2015 Year in Review

As the year starts to wind down I like to look at my goals I set at the beginning of the year, and see what goals I reached and what goals I fell short on. When setting goals I tend to set them almost unattainable. I have this theory that if you set unreal goals then you will work double hard to try and hit your goals. If I come up short on a goal, I don't get too upset because I know it was hard to reach, but it still gets me a little upset because I believe I can accomplish any goal I set.

After I went back and looked at my goals I kind of scratched my head and said "that's it?" I feel like I set goals that were very easy for some reason, which means I need to step up my game in 2016. (goals will be posted next week) So here are the 2015 goals:

STAY INJURY FREE: FAIL- If I had to choose one word that described my 2015 it would be, "recovering." I got a calf injury at the beginning of April and it lingered for a few weeks. Instead of sitting out a half marathon, I tricked myself into thinking I could run through the pain. My time suffered and it slowed down the recovery process. 2 weeks later I had the Pittsburgh half marathon and the pain came back and once again my time suffered. For most of the year I was dealing with shin splints or that nagging calf pain. Knock on wood this past month I finally started to feel like I am at 100 percent.

RUN A HALF UNDER 1:30: FAIL- This one is the one that stings the most. I honestly know I can run this and with the injuries it just wasn't in the cards this year. I ran a total of 3 half marathons this year and only 1 of the 3 can I really blame myself. This one will be back on the 2016 list, and I am saying this with confidence. I WILL REACH THAT GOAL.

DROP 1 MILE TIME: PASS- I only run two 1 mile races a year, so this one is harder than one might think. I don't really train for a 1 mile race. Last year my best time was a 6:01. This year I can say I dropped it by 10 seconds. I found out that on a track I am much better than a road race for 1 mile. I was able to use my old track tricks and let someone else set the pace and use my kick at the end to shoot pass them. I will probably still do both mile races in 2016 but I don't think I will worry about the time as much.

DO MORE OBSTACLE RACES: NEUTRAL -I didn't really fail at this goal and at the same time I didn't succeed at it either. At the end of last season I was all about the obstacle races and I thought they would be my new thing. Then something happened and my passion for running grew stronger and I realized I am a runner. Don't get me wrong I still like doing obstacle races, but I put my road races first. I did 2 obstacle races last year and I did 2 this year. I am already signed up for 1 next year, BattleFrog of course. I just don't make the obstacle races as important as I thought I once would.

My last goal was HELP OTHER RUNNERS REACH THEIR GOALS AND GET BETTER: PASS- I can say when I wrote that I wanted to help other runners I had no idea that I would be getting the opportunity to be the Running Specialist for the Pittsburgh Marathon. Even though it turned out to be more of Dick's Sporting Goods Brand Ambassador, I still was able to help a few people out. Even after the marathon I was having people ask me if I could make them up training plans and help them run a race. I didn't transform anyone into a super athlete or anything like that, but I did help people find a new passion and some people even hit some impressive PR's.  This is the one goal that means the most to me. I love running and I love the running community, I want other people to share my passion and see why it's such a great sport and why the people are so great.

Well I may have not hit every goal but I overall i would give myself a B- grade. Well out with 2015 and onto 2016. Hopefully 2016 turns out to be a year of nothing but high's and little to no low's.

How did you do with your goals for 2015?