2017: Year in Review

It's safe to say that I didn't have a great year. Ever since the Manchester City Marathon in 2016, I was never the same. Hamstring issues plagued me right into the new year, dissipated, and then turned into what I still believe is High Hamstring Tendinopathy. Never to be diagnosed, but the fact that I still have it 10 months after it first reared its ugly head AND fits the definition of it to a T, I'm 99% sure it's the issue. Add plantar fasciitis to that for also the last 10 months, and I'm just a disaster. The problem is...I've gotten used to both. I don't remember what it's like not to have either and continued on my merry way with all of my racing during the year. Even though I had quite a bit of success, much to my surprise, once these issues started in March, I lost a good amount of my speed. All of the gains I made the second half of 2016 were gone. 2017 was a year of far more disappointment than satisfaction. And not just in running.

Life in general has become such a struggle for me trying to make ends meet. I feel trapped, broke and want more. The stress of being in a place I never imagined I would be in definitely hasn't helped. But I keep on running...and racing...and trying to be a good mom, and I feel like that drive is what led to the few successes I did have this year. I've also been lucky to have one constant person in my life who's been with me on a daily basis through all of my ups and downs. He deserves a mention because he's been in the background for a long time now and has played a huge, yet silent, roll in the positives of my life. He has lifted me up when I'm drowning in the negative, and I can only hope that I give enough back in return.

Despite the disappointment, I want to focus on the just the good points for the rest of this post. The highlights!! I think it will help me just to write about that so that I can really see that I did have a good year. Not my best, but maybe, just maybe, it could be remembered as a good year. I doubt it, but I'll let you know at the end of this post if it did. Haha. :)

YEAR TOTALS-

Total Miles: 2494.2 miles
Total Elevation Gain: 249,295ft
Total Races: 55 +2 kayak races
Total First Female: 24
Total Prize Money: $2400+
Total Series Completion: Granite State Snowshoe Championship (1st female), South County 4th Season Trail Race Series (1st female), USATF-NE Grand Prix (1st in the 40-44 age group), USATF-NE Mountain Running Series (2nd Female), USATF-All Terrain Series (3rd female; 1st master)

JANUARY

This was a good start to the year. Six of my race wins were in January. Plus, Scott Mason's photo of me at the Resolution Beach Race where I took 1st for the women made the cover of Level Renner. Sad that it would be the last January/February issue for the magazine. It ended last month. Thank you to the Level for the 2014 profile of Leslie Beckwith, your constant support and mentions through the years and the stuffies. #stuffiesonthelevel ;)

Other wins for January were the Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble, the Bradbury Squall Snowshoe Race, the Moose Mountain Runaround Snowshoe Race and then two wins at the USATF East Region & New England Association Masters Indoor Championship, the mile and the 3000m. I was second in the 5000m. Good month for me. I had high expectations.

FEBRUARY

This was also a decent month for me. I had wins at the Old Mountain 5K, the Bradbury Whiteout Snowshoe Race and the Exeter Snowshoe Hullabaloo. The highlight of the month, however, was our trip to the World Snowshoe Championship in Saranac Lake. Although snow conditions were horrible, the race went on and I pulled off 9th female and 3rd master! For me that was a BIG deal. One of the highlights of my year! John and I did the Citizens Race together which was fun, as well.

MARCH

This began my downfall, when my high hamstring AND plantar fasciitis appeared. I still lucked out to take wins at the Belleville 10K and Burrr-lingame 10 mile Trail Race. This would seal my women's win for the South County 4th Season Trail Race Series.

The Granite State Snowshoe Championship race in Waterville Valley would be final race in the Granite State Snowshoe Series where I would win my 3rd consecutive Series, my 4th overall. We didn't know it at the time, but this would be the end of the Series forever. It was a good run for me with snowshoe racing, but it opened up the chance for me to cut back on snowshoe racing in 2018.

Belleville 10K

GSSS Championship

Had some great ski days at Wildcat with John this month

APRIL

April's highlight would have to be my win at the Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race. I had been pretty much in agony with the hamstring thing, taken a week off and then pulled off a pretty good win at one of my favorite mountain races. It turned my April frown upside down.

MAY-

May saw an upturn in my race wins but a very sad reality that I had lost my short distance speed. The highlight was my 25K win at Pineland Farms the day after racing the Wachusett Mountain Race. I surprisingly had a great race and felt good the whole way beating my last 25K time there by over 4 minutes.

May also marked the 4th year of the Dirty Girl Trail Race that I put on with Six03 at Tin Mountain Conservation Center. I changed the course distance this year to a 10K and was lucky to have beer brought to the race by Garrison City Beerworks. The race went far better than expected. The women loved it!!

Now is a good time for a quick, shameless plug for the 2018 race on May 19th AND mention the new addition of the Dirty Dude. $5 enters any guy into a lottery to be the one lucky guy to do the race with the women. To register for both, follow these links to registration: Dirty Girl Trail Race Registration and The Dirty Dude Registration. Should be another good race this year!

JUNE

Hands down the Cranmore Mountain Race/USATF National Mountain Running Championship was the highlight of the month and basically one of the highlights of the year. This is my hometown race and, not to brag, but I was the inspiration for the downhill portion of the course so it was almost my baby. This would give me a huge advantage over some of the other runners, and I would manage my first ever top 10 finish at the National Championship. 9th overall and 2nd master. My parents were also there to watch so that was a special treat. The next day, John and I would do the Vertical Climb which meant a lot to me to have John participating.

June also provided me with a chance to take a mini-vacation to the Adirondacks while John was in Costa Rica with his dad. I loved the chance getting to explore these mountains and just getting away for a few days, including a stop in Burlington on the way. It was a much needed vacation, even if it only meant 1.5 days off from work.

Mt Marcy

Night out in Burlington

JULY

No major highlights. I finished 3rd female at the Loon Mountain Race, 1st female at Run with the Beavers and ran the most awesome race ever, Double Up Mansfield. Double Up Mansfield would be a huge disappointment for me since my plantar fasciitis was killing me and I made a fatal mistake of stopping near the end, losing the race by less than a minute. The race was so amazing, though, that I hope I can make it back there again in 2018.

AUGUST

The Ragged 75 Stage Race is definitely the highlight of August. It was my first stage race ever and it ended up being pretty awesome. Amy Rusiecki and I would end up running together all 3 days to tie as 1st women for the Stage Race and 2nd for Sunday's 50K. It was such a fun, yet challenging experience that I plan to do again in 2018.

Sam Wood was with us most of the 3-days, as well.

SEPTEMBER

This would be a terrible month for me due to a really bad chest cold that came on the first week of the month. My only good "race" was the Green River Marathon that I didn't even race. I won it outright...but only out of 5 people total. Haha. For me, it was just a training run, but I couldn't pass it up after Fred Ross begged me to run it. The course was very beautiful along the river so I was happy I felt good for this one. The very next day, I felt the chest cold come on. This wouldn't go away completely until 6 weeks later.

OCTOBER

The best race is really a toss up here between the Bretton Woods Fell Race and the Hartford Marathon. Both races weren't going very well midway, but my strategy at Bretton Woods had me finish 2nd female instead of 4th, and Hartford was one of my smartest marathons ever. I would end up taking 1st master female at Hartford for the 2nd year in a row and finished with a smile on my face feeling good. After being so sick, I needed a good race and this would be it. I expected to leave there disappointed and walked away elated. The whole Hartford Marathon experience is just amazing, and I'm so thankful for being part of New England's Finest twice now.

October also marked a sad time for me since I lost Spot the week in between Hartford and Baystate. I still miss her.

The Baystate Marathon was definitely not a highlight as far as race performance goes (and as far as with whom I spent Saturday and post-race), but considering it was a week after Hartford, I feel I did pretty well. It also marked the completion of my second USATF-NE Grand Prix Road Race Series. Without suffering through Baystate, I wouldn't have finished first in the 40-44 age group, and that's a pretty big deal to me since it won't happen again.

Baystate Marathon

NOVEMBER

This wasn't a month of big things so I guess the highlight would have to be finishing 1st female at L'il Rhody Runaround again even though I felt horrible and it sparked a week off after Thanksgiving.

I also took the win at the Purity Spring Thanksgiving Day 5K Trail Race and 2nd master at the USATF-NE XC Championship Race.

DECEMBER

This was the end of my season and really had nothing that stands out. I did some cross training the first half of the month and then started my speed build back up with the Yule Light Up the Night 2-mile race and the BU Mini Meet. Nooseneck 18K would be the last race of 2017.

Now that I've gone through the year, I guess I do feel better about how 2017 turned out. :)

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2018

A few on the agenda:

USATF-NE Grand Prix Road Race Series. Maybe I won't cry after New Bedford Half this year.
Resolution Beach and Trail 5K Race
Masters Indoor Meet in Providence
Kingman Farm Moonlight Snowshoe Race
National Snowshoe Championship
Doyle's Emerald Necklace
Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race
7 Sisters Trail Race
Cranmore Mountain Race
Vermont City Marathon
Run with the Beavers Trail Race
Run 4 Kerri
Ragged 75 Stage Race

The rest are TBD, and there will be a lot of stuff filled in there as I go. I'm trying not to plan as much ahead of time in 2018. I know my weekends will still fill up to make it a busy year. I'm so predictable. :)