2024 was another big year of swimming, biking, and running for me. Out of the 14 races that I did, the majority were familiar events that I’ve done at least once before. I don’t think I made any significant improvements in most of those races but I worked hard, put in a good effort, and most importantly, enjoyed myself. It’s not always about PRs!

It was fun to find a 10-mile race in Minnesota when I had plans to be there for a concert and running around the University of Minnesota was a treat. More about the Ironman 70.3 Ohio later, but that was a new and exciting race for me. Although I’ve run around Belle Isle for a number of races, I hadn’t specifically done the Detroit Mother’s Day run before and I kept it interesting by doing a 5K/10K combo. I did another combo when I changed things up at Crim this year by adding a 5K after the 10-mile race to complete a half marathon for the day. Even when races are familiar to me, they’re still enough of an undertaking that they rarely feel routine. Here’s a list of what I tackled in 2024:

Looking back at my recap from 2023, it’s funny to see that although I did some different races, I happened to rack up a bunch of identical stats. Both years I ran two 5Ks and one 10K. I also did four triathlons and one 5K swim in 2024 just like I had in 2023. Once again, I ran two 10-mile races and five half marathons. I “only” did one marathon this past year while I often do two in a year, but otherwise I was wildly consistent.

I participated in the Run the Year challenge once again and successfully hit the goal of running at least 2024 miles. I continue to be wary about aiming for a specific mileage goal knowing that injuries tend to pop up and it’s more important to listen to my body and just see how things play out.

This year, an Achilles problem plagued me just before the Boston Marathon and for a while after. I shook that, but the 10-mile/5K combo at Crim left me with an angry right hip. That problem was bad enough that I went to physical therapy for help. It was actually a weakness in my glute medius, which then resulted in compensation in a bunch of other areas that were trying to make up for the weakness. Now that my hip is doing much better, a peak week of marathon training has me feeling a bunch of other areas. This is why I don’t really like to lock myself into a mileage goal. I know I’ll work hard either way and sometimes time off is the best way to cope with aches and pains.

Despite my wariness of injuries, I tend to run 2,000-some miles each year anyway so I keep signing up for the Run the Year challenge. This time I completed the challenge on Christmas with just a few days to spare. I ended up 40 miles past the goal at the end of December which was 20 miles more than I did in 2023.

I was pretty happy to hit 2,064 miles of running. My biking mileage was up a few hundred miles from 2023 and I finished the year with 1,339 miles. I slacked off on swimming the last few months of the year with lots of excuses: bad sleep keeping me from making the super early morning trips to the pool, a busy schedule, getting sick, and prioritizing marathon training which had me doing some runs in the morning when I’d usually swim. I was down a little more than 50 miles from the prior year but still did 144 miles. Once I get past my marathon in January I plan to get back to my swimming routine.

I was fortunate enough to run the Boston Marathon for my fourth time and it will always be a major highlight of my racing year. Unfortunately, my body was in winter mode and not prepared to adapt to a day in direct sun that got to 70°. As a result, it was the first time I took over four hours to run a marathon. Still, even a rough day at Boston was a pretty awesome experience.

Another major highlight of the year was breaking six hours in the half Iron distance at Ironman 70.3 Ohio. I did my first 70.3 in Grand Rapids in 2023 and it went well enough that I decided I was ready to try an official Ironman-branded race. I did the Grand Rapids race again this year a month beforehand and wasn’t especially excited about my time of 6:17. It was early in the season and I hadn’t done enough biking yet, plus the wind was especially nasty for half of the bike segment. Six more weeks of training surely helped me in Ohio, plus I actually LOVED the bike course. As a weak cyclist, the flat course was perfect for me. I finished in 5:55 and must have given it everything I had because my body was not happy once I stopped moving. I was thrilled with my accomplishment and felt like maybe I’m pretty good at doing that kind of distance, but tingling arms and an angry stomach came along with it.

I still don’t know if I will do another 70.3 in 2025. Part of me questions if I need to push myself THAT hard. I certainly am no closer to considering a full Ironman. I do like the half distance and anticipate doing it again but am not sure if it will fit into my schedule this year. I’ve taken on Epic Races’ 10-part Battle of Waterloo adventure triathlon a couple times and it’s back again this year. I might consider that to be my big triathlon feat of the year.

However, things are always subject to change. I just got a Peloton bike in December and I hope that will help me get a little stronger on the bike. I’ve had a stationary bike for the past 11 years but it was starting to die and I wasn’t as motivated to ride it. It didn’t quite simulate a real bike as much as I think the Peloton will. There’s still the factor that the bike I use for racing is not ideal, as so many triathletes like to tell me. Someday I’ll have to try something better but I’m not sure this will be the year. I’ll just hope I’m motivated to get more time and better work in and that can help me at least a little bit.

Right now, the main thing on my mind is the big marathon weekend coming up at Disney World in a week. Four consecutive days of racing (5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon) for the Dopey Challenge will be my biggest undertaking yet. I’ve put in some really solid training and feel prepared. It will be interesting to see how this plays out!

After that, I will transition right into Boston Marathon training. I’m thankful that my qualifying time at the Holland Haven Marathon in September of 2023 fell in the eligible timeframe to use for the both the 2024 and 2025 races. Somehow I keep getting accepted so I keep going! It’s hard to turn down the opportunity when it’s such an incredible race and weekend in general.

Beyond that, I think I’ll run the Detroit Marathon in the fall? I signed up for it last year but had a scheduling conflict and also decided it would be wise to concentrate on my Disney training instead. I deferred my entry to this year and hope it will finally work out since I STILL haven’t run the local hometown marathon and it feels like I should. I always have something on the horizon to work toward!

In the meantime, it’s nice to look back at what I accomplished this past year. I think the Ohio 70.3 was the only PR I got this year, but that was huge. Looking at all of my medals and shirts from the past year helps remind me of all of the accomplishments and adventures, and there were some good ones.

I’m looking forward to another year of adventures and hope my body cooperates enough to have plenty more in 2025.

– Janet

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