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| Just a handful of my favorites! |
I started the year immersed in injury recovery; deep tissue massage, back adjustments, dry needling, and eventually a cortisone shot in the butt cheek. Training for a March marathon in the middle of all this madness was not the smartest, but I managed to get past my injury eventually. I remained mostly injury free (except for ramming my toe into the bedpost 4 days before the Indianapolis marathon) for the remainder of the year and had a pretty decent year of running events and memorable runs. Here are my top 10 most memorable (not necessarily all good) in chronological order:
1. The HAIL run. Many local runners will never forget this Saturday morning in early March. The lake was packed with runners that morning, completely ignoring the ever increasing dark skies and thunder rumbling. In the middle of a 21 mile run, I was just ahead of the TB pack because they had stopped at Benny's Bench for water, which is typically a ridiculously long pause. First came the rain, then OW, hail started pinging on my head and face, getting larger and more fierce in a hurry. I ducked under a park awning to ride it out, but what's funny is the girls all circled around a large tree and each other until it passed. Talk about memorable!
2. The Skidaway Island marathon outside of Savannah Georgia. I didn't think I was going to make it to this one due to an injury, which makes the memory that much sweeter. I blogged about it here: https://tntlinder.blogspot.com/2019/03/marathon-52-skidaway-island-marathon.html
3. The Mt Charleston Half marathon just outside of Las Vegas. Not that the race itself was memorable (boring), but being at the finish line to watch my friends finish the full marathon certainly was!
4. The Missoula marathon in Montana. It was harder than I thought it would be, and overshadowed by the epic camping trip in Glacier National Park, but still an amazing experience. I blogged about it here: https://tntlinder.blogspot.com/2019/07/marathon-53-missoula-marathon-june-2019.html
5. We were only about 2 miles into the hill run when we encountered a kitten on the side of a somewhat busy road (only not so busy at 5:30 AM). Of all the runners he chose ME and would NOT leave my side, crying and purring and weaving in and out of my feet. That was it for me. I said goodbye to the others and headed back to the car with this guy running by my side. Finally I just scooped him up, held onto him really tight and ran back to my car with him in my arms. We ended up finding him a great home, but it did break my heart to say goodbye to him. I will never forget this little guy!
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| True love! |
6. In August we took a break from the summer heat and spent a week-end in Monterey. We mapped out a 15 mile run along the bay and I said it then and it still holds true that this was hands down my favorite run of the year. To literally go to a near 30 degree drop in temperature on a training run in and of itself is an incredible running boost, but combined with stunning scenery, wow, just wow. It was exactly what I needed to be able to come back and survive the relentless heat that plagued us throughout the entire month of September. There were many runs during this time frame that I would rather forget; some that ended in walking, some that ended on a treadmill, and one that I almost lied down on a park bench! My memory of how great running felt while in Monterey is what kept me going.
7. Indianapolis Marathon. Of the 3 marathons I ran this year I have to say I enjoyed running this one the most. The 26 degree temperature start made us nervous since obviously we didn't train for that, but it ended up being a non issue. I blogged about it here: https://tntlinder.blogspot.com/2019/11/marathon-54-indianapolis-monumental.html
8. The Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot always makes my list, as it is one of my favorite runs of all! This year was no different, even though it didn't go as planned. I was supposed to start with Laura (LSP), but because of the unexpected large number of runners in the chip timed corral we couldn't find each other, so I started alone. About halfway into the run I looked ahead and saw Lori Green! In the past Lori has pulled me through many many long runs. As life has gotten in the way I have missed running with her, so it was so great to finish the Turkey Trot together!
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| The only thing missing is LSP! |
9. Sometimes I get bored with my regular routes and I tend to just go "wander", not really caring about the pace or miles, as was the case one day early December. I decided to head north on the White Rock Trail, which I used to run along many years ago. It's used mostly by cyclists as a way to head back and forth to the lake. It's kind of beat up in places and tends to get muddy when it rains, so it's not the greatest path, but hey, something different. So I found myself in that area near Walnut Hill that creeps the hell out of all of us local runners, and that's the place where a runner was running along the path on a pretty sunny morning and out of nowhere a lunatic charges him with a machete and hacks him to death right then and there on the path. Yeah that really happened. His wife killed herself 2 weeks later. I remembered that they did some kind of tribute, so I looked around and found this bench. I must say I'm not comfortable being reminded about this event, but I did think the tribute was nice, and I left the area with gratitude for being alive, because you just never know...
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| Tell me this isn't creepy though |
10. Loop the Lake. Of course this run makes my top 10 list! The BEST way to end the year is to loop the lake with my friends and then enjoy post run libations with the heavy handed bar tender who seems to remember me from last year because when making my mimosas he remembers that I don't like orange juice that much...
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| As always with the Festivus Pole to air those 2019 grievances! |
So 2019, another lap around the sun has been completed. I'm grateful for every single run, memorable, forgettable, painful, sluggish, funny (singing Cher's "Half Breed" comes to mind), those where mother nature dishes out her fury, and those where mother nature takes my breath away with her beauty. The 2020 lap has begun! Get out there and make some memories!
