise playing with the tangram set.

Tesla and Carter love to snuggle!

Elise didn't want me to take a picture and Opa decided to be silly and play along!

Elise scratching off her lottery ticket at New Year's Eve dinner.

Carter scratching off his lottery ticket at New Year's Eve dinner.

Reading together on a jammy day for Elise.

Saw the bat signal on my run, haha!

Garo forcing his way onto our laps.

Elise trying out my New Year's hat.

Ready to meet our friends at the zoo.

Trying out the wind tunnel at the zoo. The kids took their own money and just had to spend it!

Elise navigating for the boys.

Flamingoes for Opa!

Elise tired and taking a rest. She fell asleep on the way home.

So excited to see the red pandas again!

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Back in 2016 I got the idea to do a running review at the end of the year from my friend, Sara. Now that it's a yearly tradition, it's so much fun for me to do each year, looking back over my year in running and everything I've accomplished. This year was one of my best yet. I ran some crazy fast 5k times for me in the spring. I honestly didn't think I'd ever get close to breaking 19 minutes again. Now I feel like I could do it if I'd ever focus on the 5k, but I'm not sure I'll ever do that. We'll see! On our drive home from Topeka for Christmas, I pulled up my running review from 2018 and saw I mentioned maybe I'd be able to hit 2,019 miles in the year 2019. It made me wonder where I was at so I checked on Strava and I was at 1,979 miles for the year. I realized if I just continued on with my planned mileage for the next week, I'd hit exactly 2,019. I was so excited! How fun is that! So this year for the first time ever I hit exactly the year with the number of miles I ran that year. It was also the highest yearly mileage I've ever had, not counting college because I have no idea what it was back then, but I know it was likely much higher. Read past years' running reviews here: 2018, 2017, and 2016.

Total Miles Run: 2,019!!!!
For Comparison: I ran 1,918 miles in 2018, 1,546.41 miles in 2017, and 1,332.6 miles in 2016.
Average Weekly Mileage: 38.8 miles
Average Daily Mileage: 5.5 miles

Total Time Spent Running: 283 hours
For Comparison: I ran 271 hours in 2018, 223.5 hours in 2017 and 191.5 hours in 2016.

Total Elevation Gain: 75,483
For Comparison: 70,513 feet in 2018

Total Active Days/Days I Ran: 338 days with Saturday being my most active day. The big difference here is the running streak a friend and I started at the end of June and intended to carry through the Route 66 race but are still going strong on!

For Comparison: I ran 308 days in 2018.

This Year's Stats:
Number of 5ks Run: 10 (10 in 2018, 8 in 2017, 15 in 2016)
Number of 10ks Run: 3 (3 in 2018, 4 in 2017, 4 in 2016)
Number of 15ks Run: 1 (1 in 2018, 1 in 2017, 1 in 2016)
Number of Half Marathons Run: 3 (3 in 2018, 1 in 2017, 1 in 2016)
Number of Marathons Run: 0 (1 in 2018, 1 in 2017, 0 in 2016)

Times Under 22 Minutes in the 5k: 10
Times Under 21 Minutes in the 5k: 9
Times Under 20 Minutes in the 5k: 3

Weeks with 20-29 Miles: 0 (5 in 208, 21 in 2017, 24 in 2016)
Weeks with 30-39 Miles: 23 (25 in 2018, 8 in 2017, 11 in 2016)
Weeks with 40-49 Miles: 29 (17 in 2018, 9 in 2017, 7 in 2016)
Weeks with 50+ Miles: 0 (3 in 2018, 7 in 2017, 2 in 2016)
Highest Weekly Mileage: 48 (53.5 in 2018)

PRs
5k road race 19:18
15k 1:05:02
Half-Marathon 1:30:41

January
Dec. 31st/Jan. 1st- Race Into the New Year 5k in 20:24 (6:32 pace), 2nd overall female

After the Race Into the New Year.

February
16th- Sweetheart Run 5k in 20:47 (6:40 pace), 1st overall female
16th- Sweetheart Run 10k in 42:12 (6:42 pace), 1st overall female
Jeremy and I were the first place doubler team. We were also the top 5k and 10k team.

Team Sweet Sibs after the Sweetheart Run.

March
2nd- Runway Run 5k in 19:17 (6:16 pace), 1st overall female
16th- St. Patrick's Day 5k in 19:18 (6:12 pace), 3rd overall female

Finishing the St. Patrick's Day 5k.

April
6th- Aquarium Run Half Marathon in 1:34:40 (7:10 pace), 1st overall female
27th- Golden Driller Half Marathon in 1:30:41 (6:55 pace), 2nd overall female

My cheering squad after the Golden Driller Half Marathon.

May
11th- Get Busy Livin 5k in 19:24 (6:32 pace), 1st overall female
18th- Joplin Memorial Relay 5k leg in 20:47 (6:37 pace), 2nd overall team

Running in to the finish with Jeremy finishing out our relay.

June
No races, they chose not to put on the summer race series we normally run this year.

July
4th- Firecracker 5k in 20:35 (6:44 pace), 1st overall female
13th- Dark and Dirty Trail 10k in 1:04:16 (10:14 pace), 1st overall female
21st- Rootin Tootin Beer Mile in 8:42 (6:10 pace for running portion), 1st and only female, 3rd overall