Athlinks Ignited: Resetting for 2019

We check back in with Athlinks’ own Denise Brendle, who flew through her goals for 2018 and is starting anew in the new year: 

In some ways it’s hard to believe that 2018 is almost over. Was it 6 months ago when I blogged about meeting goals for the year? Was it one 5K race, 3 more 10K races, and a half-marathon ago? Was it I completed, and crushed, my “You vs. the Year” challenge ago?

As I start 2019 there is a lot to look back on and celebrate. And, there are areas I can, and will try to, improve upon. But overall, yeah, it was a successful 2018. Accomplishments included

• 15 different events
• 8 5K runs
• 6 10K runs
• 1 Half marathon
• Crushed the “You Vs. the Year” 1018 in 2018 challenge

When I wrote my last update, I was several months away from completing the yearly challenge and still had the Rock ‘N Roll ahead of me. The good news is, I completed 1,018 kilometers (≈636 miles) on 13 Sep: a full 3 months early. (And there was much rejoicing!) The bad news is that other than a few races, I really tapered off finishing the year with 1,141 km (709 miles).

I also completed the Denver Rock ‘N’ Roll half marathon. And I say completed as opposed to “crushed it”. I had completed 2 training runs of 8+ miles through mid-September and I thought I was in great position for the race. That’s about the time my running and training tapered off. As it was, the half marathon was a mighty struggle. But, I did it!

I also finished out the year with a 10K Turkey Trot and the 5K Colder Bolder. That latter is significant in that this is the first year I entered all the Bolder Boulder events. Again, they weren’t the best attempts, but I got them done.

As for what happened the over the last quarter of the year, I’m not sure, and I’m not going to dwell on it too much or continue to beat myself up over it.

Instead, I’m moving forward. It’s new year and there are new challenges ahead. As with last year, there is the “You Vs. The Year” challenge: This year it’s 1019km in 2019. I’m off to a good start and feeling refreshed and motivated again.

Outside of that, I don’t have a huge set of goals. I’ve a significant surgery sometime after June this year and it will impact my training. I don’t want to over commit and find that I’m unable to compete in an event or fall short of a goal.

Goals for 2019 include

• 1019 in 2019
• Course record (CR) at the Bolder Boulder
• Complete the Leadville Heavy Half
• PR a 10K

I’m off to a good start with the you vs. year challenge and it feels great to be back on the program. I was concerned that with as little running as I had under my belt that I’d have some ramp-up time to get back to where I was. But I’ve been surprised. Where last year was mostly intervals and run-walks, I’ve been able to start back at a slightly lower pace and keep that going for over a mile. That’s a good sign for me. I haven’t been able to run a non-stop mile, particularly at altitude, for about 6 years. I must have developed a good base last year. On top of that, I rarely ran back-to-back days. So far, I’ve been able to run not only on consecutive days, but twice a day. That’s all really encouraging results for me. Results I plan on carrying with me through the year. Now, to get that distance back up!