Year of Running 2018: Best of

I love doing these best of lists every year!  Here is my Best of for 2018:

1.  Best race:  Flint Hills Trail Marathon.  This was a hard choice because SO many of my races have been awesome this year and each with different kinds of awesome.  From battling it out in the mud at Wyco, to conquering the rocks at Flat Rock, to trying a new to me local race in which I got lost at Randolph's Revenge, each experience had it's own bests.  I think the FHTM was the best race because it was Stella and I's first full marathon together, and I don't think I would have made it as far without her by my side. I felt so much love for that dog for helping me tough out the marathon distance in the rain.  That was the race that I decided pretty much a race wasn't worth doing unless she was with me.   

2.  Best run: I think my best run was part of a race that I wasn't entered in.  No I didn't bandit it, I got permission to run it, but it was so much fun running with Lindsey at 2:30 am as part of the Night Hawk 50 (I just did one 10 mile loop).  There is something that makes you feel like a total badass running in the rain on a technical trail in the dark in the middle of the night on no sleep.  Of course dodging spider webs was kind of scary as those trail spiders make HUGE webs, but Lindsey took it like a champ and cleared the way for me!

My new Stinsons

3.  Best New Piece of Running Gear:  Okay it's a tie between my Hoka line of shoes including the Bondis, the Torrents, and the Stinsons, and my R8 roller.  I finally bit the bullet and tried the "space shoes" and I LOVE them.  I have had to do some adjusting, since I have been battling PF, but they run so smoothly, and I am totally in love with the Hoka Torrents and how light and responsive they are on the trail.  I am still getting use to my Stinson ATRs, but they seem to be pretty awesome thus far and might be my new gravel road/road shoes.  My R8 is a close second because I use it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!  My sore and tired legs have a love hate relationship with this torture device, but they always thank me later for how good they feel for being rolled out. 

4.  Best Running Advice:  I honestly can't think of anything spoken specifically other than just run every race/run like it might be your last. 

  
5.  Most inspirational runner: Hands down my gal pal Lindsey from livinglovingrunner.  She rocked out her first 100 miler and never got grumpy or pissy with us her crew throughout the whole 31 hours.  She made all of her time cut offs and totally earned that buckle like a bad ass mother runner.  I will never forget how much fun we had but also how tough it was for all of us to stay focused and NOT sleep!  Pretty sure team #Itookitlikeachamp will be back next year with most of us running the distances or crewing for others.

the girls warming up and having fun!

A close second is my GOTR girls!  It was rainy, cold, windy, and just over all horrible weather for their year end 5K, but I never heard any complaints! I just saw smiles, heard laughter, and watched them all achieve their dreams of running their first official 5K!  All of these girls grew so much over the season and I am SO proud of every single one them. 

6.  Favorite picture from race or run:  Don't make me pick just one!!!!  They were ALL so amazing thanks to Mile 90 photo, Layton Photography, and John Knepper just to name a few.  If you twist my arm hard and make me pick just one, I think I will pick......

John Knepper's photo from The Snake!  I need to frame so many, but this one is just darn near perfect!

A very close second is the famous mud shot from Psycho Wyco.  Mile 90 always gets such awesome shots of stella, and I had to get this one put on a t shirt because of it's awesomeness!

7.  Race you would repeat?  Oh boy, so many.  I loved both the Trail Nerds and the Trail Hawk's races that I did for the first time this year.  Let's change this to the RACES I would repeat:  Psycho Wyco, Running with the Cows, The Bill Synder Highway Half, Sander's Saunter, the Night Hawk, the Snake, both dog themed 5Ks and The Hawk even though I didn't technically run it last year. 

8.  Sum of your running in a few words:  Amazing, technical, and MUDDY!  This was the year of the trail races and I had SO much fun!  I also did 10 of my 15 races with Stella and I want to up that number next year!

An amazing year in running for sure and I can't wait till see how amazing 2019 goes.  Between cross fit, regular massage, and eating better, I am hopefully going to be a lean mean running machine!