I am quite happy with how my running went in 2021 . As a quick background, I took up running as a pandemic hobby in 2020, albeit from a somewhat athletic starting point. I ran my first marathon (first running race longer than a 5K) in 3:32. I ran over 1,300 mi in total in 2020.
2021: My overall running was down a bit to 960 miles, due to two great life events. First, Kelly & I bought a house which meant a lot of my free time went to projects around the house & yard. Second, Kelly gave birth to our daughter Riley!
Despite this, I still completed my first half marathon race, crushing my goal time with a finish of 1:32:06. I was able to sneak this race in less than a week before Riley was born. Along the way I also PR’d the 10K in my first ever race win.
Overall, I’m most proud of continuing to get back on track to train & race through the two big events that came my way this year. I feel like this was not a quick fad for me and something I will keep up for many years to come. I’m actually starting to enjoy running more and more, whereas in the beginning it was just something I did to stay healthy during the pandemic.
2022: I plan to run 2 marathons and hope to break 3:10 so I can qualify for the 2023 Chicago marathon on time (I hope to break 3 hours in Chicago…). My second marathon of the year will be the Richmond marathon. I am currently targeting the Coastal Delaware Running Festival marathon for the spring but there is still time for my plans to change. I also hope to bump my annual mileage up over 1,500 miles. For my first marathon I will follow the same training plan I did for the 2020 Richmond marathon but for my second I want to follow a longer training plan.
I wanted to break 20 minutes in the 5K, which I did in the RRRC First Day 5K race finishing in 19:55 (previous PR was 20:50), so I am off to a great start!