Year of Running: 2014

I always love doing Miss Zippy's Year of Running annual reflections. It's fun to look back on my year in terms of running. Given that I didn't run much from April to September, I don't know how much forward progress I've made, but I'm entering 2015 really excited to make some major gains if I keep up the hard work I've put in over the past couple months.

Best race experience?

The OC Turkey Trot 5K! Having my mom and Mason there to "crew" (hah, the idea of having a 5K crew is hilarious to me...), having my dad run the race and cheering him on at the finish line, and running a PR in great weather all contributed to my favorite race experience in 2014. The race itself was poorly run, but the other factors more than made up for it. To be fair, there were scant pickings since I barely raced in 2014. I'm looking forward to racing a lot more next year. 


Best run?

This one is close to impossible to pick. I don't have the best memory for individual runs. Scrolling through my photo gallery though, I'd have to go with my farewell Central Park run before we moved to Orange County. It was a beautiful day, my legs felt great, and I enjoyed saying goodbye to my favorite places.


Best new piece of gear?
The custom insoles I bought from Road Runners Sports. They try to convince everyone to get a custom fitting, and at first I was like "nah I'm good," but then I got curious and tried it out. I really liked how it felt I decided to spring for a pair. I love my Saucony Kinvaras (I'm still on the 4's because they're super cheap on Amazon) but they're definitely on the more minimal side of shoes. 

With the custom insoles, I get good arch support which keeps me better balanced and any foot pain I used to have from longer runs in the Kinvaras has disappeared. The insoles allow me to wear my Kinvaras more, which makes me really happy. Sourabh used to have some foot pain after the shorter runs he does (20-30 minutes) and that's disappeared with these. I don't think they're a necessity and from what I've read online, opinions on them are definitely mixed. About two months in, though, I've been really happy with the insoles. 


Best piece of running advice you received?
Rest matters. Getting enough sleep and giving my body time to recover from hard workouts is essential if I want to see real gains from the runs and exercises I do. The key, of course, is not watching that extra episode on Netflix so you can get the sleep to do the workout, rather than scratching the workout in favor of TV. But, when life intervenes in the form of work or psycho dogs who continue barking at nothing until 1 a.m. (Mason is lucky we don't own any weapons...), it's probably for the best to get that extra hour of sleep.


Most inspirational runner?

My mom at the Turkey Trot. And my douche bag dog... (just kidding, I love him. 95% of the time...)

Last year I said my dad. This year I've got to go with my mom! She just started running using the Couch to 5K plan and has been so dedicated. Reading her texts with how her runs are going is great. I think it's fun to be able to see someone's journey from non-runner to runner. Running with her along the beach when my parents visited over Thanksgiving was one of my best runs this year.