2018 has been pretty amazing, and I can only hope that 2019 can top it! I hope you all enjoy a look back at my 2018!
What a wild weather month it was in January! The year kicked off with a FREEZING start when the Resolution Run 5K on New Year's Day that greeted us with wind chills in the teens (which is unheard of in Atlanta). Next LITERALLY froze at the Freeze Your Half Off 1/2 Marathon when I faced temps around 0 and below zero wind chills for the first time ever. After one more freezing 5K in dreaded tights, we finally got some races with temperatures above 25 which means shorts! Finally, I ended the month with my birthday 5K at Fast Break 5K!
February felt like a whirlwind for sure.I froze some more, tried to dodge rain (sometimes not quite so successful) and did a little traveling. I still might be de-thawing from the frigid monsoon of Hot Chocolate 15K (wind chill in the 20s and heavy rain from start to finish). Before I knew it, Princess Half Marathon weekend 2018 was here and I ran 22.4 magical miles over the weekend (5K, 10K, and 1/2 Marathon) which was also my 99th half marathon. What a magical place to run #99 and make magical memories with friends!
March was a roller coast of a month! I went for a 5K PR attempt the morning after coming home from Disney which was probably a big mistake. I should have known better than to have a goal race be after 9 days at a theme park (12+ hours a day on my feet and ALL the food!). Well, I shattered my PR by over a minute! BOOM! I also ended up running my 2nd fastest 10K a week later. Things took a wild spin when Papa J had cancer cells removed off of his lung (and one of the lung lobes). With his surgery just two days before my biggest half marathon yet, he missed me crossing the finish line of my 100th half marathon as he was still in the hospital. He recovered very quickly and was soon back to normal activity and got to see me complete my first Savage Race!
April started off with back-to-back women's races. First was the Savannah Women's 1/2 Marathon - I felt like I could possibly PR here but after a strong first 9 miles I hit a major wall due to heat/sun and struggled the final 4 miles and missed my goal. After getting glammed up with my girls for the Atlanta Women's 5K, I headed straight from the finish line to Warrior Dash to get MUDDY! I wrapped up the month with another 5K and CRUSHING my 1/2 marathon PR by several minutes at Tear Drop!
A fun filled weekend in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh 5K and 1/2 Marathon started off the month. The summer sun and heat came in wicked fast once May hit - time to slow down my pace a bit until fall I guess. Due to summer conditions, a lot of local races in Atlanta are mainly 5K with occasional 10K and half marathons until fall. A few NON-RACING weekend trips (gasp) this month meant that I had a light race schedule in May. I missed racing, but I had a great time with family and friends which is important as well.
Then there is June. June was a wonderful month. The month was full of awesome races that we favorites of past years along with some new ones. I must say, I have a whole new appreciation for freeze pops at finish lines after the past few weeks! My favorite race of the month was probably Terrain Race and the Hotlanta Half Marathon. Yes, Hotlanta Half Marathon lived up to its name, but my friend Chris and I still had a blast running it together.
Hey there, July! The first half of 2018 really flew by and it was July with the blink of an eye. Thankfully we just had "seasonably hot" weather in Atlanta with not much "extreme heat" this year. First up was my annual trip down Peachtree at the Peachtree Road Race 10K. This is always an amazing time and this year was no different! Be sure to check out this one for 2019 as the world's largest 10K will be celebrating 50 years on July 4, 2019! I also headed back up to Chattanooga for Burn Your Half Off which was about 80 degrees warmer than when I ran Freeze Your Half Off in January! July also included a new 8K PR and some local 5K fun with friends.
With August being one of the hottest months in Atlanta, you don't find many longer distance races in the area so I just went 5K crazy in August. One of the highlights was my triple race day which included the Atlanta's Finest 5K, Rugged Maniac 5K, and Alien 5K. With twelve hours I had crossed three finish lines and drove all around metro Atlanta. Was it worth? Absolutely! It was a crazy awesome day and I would totally do it again.
With sticking to shorter distances in the past six weeks, I was excited to take on longer distances again. Since the races at Disneyland are "indefinitely on hold", I was finally home Labor Day weekend which meant I got to run the Big Peach Sizzler 10K for the first time. I also got to run my first half marathon in about two months which felt great. September wrapped up with running with some amazing people and also an unexpected first place age group at the Step It Up for Autism Speaks 5K.
Summer weather greeted us for October but quickly changed to more like early winter by the middle of the month. This month was full of obstacle course racing. First, I completed my second Savage Race of the year and earned my Syndicate Medal then took on my first Tough Mudder Half. A quick hiatus from fun in the mud to run the Atlanta 10 Miler and Garden Gallop 5K. The month ended with a bang as I ran my first Spartan Race....followed by my second. That is right, back to back Spartan with the Spartan Sprint on Saturday and the Spartan Super on Sunday. You might call it crazy, but I call it crazy fun!
To be honest, I was a little nervous about November. There were a lot of miles and travels ahead of me. I knew it would be worth it though. I ran the inaugural Alpharetta Women's Half Marathon which I really enjoyed - it was pretty low key and was a great course. Up next I headed out to Las Vegas for one of the absolute biggest and best running parties of the year, Rock n Roll Las Vegas! I ran the 5K on Saturday night then took the Las Vegas Strip by storm on Sunday for the half marathon. While Las Vegas was fun and games, I had quite a job ahead of me a few days after coming home - Spartan Beast. I headed about three hours away to Spartanburg South Carolina for 14ish miles of mud, obstacles, and fun! I completed my biggest goal of 2018 (which wasn't even a goal until mid-year), Spartan Trifecta. Just four days post-Spartan Beast, I ran the Atlanta Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon. My legs were tired but I had a great time running it and enjoying one of my favorite courses.
A nasty 24-hour stomach bug gave me a DNS for the first week of December when I had to miss running the Jingle Jog 5K. Even though I felt better that morning, I didn't want to risk a relapse or getting others sick, so I stayed home. After a crazy October and November, I was happy to have a lighter December calendar with now just one race weekend ahead of me - the Galloway Double G Challenge. I dodged cold rain on Saturday for Barb's 5K and then bundled up for the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon on Sunday. This was a fun way to wrap up my 2018 race calendar.