What a challenging year! Trying to juggle raising a family, maintaining a demanding career, and two very time intensive hobbies (running and photography) was a handful. I also finished an online degree program, spent 50 hours driving with my daughter to qualify her for a license, spent many days searching for and test driving cars for my son, graduated my other daughter from high school and sent her off to college, and set a new PR for miles run in a calendar year.

Training wise, I made a serious effort to prioritize consistent running. This had been taking a back seat over the last couple of years to some other activities (mostly photography). A year ago, I made a conscious decision to get the miles in any way possible. Early, late, sometimes even three runs in a day. I made it happen.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started checking my stats in late November and realized that 3,000 miles was in reach. I hadn’t really considered it, because an Achilles injury in the May/June timeframe had really set me back. Thankfully, that plus some lingering hip issues have mostly been resolved and I am feeling pretty good heading into the 2016.

I shot 11 races this year, but will cut that significantly in 2016. It was a hard decision, but I terminated my contract with the Highlands Ranch Race Series. I have nothing but fond memories of working those races for the past two years, and will miss it a great deal. Ultimately, it was a time-based decision. I need some of that weekend time back in order to pursue other goals.

What’s next?

I have training dialed, but now I am hungry to race well. I only had one decent race this year, and I want to focus on preparing for and executing on race day. My world doesn’t revolved around racing, but it gives me a goal to work towards and adds clarity and purpose to my weekly training routine. Most of all, it offers a great way to explore my potential, which is really what I’m after. I feel like I seldom ever get near my potential, and whatever it is, I want to get closer to it on a more regular basis.

Thanks everyone for your support, inspiration, and motivation – and Happy New Year!