So we left off my 2015 running year in June (you can read part I of 2015 here and the 2015 Running Survey here), with running going well, a good half and a bad half, and some personal good and bad times (pun intended).

July
Darlene and I started to get together to run occasionally on Thursday evenings. I considered these my tempo runs.

Hill repeats continued (adding one more each week).

I thoroughly enjoyed Firecracker 4 again, a much cooler day than last year translated into a better time, and it was the first race I used the run/walk intervals in.

Always a plus to start out with friends from my running group, and I also met one of my neighbors there and got to know her a little better, too.

My piriformis bothered me slightly this month and then boom! A few days after 11 hill repeats, my knee started to bother me.

I decided, sort of on a whim, that I needed the Garmin Vivoactive and stayed up far too late the day it came trying to set it up. I also switched from KT Tape Pro to Rocktape — Rocktape really does adhere much better.

August
We had planned to do the Camp Chingachook 10k in Lake George at the beginning of August again this year, and bring the dogs with us.We even made a reservation at a pet friendly hotel.

Somehow I could never quite pull the trigger on signing up for the race.

Good thing, too — my chiropractor convinced me that running a hilly 10k was not in my best interest if I wanted to be in good shape for my October half. So I canceled the reservation. I was sad; I was really looking forward to a weekend in Lake George, but it was probably a good thing in hindsight — not only for my knee, but it was a hot weekend and Chester, whose heart failure was advancing, doesn’t do well in the heat.

I dropped the easy run from my schedule, and did speedwork, a tempo, and a long run each week. My IT seemed to improve. I also started to do the Iron Strength DVD (man, that’ll kick your booty!).

No races in August.

September
For most of September my IT felt fine. Most of the summer it was never actually my knee that bothered me — it was the IT band itself; the band that runs along the outside of the top of your leg.

I stopped swimming, sadly, because of the time involved as Chester began to worsen and it was harder and harder to leave him for long periods of time. I also stopped because I kept getting kinks in my shoulder blade area and it seemed to actually bother my IT.

I was pretty religious about cross training with Iron Strength and Core Essentials and purchased Yoga for Pain Relief during this month, too.

I ran Maddie’s Mark 5k at the end of the month; it wasn’t a PR, but was close. That darn trail through the woods! I even ran again that afternoon because we had 7 miles on the schedule.

October
I ran the Green Mountain Half on 10/11/15, and just like that, my half season (but not my racing season) was over.

Remember that PR in Redding Road Race? I shaved another 3 minutes off of it on a hilly course with an insane wind that threatened to blow me right into Lake Champlain.

We were supposed to take a trip out west to see my MIL & SIL the following week, but Chester began to worsen and the pet sitter we had used since we moved here backed out with 1 week’s notice and neither of our other pet sitters could do it.

So my husband went and I stayed home. Had I known that VT would be my last trip for the forseeable future, we would have stayed a few extra days.

It was just as well that I couldn’t go; we weren’t actually sure Chester would make it through the trip and my husband almost canceled it completely (but he did make it through; in fact, he’s still with us).

November
I had really wanted to do another half this year, since I knew my body could stand up to it, but it just wasn’t to be and in the end it was probably a good thing because the last two months of the year were very stressful.

Instead, I finally got to run Stockadeathon, 11/8, an automatic PR for me since I’ve never run a 15k. And I got to meet Frank Shorter at the packet pickup, too.

Darlene has been involved with Girls on the Run, and it’s a cause I’ve supported, so I signed up for the Girls on the Run 5k, 11/21, last minute. I had a great time, even if the course was a little short.

 

Thanksgiving was at my house, and Chester was once again not doing great, but I decided to roll out of bed Thanksgiving morning and do the Cohoes Turkey Trot (3 1/2 miles) — and yup, the hills were challenging but it was another PR.

So that would be 3 races in November! Which is a first for me — 2 in the space of 1 week, too! And 2 more PRs.

 

December
I had read that the longer your run, the shorter your run/walk intervals should be. I began to experiment with 2 minutes running, 30 seconds walking — and often I did seem faster.

On 12/5 I ran the Jingle Bell 5k, a new race to me, with a friend. I could see she needed to have someone sign up with her. We ran into her friend at the race, and I’ve since seen her at another race, and since we’re close in age and pace, we exchanged emails. I hope to see her at the New Year’s Day run.

12/19 was Last Run; totally a fun run where I didn’t worry about my pace. It starts with fireworks and then runs through the Christmas lights at a local park. I’m still working on my recap!

I found that I really liked running in my neighborhood in the dark, looking at the holiday lights (the first time was a mistake) — the unseasonably warm weather didn’t hurt, either.

I was still in my off season, so I concentrated a bit more on strength training and only ran 3 times a week — no tempo runs, no hill repeats, and only very occasional speedwork this month

Darlene and I got together to run a few times. We went to the movies together one day, too (and she had gone the day before, and went the day afterwards, she’s just the energizer bunny.

Chester, unforunately, is just not doing well at all. A lot of back and forth, a lot of vet visits, a lot of heartache and sleep deprivation. Running, quite frankly, helps me stay somewhat sane.

I ended 2015 with 3 new states under my belt, 2 of them PRs, PRs in some other distances, a new distance, 3 races in one month, 2 halfs in one month, and most of all — uninjured for probably the first time since I started running seriously!

Running went very well for me this year. It didn’t all go smoothly, it never does, but I definitely can’t complain. In fact, when it comes to running, it will be hard to top 2015, but I’m willing to try!

I’m linking up with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup; because the more, the merrier, right?