Goodbye 2015, hello 2016!

My plan to end the year with lots of miles and cross training during didn't quite play out as expected. Instead I was sick for half of my holiday break. I still managed to squeeze in a few workouts at the beginning and end of the break. I also did yoga one day, so cross training was not a complete bust either.

Wednesday 12/23: 3.31 miles
Thursday 12/24: 5.0 miles
Saturday 12/26: 6.77 miles
***a few days of sickness***
Wednesday 12/30: 5.0 miles
Friday 1/1: 10.01 miles
Sunday 1/3: 3.61 miles

I was super happy to get out on New Year's Day for a 10 mile run with a few running friends. It was the first time that I have done a double digit run since my marathon and the first time I have run with a group in what felt like forever. During marathon training it was really hard to make it to group runs. It is too tempting to run faster than planned when I am running with my speedy friends and during my high mileage weeks that would have been disastrous. Since I am focusing on shorter races this year (and will have much more flexibility in my training schedule!) I am going to make a serious effort to run with friends more often.

In other running related news, I took last minute advantage of some early bird race pricing on New Year's Eve and am now registered for three races this year! Woohoo! April 24th will be my first race of the year: Glass City 5k. I am especially excited about this race because Ariana [everythingswaiting] is running the half marathon and Lisa [TechChick Adventures] is running the marathon.

I ran the Glass City Half Marathon in 2014.

In July I'll be killing myself at the Ann Arbor Mile. I know you are thinking, how hard can a mile race be? But I ran this race a couple years ago and it was the hardest and fastest I have ever run. My lungs still burned the day after the race. This race will be after a few months of racing 5ks, so maybe it will feel easy in comparison?

And finally in September I am registered for the Mighty Niagara Half Marathon. I'll be aiming for a PR and maybe even be ready to break 1:40. Bonus: Brittany [Run Fast or Faster] has added this race to her 2016 calendar too. I'm really excited that I might have the chance to meet up with 3 awesome runners/bloggers this year.

There will definitely be some other races along the way (more 5ks!), but these are the only three races that I have actually registered for so far. I have a few more weeks before I will officially start my 5k training, but the start of the new year has me feeling particularly excited to resume training. Bring it on, 2016!