Running Renaissance: One Skip Ahead of my Doom

[RuntheMouse]

Feeling your winter runs up north here! It was 14 and sunny out today and it felt glorious! Great job on the Santa run

 

[GollyGadget]

Since we’re on the topic it was 34 on my run this afternoon and I nearly felt unstoppable.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

Hey, I have a shirt like that....

 

[GollyGadget]

2025 Year in Review
As mentioned in the running thread, I somehow ran 1000 miles for the fifth consecutive year . This happened despite only running 12.7 miles for the entire month of June


I intentionally took it easy this summer to give my body time to heal. Turns out, unlike muscles & bones, tendons don’t heal with rest so it didn’t go as planned. Not that I knew I was dealing with a tendon problem at the time... Lesson learned, if something isn’t feeling better after 2 weeks rest, go see a professional.

2025 was my lowest mileage year since 2020, but I’m still quite proud of the year. I didn’t have any races planned after May but still kept running without a big scary goal to motivate me. I’ve definitely found the joy in running. I even missed some of the mileage this summer when I was doing less. This is a much better place to be than burnt out and over it.



The highlight of the year was unquestionably the 2025 WDW Marathon. Like most here, there’s something about WDW that pulls at my heart strings. I also squeaked in 3 minute PR with a 3:54:41.



Apparently, I also ran a 10K PR in April. The 10K is by far my worst distance somehow. I’ve run faster equivalent times in the mile, 5K, 10 miler and half marathon in the last two years. It’s kind of bizarre. This is likely why I forgot about the PR. I expect to be able to run faster than 48:45 but I just haven’t. Oh well, I still got my finisher photo with a cute dog.



By May, it was obvious that my body needed a change. However, I still snuck in another solid 10K performance with an official time of 48:19 although the course was a bit short and followed it up with my 8th sub 2 hr half at the end of the month.

After some travel & recovery in June, I spent more time doing strength workouts and less time running for a few months. I never really found my strength groove or a program that clicked. In hindsight, I wonder if some of that is because my hamstrings & connected tendons were begging for proper attention.

In September, I started ramping up mileage again for a late January half marathon. It became apparent that my hamstrings did not magically fix themselves so this training cycle has been a bit of a dud. It was finally enough that I went to PT but there was no magic fix there either and I’ve had to omit most running that’s quicker than my easy pace. However, I do think I’m finally heading the right direction and while I probably won’t set any records, I will be able to finish my half (hopefully with a smile on my face ).

Not really a spectacular finish to the year, but another year of running and still some highlights to be proud of.

Happy running y’all! May 2026 bring you many happy miles & smiles.