I did this fun little running wrap up last year, and thought it was a good way to capture my 2012 running year so I thought I'd do it again this year:

Best race experience? The Nike Women's half marathon in DC in April. I was barely able to train for this race because I was balancing CrossFit and teaching at Maryland with my full-time job, but I still managed to shave nearly three minutes off my half marathon PR. Plus my mom came to town for the weekend to run it too and we got to hang out.



Best run? Probably my first run back after I was able to take off my aircast back in January. (After the first time I had a stress fracture.) It was short and not the best run ever, but I was so, so happy to be back to running again.



Best new piece of gear? Being injured so much this year, I don't know that I actually bought any new gear except new running shoes. Is it a cop-out to say my Mizuno Wave Inspires?

Best piece of running advice you received? Stop running. No seriously, my CrossFit coaches told me this multiple times this year, and after my bazillion injuries, I'm starting to think maybe they have a point.

Don't worry, I'm not going to actually stop running (I'm signed up for a half marathon in March after all), I'm maybe going to scale back the intensity and perhaps after the half, the distance.

Most inspirational runner? Meghann and Theodora both inspired the crap out of me this year. Meghann trained for and totally rocked an Ironman, and Theodora broke 4 hours in the NYC marathon. While I was laid up with injuries this fall, I was super inspired by both of these ladies with what they were accomplishing on the athletic front.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Hard and full of injury. Two stress fractures knocked me out of running for most of the year. I think I had more DNS races this year than actual races I ran. And since the last stress fracture, I have struggled to get my running mojo back. I'm annoyed at running, I'm sick of getting injured and I hate how long it's taking me to get any of my endurance back.



So running and I are not in a good spot after this year. Here's hoping 2014 holds better things on the running front.