A belated Happy Holidays to you all! I hope that your holiday season has been fun, restful, and packed with lots of amazing food! Mine has been the first and third, but definitely not the second. There’s a Christmas/December recap in the works, but seeing as the year is almost over, I wanted to do this post first!
This isn’t a running blog, but I have spent a pretty massive amount of time this year in my running shoes. The idea for this post came to me while I was running along the C&O Canal up by Georgetown, which is a pretty route, but also really fricking boring.
That said, here are my best runs of 2014, in reverse order!
5. 5 miles in Castine, Maine (September): My dad and I took a 6-day photography trip on a schooner along coastal Maine. Our schooner docked in Castine, and we had about 2 hours to walk to the lighthouse, take pictures, and mosey on back. This was our first real opportunity to get off the boat in about 4 days, so I laced up, slung my camera bag across my back and as soon as we hit dry land, I took off. It was amazing. The scenery, the views, being back in my running shoes, being alone, the photos I took…. everything. It was an awesome run.
4. Cherry Blossom 10-miler (April): This was the longest I’d ever run at that point and this race was a lot of fun. There were so many runners and spectators, and I just had a blast. I had gas in the tank at the end, and I felt amazing!
3. 6 miles in San Francisco (February): Nate was in San Francisco for work, so I flew out for a long weekend to take advantage of the free hotel. We ran from the hotel to the pier with all the sea lions and back to the hotel, stopping in the ferry building along the way. How can a run full of cute sea lions and free food samples not be fun?!
2. Richmond Marathon (November): This race wasn’t all fun, but I dug deep and got it done, despite wanting to walk during the last 4 miles with every molecule of my being. I made it through the cold, blood blisters, and dead legs, and I finished with a huge smile on my face. Then I burst into tears because I was so physically and emotionally exhausted.
1. Freedom’s Run Half Marathon (October): This race was a last-minute decision and it was definitely my best run of 2014. We were running through Antietam and at one point I turned to Nate and said, “I am having so much fun! This is AWESOME!” Two years ago, I never, ever would have guessed that those sentences would come out of my mouth while I was running. The course was absolutely beautiful and I killed the hills. If we are ever in this area again in the beginning of October, we are running this one again!
Next up, my five worst runs of 2014, most of which are funny to look back upon!
According to Athena 
I also ran the Freedom half in October. Yes, the hills were killing me, but the view is great.
That race changed what “hilly” means to me. I’ve run some hilly races since then, but they were all practically flat in comparison to Freedom’s Run!