2017 Year in Review / 2018 Preview

It's that time of year again. Time for us to recap last year, and to make plans and goals for the upcoming year. 2017 saw lots of ups and downs, and highs and lows for our running.

In the beginning of last year, I was rebuilding my mileage after recovering from pneumonia. Alfredo was just beginning his Boston Marathon/Blue Ridge Marathon training. We didn't have a whole lot going on the first few months of the year, but Alfredo did the first race of the year (the Martinsville Bulletin Half Marathon) in March.

April was a big month! We did the Rock n Roll Raleigh Half and Full Marathon in April after I was fully recovered and he was in full-swing training. Later in the month, we traveled north for him to run the Boston Marathon, then 5 days later we did the Blue Ridge Half and Full Marathon.

In May, I hit a PR for the 8K distance in the Super Run and placed 2nd overall female! Then at the end of the month, we ran the Run for Kids 5K during Memorial Day weekend. I hit a PR and we both placed in our age groups. We also kicked off the Runner's World Run Streak for summer 2017.

The summer was more eventful running-wise than we predicted. We ran every single day from Memorial Day to the 4th of July and beyond for a 70 day run streak, and during the streak we did some races. We did our first 10 Miler in Baltimore, and he won the Danville Braves 5K and made his baseball pitching debut (lol).

Fall came round and we had plenty of goals for our running. He began his final season of cross country at Averett University, and I had begun training for the Outer Banks Marathon. We took our training very seriously and hit the ground running (hah). We also lucked into doing the Hokie Half Marathon in September, and Alfredo had completed 2 meets for cross country, which we never even did a blog post for! YIKES. During his second meet, he even set an 8K PR of 28:50, beating his previous PR by one minute and seven seconds!

Cross Country highlights

In October, he had another meet, and I did the Danville Half Marathon as part of a 20 mile training run, and I ended up hitting a PR of 2:12:33. I never ended up doing a post for this event either, because it was such a traumatic run. Ok so I'm being a little dramatic, but it was a terrible run. Then later in the month, I sprained my foot then made an awesome comeback just in time to finish marathon training strong. He finished his cross country season at the end of October at the USA South Conference meet. To top off a great month, he also found out that he was accepted as an Elite Honey Stinger Sponsored Athlete! Wowie!

Danville Half Marathon

November was tons of fun! Earlier in the month we traveled to the Outer Banks for our marathon weekend in November. It was great, we both set PRs, and he came in 3rd in his age group. Later in the month, we ran 2 Thanksgiving runs and had tons of fun.

My collage of monthly mileage totals

Then December. I had my highest mileage month of 124.11 miles, a result of kicking off my marathon training. I jumped right back into marathon training after just a couple of short weeks off. I decided to do this because as happy as I was with my marathon time from the Outer Banks, I just know I can do better. Throughout my Outer Banks training, I kept on thinking to myself, Dang, I should have done this, or I should do this differently next time. So, here I am. Doing the things I should have done, doing them the way I think I should have done them. I know I can do better, and I hope that I can meet my new dream-big goal for the marathon. I think I have decided on the Wrightsville Beach Marathon on March 17.

As for Alfredo, he's got some dream-big goals for himself this upcoming year. First on the agenda is the Martinsville Half Marathon. At this race, he wants to set a half marathon PR, which will keep him on target for the next goal of running a sub-3:05 marathon at Blue Ridge on April 21. Just in case you didn't know, this is America's Toughest Road Marathon! So this will prove to be quite the challenge. And finally, drum roll please.....

This year, the year 2018, will be the year that Alfredo Garcia Huerta will (hopefully) conquer the IRONMAN distance at Ironman Maryland in September! And to add some more pressure on himself, he has another goal that would require full attention and training. He not only wants to complete this Ironman, but he also is going to try to qualify for Kona, the Ironman World Championship. This is a crazy goal, but he is willing to put the in the work that is necessary to attempt this goal. Yes, people may think this is crazy. Yes, it may not happen on the first try. But he is willing to do what it takes to get there. In order to qualify for Kona, a triathlete must place top 3 overall (or top 3 in age group) in an Ironman-sanctioned event.

So here we go..... we're taking on 2018 head on! Wish us luck!

Alfredo's best nine posts from Instagram in 2017

My best nine posts

Thanksgiving Runs 2017

Well I had the goal of getting this post out before the end of November. Clearly seeing as the date is December 3, I have failed. Regardless, here is our recap of our Thanksgiving runS (yes we did 2!) for this year.

One Tough Turkey 5K (Danville, VA)

First on November 18, we did the One Tough Turkey 5K in Danville, VA. This small, low-key run was held at Angler's Park, which is a place that both Alfredo and I run fairly regularly, but the route for the race is all of the hills in that one little area all at once. Hence, the TOUGH turkey. The concept of the race is interesting, too. It had no shirts, finisher awards, or entry fee. All that was required is that you donate a can of food to participate! I didn't feel ready for this just a few short days after the Outer Banks Marathon, but hey, a free 5K? Gotta do it! And to make it even better, the running store where Alfredo works was hosting the race. So of course, I ended up doing it. Even though I knew those hills would get me.

Showing off
1st place trophy!

The run started at 8:00 am, then after just a short distance, the course began up a hill. A huge hill. One that I feel like even my car struggles up. (Ok so possibly some over-dramatization. Maybe.) But regardless, the whole first half was straight up it seemed. The second half was rolling hills (rolling mountains?), which was kind of confusing. I was wondering how we went straight up hill the first half, and in the second half we had some downhill, but there was also some uphill left? Even though it was run on a loop and we were ending up exactly where we started? Whatever, it will never make sense to me, even though I have examined the elevation map. WHATEVER. Moving on, Alfredo ended up winning with a time of 18:46, and I met my goal of running the whole thing, which may seem like I set the bar kind of low, but I knew those hills would make me really want to walk. I ended up doing that and exceeding my expected finish time of 33 minutes, and I managed to surprise myself and break 30 minutes with a time of 29:56 (unofficial). And it was all for a good cause-- feeding those who need it during the holiday season!

This is what he did when he came back for me
and the photographer said "Act like it doesn't hurt!"

He's such a ham....

Gobble Wobble 5K (Auburn, GA)

The event shirt was super cute!

The second Thanksgiving run we did was in Georgia while visiting my family. We found the Gobble Wobble 5K in Auburn, GA. This one was on Thanksgiving Day, November 23. This run was only 20 minutes or so from where we were staying with family, so we didn't even have to get up super early for the 8:00 start time! We got up, ate breakfast, and were on our way. First of all, I checked the weather forecast while we were still home in Virginia, and it was saying high 40s/low 50s that morning so I packed a couple different options in case the weather changed. I packed short sleeves, long sleeves, shorts, and capris. I felt like between these articles of clothing I would be able to dress myself for a Southern, late-fall morning. I WAS WRONG. It was only 43 degrees, which doesn't sound like that much of a drastic difference, but it was very cloudy. I opted for the long sleeves and capris, and I bout near froze! Usually my fingers regain feeling after a mile or so, but fingers stayed frozen until I went to go get my big fuzzy jacket from the car!!!

Anyway, Alfredo ran this one too. He started at the front of the pack to take off on this unknown course ahead of us. The race was held in Little Mulberry Park, which was a cute little park with a paved walking trail that went up through the woods and around a pond and a lake. It was surprisingly hilly, but nothing we couldn't handle. We went up, we came down, we went up, we came down, etc etc, and we went around the various loops of the park. Alfredo came in a solid 3rd place overall with a time of 18:32. Unfortunately, this race only recognized 1st place overall, then 3 deep in age groups, so he ended up placing 1st in the 25-29 age group, which is almost better??? Great time regardless!

1st place age group medal

I ended up finishing (frozen solid) with a time of 28:04. I was pretty surprised by that time, as I was expecting closer to 29 minutes since I was still recovering from the marathon and I was recovering from a particularly hard few days at work. Would it have been nice to finish in under 28 minutes? Yeah, but I was still happy with what I was able to do! Also, I came in 5th place in my age group out of 29 people, so I was near the top! So even though I didn't place, I am still happy with that.

Me crossing the finish line (blue shirt)

Then we got to go to see my family and eat tons of delicious food at our Thanksgiving lunch! So what a great day it was, indeed!

Look we made a new friend!

Our new kitty, Norbert, didn't run any 5Ks
but he did participate in Thanksgiving
by having his own feast--
apparently he likes pumpkin??

#RWrunstreak 2017 & Danville Braves 5K

Last year between Memorial Day and the 4th of July, I had completed the Runner's World Run Streak (or the #RWrunstreak), which was just a little challenge set out by Runner's World to encourage runners to run at least 1 mile every day between the two major summer holidays. This was meant to help runners keep running through the summer. It is so hard to get motivated when spring racing is over and fall training hasn't quite started. So I needed this kick in the rear to get me into gear! Last year, Mr. Marathon did not join me due to a busy schedule. This year, we both completed the 37 days in the challenge, and then some! We both have officially (as of today) made it 70 days!!!!!!!! Let's look at the mileage:

HIM: 335.5

HER: 249.65

Danville Braves 5K

Mr. Marathon also completed a 5K during his run streak. This race was on July 15 in Danville where he works and goes to school. This race was hosted in conjunction with Danville's local minor league baseball team on a Saturday morning before the Braves played that night. Mr. Marathon has been working on speed training so he was very excited to see what he was capable of at this point. He went out racing and hit the road. His biggest competition were 2 teenage guys who were leading for most of the race. He hadn't been feeling that great, so he was having a hard time breathing, which is kind of important for running. DUH. He ended up pulling away in the last mile and one of the 2 guys was still right by his side. The course finished unfortunately on an uphill, which he was thinking that would be where he would lose the race. However, the other guy apparently had the same thought. Halfway through the hill, he wanted to slow down, but just as he was thinking that, the other guy stopped because he got light-headed (Mr. Marathon looked back to make sure he was ok!), and a course volunteer went over to help him. This gave Mr. Marathon the lead and the extra motivation to kick it and finish strong. He took 1st place overall with a time of 18:50! A great time! Even better, the overall male and female winners were given the privilege of throwing the first pitch at the Danville Braves game that night! So that was a fun experience! And he got a cool bat trophy as his award. All of this, just to find out 2 days later that he had BRONCHITIS..... for the past FOUR WEEKS. 

Back to the Run Streak

This all being said, we made it past the 37 day mark, then I wanted to go further than last year (42 days), and then we decided to just keep going until the end of my summer before I start teaching again this school year. This is the end of our intentional, official #RWrunstreak. If we keep on streaking from this point on, it will be unofficial and unintentional. We made this conscious decision because today is a very important day for me. It is Day 1 of my MARATHON TRAINING PLAN! I am now IN TRAINING for a fall marathon! I am still undecided which one. I am torn between the Richmond Marathon and the Outer Banks Marathon. They are on November 11 and 12 respectively, so my 14 week training plan kicks off today regardless. 

Pictures! 

Last year, I took a picture and posted it on Instagram every single day. This year, I tried to take a picture most days, but some days I was just not feeling it. Sometimes I took a billion pictures and hated them all at the time so I didn't post them. So here you go, you can get some inside scoop, never before seen photos of my #RWrunstreak! A picture for every day!

Days 1-25

Days 26-50

Days 51-70

2016 Year in Review / 2017 Preview

Last year, we had a fun time reminiscing about our 2015 and making our plans for 2016 around this time. So we decided to do it again!

2016 was a tough year for plenty of people, that's no secret. It seems like there are infinite memes on the Facebook about how much 2016 sucked.

Since we are fans of MMA...
Mr. Marathon's brother is an MMA fighter!

For all the fans of Grey's, Scandal, etc. HAH!

But for us, we actually had a pretty decent year. Let's review, shall we??

Just a collage of some of our fun run-ventures of 2016!

In the winter, we traveled to Charleston in January for the Charleston Marathon (and both hit personal records!), he ran 105 miles in one week for the the What's Your Wall? challenge again, he nailed the rail and I ran it, and we got to do the Martinsville Half Marathon again. Then in spring, participated in the Blue Ridge Marathon & Star K 10K then hopped a plane to BOSTON! Then we had a really busy month of May! In the summer, I did the Runner's World Summer Run Streak (and then some!) and we got to do a new 4th of July race! Fall rolled around and he did some running and Spartan-ing, and I did some running. In November, we did our second marathon of the year and I achieved my marathon goal (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I got pneumonia that sidelined me for several weeks, and he completed his second 24-hour ultramarathon! My pneumonia also derailed my 100+ miles a month goal, but I made it November 2015-October 2016 (12 consecutive months) before I had to cut back in November and December due to doctor's orders.

Here are my monthly totals during my 100+ mile/month streak!

And now for our total running mileage from this calendar year:
HIS: 1,762.56 total miles in 2016

Hubby's "Best Nine" (most liked) pictures from Instagram in 2016

HERS: 1,122.68 total miles in 2016

My "Best Nine" from Instagram

PHEW! I'm exhausted just recapping all of this! As this year comes to a close, we realize just how much we have accomplished this year, in running as well as other aspects of our lives. Mr. Marathon is halfway through his Bachelor's degree, and I got a job teaching at a new school this past August!

We are so proud of all that we have done in 2016! In 2017, we have a few plans already in place. We will be traveling back to Boston for mister to run the Boston Marathon (4/17/17) again, and he plans to do the Blue Ridge Marathon (4/22/17). We also have plans to stay active, have fun, run a lot, exercise as much as we can, and take on other challenges/races as they come.

We wish you all a very happy new year and many happy miles in 2017!

#RWrunstreak & 4 on the 4th

Those of you following me on Facebook or Instagram may have noticed I have been posting a lot more than usual lately! But I have a good reason, I promise. 6 weeks ago, I (accidentally) started a run streak on Memorial Day. A little over a week later, I saw a post from Runner's World on Instagram about the Summer Run Streak. The streak consisted of running or walking at least 1 mile each day from Memorial Day through the 4th of July. It started by accident, like I said, but I realized that I was already 9 (out of 36) days in. So I was like "Hey, I can keep this up for 27 more days, no problem!" This was only semi-true. I could keep it up, and I did, but it was challenging! There are people out there who keep up run streaks for a full year (and more!!!!) and I had a hard time keeping up for 36 days. I definitely appreciated the challenge (and managed to keep up with my other goal of 100 miles a month) and made it through. You never really realize how busy you are some days, until you have that mile looming in the back of your mind that you still have to do. I had several days where I got to the end of the day and thought to myself, OOPS I STILL GOTTA DO MY MILE!!!! And then that's literally all I had in me-- one mile. Anyway, it was fun and a new challenge. I had so much fun for the first 36 days that I continued on my streak for 42 days to round it out to an even 6 weeks! 42 days, 44 runs, and 145 miles later, I am very glad to be done!!!


I did an Instagram/Facebook post for each day of the run streak so I have have put together collages for each week for you to enjoy! (I didn't have pictures for the first 9 days... but I found pictures for them!) If these pictures are too hard to see or you want to see the posts that go along with each, check out the posts on my Instagram!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

We also did a race on the last official day of the Run Streak! Mr. Marathon and I got to travel north to Roanoke, VA for the 4 on the 4th! It was such a fun 4 miler. We got to do a practice run with local running group C&C Runners two days before the race. It was a little hillier than the 4th of July 4 miler we had done previously in Charlotte (in 2014 and 2015), but for being in Roanoke, it was not bad at all hill-wise. We felt good on race day, but we didn't expect any personal records... but lo and behold we got 'em! Mr. Marathon finished with a time of 24:28, which put him in 2nd place in his age group, 9th place overall! I finished with a time of 37:24, which is a huge PR for me from last year's time of 42:16!!! And I came in 9th place out of 36 in my age group... Usually I tend to fall closer to the other end of my age group, so I was excited to see that. All my speed work finally paid off I guess! We were both happy to see PRs, and we hope to continue to train and see such awesome improvements. 

We aren't signed up for anything else for now, but there's a few local races and possibly a couple of Spartans (for him, not me, duh!) and we're looking at a couple of big race options for fall...!

American 4 Miler

 

This past weekend for the 4th of July, we made a trip back down to Charlotte, NC for the 4 Miler hosted by local running store, Run for Your Life because we loved last year's race so much! Read about it here! This year, we enjoyed the same fun race, with the same great atmosphere, and the same neat expo at the finish line.

Gender specific tech tanks...
 YEAH BUDDY!

Only, this year had a couple of additional perks from last year. First of all, the shirts. Oh, the shirts! These shirts are the best race shirts either me or mister have ever gotten. They were not only tech shirts, but they were gender specific as well. Not only tech and gender specific, but they were TANKS too! Not only were they tanks, but they had a really cool design! They had a lot going for them, so kudos to Run for Your Life for not only sending out a survey to see what runners who are participating in your races really want, but actually taking it into consideration. I have already worn it running and gotten some compliments on it!


Second of all, we met the coolest lady on the face of the planet, Harriette Thompson. If you haven't heard of her, well, you should! This lady is the oldest female to complete a full marathon. Not only is this lady awesome for being the oldest female marathoner, but she has a heart of gold, too. She doesn't run marathons just for the fame or the glory. She does it to raise cancer awareness. She herself is a two-time cancer survivor, according to the article on competitor.com, but she stated in the video that is circulating Facebook, which is where I initially found out about her, that she ran the San Diego Marathon in honor of her son, who found out he has cancer as well. I'm not just randomly talking about this random awesome lady. Turns out this lady is a Charlotte native. And she was participating in the American 4 Miler! And we met her!!!!!!! We were so inspired to meet this role-model. I want to be just like Harriette when I grow up. (Here is another bit about her... she truly is amazing!!!!)

I had to include some footage of her crossing the finish line....
Finish line stuff always makes me tear up!

Posing with Harriette Thompson!

Alfredo with Harriette's son,
who chatted with him before the race

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention something. My goal for this race was to beat last year's time of 42:41. I had that time ingrained in my mind. I had to beat it. I knew I would beat it. I would just cry if I couldn't beat last year's time. Well I crossed the finish line and my watch had told me that I had beat my time. I checked my official time (it was chip-timed) at the results tent where there were computers, and the screen popped up after I typed in my bib number. On that screen was the time in big white letters....

42:41

...and I was about to cry. In fact, I may have said some not-so-nice things to the lady who was manning the results tent. I asked her if this was the official time or just the gun time, and she said "I guess these are official times????" and so I showed her my watch and flipped out. I walked away incredibly disappointed, trying to enjoy the fun expo with all the free stuff. Anyway, it gets better don't worry. I went home and checked my email to see that the official results were finally posted. Turns out, those times earlier were just gun times. Not chip times.... heh.... I kind of should have figured that. So soon after the race shouldn't have been the official times. I feel bad so I'm just gonna put it out there that I'm sorry for being rude to that lady, please forgive me! My time was really 42:16. Which may not seem that much different to normal people, but hey-- I met my goal. By 25 seconds. The end.

Overall, we had a fun time in Charlotte for this year's 4 Miler. It still is one of the better races we have participated in, and the shirt is the best race shirt either of us have ever gotten. Tons of fun! Now, enjoy some random pictures from race day!

Ready to run

My watch that tricked me...
And it only said 3.99 miles.... WHAT.

I lost my mister while we were walking around the expo...
I look behind me to find him "chilling" on bags of ice. Hah!

Men 25-29 results. Alfredo Garcia is in 6th place with a time of 25:53... not too shabby!

Women 20-24. There I am! Elizabeth Garcia, in 14th place with my time of 42:16.

Oh, and we discovered our picture from last year made it on the registration page for this event!
We're famous!