The Running Thread--2024

[Herding_Cats]

Favorite race (as a runner): The half-of-a-half? It was DH's first HM, and while I'm super bummed he didn't get to run through the castle, he did get up and do the rest of his miles on Sunday morning at the resort after he dropped me off for the full.

Favorite race (as a spectator): Barkley? Jasmin Paris crushing it? Also the Olympics....the mens 1500, the steeplechase, the women's marathon, SO MANY GOOD RACES! In-person: DS's last XC meet where he finally PR'd for the season after battling back from pneumonia for most of the fall.

Favorite new running gear item: I don't think I got any new gear?

Favorite everyday shoes: NB1080 v12

Favorite race shoes: NB Supercomp Trainer V1. Even though I've never raced in them. I'm hoarding these for when I *do* decide to race something. There will never be another shoe from NB like this (I think they're on v3 or 4 now?) because the stack was so high it ended up being illegal for USATF/WA.

 

[SheHulk]

ATTQOTD:
This is a great idea for a question!

• Like so many of us, i had Olympics fever and watched nonstop for 2 weeks.
• New thing: running the DL Half in January
• New thing: running that race with non-runD friends and getting them to dress in costume, to varying degrees
• New thing: Getting the Coast to Coast medal at Princess Weekend. That's going to be a one-and-done for me but I'm glad to have done it!
• Another new thing was sticking to strength training throughout this marathon training cycle, which I think has helped a lot in my tolerance for the ramp-up in mileage.

 

[Erika10021]

My highlight of 2024: discovering the joy of running which has been substantially enhanced with rundisney and this forum.
My best race: finishing the wine & dine challenge without massive damage to any parts or toes (also my first half marathon, so happy I got through it)
Best spectating: watching the olympics. I enjoyed the throwing stuff more than I ever thought I would.
Best new gear: Coros watch
Best everyday shoes: Brooks Glycerin
Best running shoes: Hoka Mach X
Best non-race event: the opening song (Zoo Station) when seeing U2 in the sphere in Vegas

 

[nancipants]

ATTQOTD:

Favorite race (as a runner): Princess half marathon! My first half, and I ran it with one of my closest friends.
Favorite race (as a spectator): Women’s
Olympic marathon! I’m so glad I woke up early to watch it.
Favorite new running gear item: Janji pace shorts! I got a pair for Christmas last year, and I currently have five of them. They feel amazing, don’t budge, and carry EVERYTHING.
Favorite shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS is all I wear.
Favorite random opportunity: I’ll copy @WillRunForPizza’s answer! I also met Jeff Galloway twice at the race expos and was so grateful to tell him how run/walk has turned me into a runner.

 

[flav]

ATTQOTD:
Highlights: DH and I completed 2024km in 2024 this morning (and after reading the previous posts, calculated that this represents 2.5% of our year!) DH conclusion: and we start 2025km challenge in two days

Favorite new places to run: Miami Beach (vacation) and canal Lachine (local).

Favourite race (as a runner): I ran three races for time and placed in my age group at all three. While I cannot say that racing is enjoyable, being reassured that I can still push feels good for the self confidence.

Favorite race (as a spectator): Ouf, spectating DD was hard this year. She got unlucky with sickness or non running injuries at the wrong times. We watched a bit of the Olympics, nice. Although not a race, one thing that we enjoyed was doing our training runs (almost spectating, right?) while DD was training with her running club. In some ways, we show these teenagers that even without performance, even older and slower, this can be an enjoyable sport.

Favourite encounter: Pre-race DIS meetup at STS.

No new gear and in need to find running shoes that don’t ruin my toenails.

 

[gosalyn_mallard]

Wish I was going to be in Orlando on Jan 7 for this meet & greet with Jenny Simpson!
https://www.trackshack.com/event/78779

 

[lookingforsunshine]

ATTQOTD:

I have had a lot of running highlights in 2024! I finished Dopey and a runDisney perfect season. I have also PRd the 5k (July), 10k (November), half (October), and full this year (January— first full). My 10k PR was enough for proof of time! I got my first pair of “speed shoes”— Altra Vanish Carbon 2. Today I ran 2 miles without walking at 11:32 (twice!) during my 11 mile run which is wild… I don’t know if I have ever run that far without walking. I hit my first 100+ mile month, too!

My favorite race this year is difficult… maybe the Halloween half because it was with people I love and I LOVED the theming. The marathon was also amazing and a day to remember.

 

[Dopey 2020]

ATTQOTD a couple days late. A great year, for another ‘I’ll never run a marathon’ runner I did five different ones this past year, with three being new to me.
If I have to pick a favorite race I think it will always be Wine and Dine half. It was my first half in 2017 and has been a favorite every year since.

 

[michigandergirl]

ATTQOTD:

2024 Running Highlights:

1) Running my 10th marathon and 2nd world major at the TCS New York City Marathon. It's going to be really hard to ever top that!! This also knocked off state #7 in my quest to run a race in every state (I'm choosing to do a race of any distance for this - it may take awhile).

2) I snagged a couple of age group awards in two small, local races - a 2nd place 5K and a 1st place 10K.

3) No injuries.

 

[Dopey 2020]

How about more shoe talk?
Specifically about Endorphin speed 4 but in general why do things sometimes change drastically.
My picky feet have always been in Mizuno and more recently Saucony. As far as the Endorphin series go I started with the original speeds, they were fantastic, then the 2 was even better. The 3? How could they get any better, I was amazed and then missed out on the pro 3 so got the pro 4. That immediately became my go to race shoe. Long story short, got a pair of speed 4 to put into the rotation and cut the run short due to sharp pains in both shins. Alright maybe I was tired so I waited a couple days and pushed through 5 miles, with the result being pain in both lower legs front and back.
Tried again the next day, same results. Ok, is it me or the shoe? Didn’t rest a day, went right back at it in an old pair of mizunos, the result? A normal run like any other day. I hated to do it but back to the store they went and a new pair of wave rider 28 came home, just came back from putting 10 miles on them and feel the usual aches and fatigue but overall very good. I’m used to seeing minor changes year to year but this one seemed extreme. Wondering if anyone else preferred the speed 3 over the 4. Who else has had the ‘what in the world did they do to my shoe’ disaster?

 

[Zutroy]

How about more shoe talk?
Specifically about Endorphin speed 4 but in general why do things sometimes change drastically.
My picky feet have always been in Mizuno and more recently Saucony. As far as the Endorphin series go I started with the original speeds, they were fantastic, then the 2 was even better. The 3? How could they get any better, I was amazed and then missed out on the pro 3 so got the pro 4. That immediately became my go to race shoe. Long story short, got a pair of speed 4 to put into the rotation and cut the run short due to sharp pains in both shins. Alright maybe I was tired so I waited a couple days and pushed through 5 miles, with the result being pain in both lower legs front and back.
Tried again the next day, same results. Ok, is it me or the shoe? Didn’t rest a day, went right back at it in an old pair of mizunos, the result? A normal run like any other day. I hated to do it but back to the store they went and a new pair of wave rider 28 came home, just came back from putting 10 miles on them and feel the usual aches and fatigue but overall very good. I’m used to seeing minor changes year to year but this one seemed extreme. Wondering if anyone else preferred the speed 3 over the 4. Who else has had the ‘what in the world did they do to my shoe’ disaster?

I haven’t used the Speed 4s yet, but the Speed 1 is one of my all time favorite shoes. Ran in the Speed 3s yesterday, which I like, but not as much as the 1s. I stayed away from the 4s because I heard they were lifeless and mushy, which is the opposite feeling I get from the 1s—firm and poppy.

General consensus is that the Pro 4 has become the de facto new Speed series, with the Elite taking over the role of the Pro. The Speed is considered now to be the Shift, which was discontinued this product cycle.

 

[Dopey 2020]

I stayed away from the 4s because I heard they were lifeless and mushy, which is the opposite feeling I get from the 1s—firm and poppy.

I would agree with this, it was like running in old flat shoes with no response. Completely dead right out of the box for me. If I had to rank the previous versions I’d say 3,2,1 best to worst for me but all were fantastic

 

[FFigawi]

I skipped the Speed 4 for the same reasons. I stocked up on the Speed 3 for training and use the Pro 4 for racing. They feel just like the Speed 3 only with a lot more bounce and spring to them.

 

[FFigawi]

2024 Totals
Swim - 59 miles
Bike - 3621 miles
Run - 644 miles

Overall, not a bad year. Solid build up and racing for my A race in July, followed by easy base maintenance during the rest of the year. Aside from Dopey, Oceanman Thailand, and Challenge Mallorca, there's not much on the calendar for 2025 right now. I need to get working on that.

 

[dobball23]

December Totals

Running
Runs: 20
Miles: 171.36
Time: 23:00:00
Avg Pace: 8:03

YTD Miles: 2,173.79 (I wanted to get to 2,000 miles this year and I accomplished that!
2023 miles: 1,966.41

I am taking today off (after eight straight days of running) so I can hopefully start 2025 with a little bit longer run. Maybe I can beat my mileage next year? We'll see. I need to ID a spring half marathon to run, and then I have Dopey 2026 in my sights.

 

[The Expert]

2024 totals
Running mileage: 445 (adding .74 to my run today to make this even!)
Total time: 105.7 hours
Average pace: 14:10mm
Strength training: 37 hours

 

[Dopey 2020]

Very happy with December, even with holiday madness I managed almost all scheduled miles leading up to Dopey.

2024 total mileage - 1421.49
It was a good year, took a minute to find my very flexible goals posted here earlier

Continue at least 100 miles/month streak
more core strength training
find and sign up for more races

Succeeded on the monthly streak
Ran 2 half marathons and 5 marathons, 3 of which were new to me, kept them all sub 4, and got my current PR
As far as adding in core workouts, well 2 out of 3 is good. Maybe this year.

 

[kps7795]

December 2024 Totals
Running Distance: 228 miles
Running Time: 35:22:18
Traditional Strength Training Time: 7:04:42
Pilates: 1:55:45

YTD Miles: 1,697
2023 miles: 936.4

I didn't create a goal to achieve a certain mileage for 2024, but I wanted to try to get faster while creating a stronger base. Based upon my recent running, I believe that I achieved that goal. For 2025, I want to get 2,000+ miles. I can't remember the last time that I raced a non-rD 5K, so I'm going to focus on that for the first half of 2025 in the hopes that a faster 5K will make me faster overall. Following that, I'll need to decide which marathon I want to do and start a marathon training block. I really want to do the NYC Marathon (HUGE bucket list for me), so I'll enter the lotter for the third year in a row knowing that I'll likely not be selected for a third year in a row. Thus, I have to decide if I want to try to raise money for a charity. If I don't do NYC, I might do the Space Coast Marathon.

 

[jmasgat]

Some people run for PR, others run for fun, but gotta love a guy who runs to make in-motion Strava Art. I had already seen the stick man. Looking forward to the whale. I follow the strav.art account on Instagram,.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...came-a-viral-art-phenomenon?CMP=share_btn_url

 

[Naomeri]

December totals:
12.51 miles in 2:52:21

All I can say is: I guess my legs will be well-rested for Dopey? There was just so much going on in December.

2024 Totals:
411.26 miles in 96:06:51--about 200 miles less than the last 2 years