Hello 2017, You Sexy Beast

I’m so happy to start a new year! I know that we pretty much always have a new chance to start over but I really like the idea of just closing up another year chapter and moving on to the next one.

This is the condensed version of 2016. I think you all know how it went anyway. Beginning of the year I started training already for Paris, I was studying and I was attempting once again to lose weight with the help of Weight Watchers. School was quite challenging, as far as combining it with work and training and so something had to give, which meant training for the marathon wasn’t going as well as I would have wanted it.

No matter, I ran Paris and it was brilliant simply because I was more aware of everything this time compared to the first time around, but the pain from my neuroma was really starting to catch up with my running capabilities.

In May I had my neuroma removed and counted the days down to start running again, since Berlin was on the calendar for the fall. But first I went to Liverpool (sorry, I have photos but never finished that post) and instead of running I was able to volunteer at the 5k and the Half/Full event AND see tons of friends that I know from my Facebook running group. However, during this time I was still in school, doing exams and had my final practical exam right after Liverpool, which I failed.

After exams, my old school friend Adam arrived and we spent time together going to Paris and Belgium at a couple of music festivals and that was super fun. BUT… it was my first week of training for Berlin and I was just given the clear to run again. Which now in hindsight, was a bad idea.

June, July and August meant training and a few races, the highlight being Dublin with Ron (another recap I never finished, but trust me, was loads of fun!). I was spending a lot more time biking than doing longer runs because my body wasn’t handling it well (the foot, my knee, and eventually the whole left side). I pretty much knew that Berlin was going to be a wash but still was looking forward to it (and it was, in fact, brilliant, just not the time I wanted, by any means).

Incredibly after Berlin I was off to New York to run the Rock’n’Roll Brooklyn half marathon and was so incredibly lucky and honored to see several friends while I was there (another recap in the works). I decided too at the last minute to go to Philadelphia, and I’m so glad I did, even though it meant quite some travel time. After I came back I had about a month to start cramming again for my practical exam. Which I passed. This means I am now a certified sports massage therapist, yay!

Of course I couldn’t just sit still, I had to go to Athens and run that marathon. Well, “run”. So many issues. By far the hardest and most painful run to date. But an amazing trip. AMAZING.

Since then I tried to take it easy with running, just trying to heal, but then December showed up and I decided to do a runstreak. Incredibly, with all the physical issues I have (and I’ll expand on that later, because I have news about that!), I was actually able to crank out about 1km more than the most kilometers per month this year AND hit my year goal of 1600KM. Not bad for someone who’s gained 8 kilos and feels like she can hardly run anymore some days.

2017 will be training smarter and running less. No marathons. A PR on my 10K and Half Marathon. And, I am going to reach my goal weight of 70KG. I can’t achieve what I want with running with the extra weight. I’m very ok with me, I would even be ok with my weight if running weren’t important to me. But it is. So (insert broken record), it’s time to fix it.

Happy New Year everyone!