It is the time of the year where all good bloggers start writing their recaps covering their past year. So I’m jumping on the recap train too! This is my 2016 Marathon Miles Recap.
I started the year with a bang with my first marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon. I trained but not the way I had hoped when I originally signed up. I went into the marathon coming off an injury, multiple stress fractures in my foot. I had my doctor’s ok as long as I took it easy and went slow. I did, I had fun with the race and even rode Expedition Everest! My time for the race was horrible and was not the time I was aiming for at all. I decided then and there if I ever do this race again I am going to do it right and that set my training schedule for the rest of the year.
My goals were to lose the weight I had gained while training for the marathon and get back to where I was running wise before my injuries.
My race schedule turned into several races that I paced as a 3:30 pacer or sweeper. I didn’t want to sign up for any races until my foot was completely recovered and I was back where I felt I should be. It was around April that I started being able to run without foot issues, nearly a full year after I injured it. It was also the same time I went broke down and went to the doctor with my list of problems.
I finally had my asthma treated and went on medicine more than my rescue inhaler. That right there was the first step in improving my running. I had no clue my breathing was as bad as it was until going on medication. I have good and bad days with it, but my bad days are nowhere near what they once were.
I also talked to my doctor about my weight. She suggested magic pills. That made me mad. I took it upon myself to use some resources available to me thanks to the Army. I had metabolism testing and tried out the BodPod.
I wasn’t a fan of the BodPod but the metabolism testing was exactly what I needed. I had always used online calculators to figure out my calorie goals and they were all types of wrong. With my new found information, I used MyFitnessPal to track my food and exercise and my weight started to melt off. A few months later after visiting the endocrinologist I also learned my thyroid was slightly off. There is also something up with my blood sugars but we haven’t figured it out just yet.
With getting my asthma under control and getting my weight back to where I wanted it to be my running improved. I was running over a 100 miles each month and my husband signed me up for the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2017. I spent many hours on the running trail near my house playing stick or snake? I saw more than my fair share of snakes this past year. I have trained hard over the past few months to run the marathon I originally wanted. I also made and surpassed my goal of running at least 1000 miles for the year.
Waivers and corrals came out a couple weeks ago and I went into a Walt Disney World Marathon corral depression. Despite sending in a much-improved POT, I will be starting the marathon a couple corrals further back than I had hoped for. Having done the marathon and other RunDisney races I knew what this would mean. I would be with more walkers and more walkers will mean more weaving and not the marathon I had been training for. I was bummed. It is what it is, though, I guess, and I will make the best of it. Although it makes me wonder, how they assign those corrals anyways with the number of people this happens to.
As we enter the last week of the year I am in the midst of my marathon taper trying to keep the marathon taper crazies at bay. I am also hoping that all the Christmas goodies I have eaten haven’t hit my weight too hard and that any extra weight is temporary. I can hope right! If not I guess I have a goal to work on in 2017.
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