So long 2017

Posted on December 27, 2017 by fjnardo

With only a few days remaining in 2017, I looked back on this year and can say that it wasn’t half bad. It didn’t start at all the way I had hoped but I came back from that setback thanks to the amazing support from friends and family. I made some great new friends and met some of them in person. I ran with some of my favorite people in a bunch of races and I got the opportunity to be part of the BibRave, Orange Mud, and AfterShokz families! Let’s take a look at how things went…

This is how I spent the winter months after having surgery to repair a torn quad and subsequently a bout with Bell’s Palsy. I ended up kicking major ass during my rehabilitation and came back earlier than I thought I would. My orthopedic surgeon and my physical therapist would say I pushed it and they’re probably not wrong.

My first race back was the Ravenswood Run 5K that I apparently was not prepared for so soon after surgery. It was truly hard to get back in the saddle. It felt as if my lungs were going to explode during this race!

Next came one of my favorite races, the North Shore Classic half marathon. I run this every year and did pretty well in years past but once again, I fell short of my goal but still got to run with some of my favorites!

My next race for the season was a race I’ve always wanted to run and that was the Rock N Roll half marathon. It was hot on this day…really hot! Days like this are tough to run in but when you have awesome friends, it makes it all worth it!

August brought me my all time favorite race and that’s the Fort 2 Base 10 nautical miler from Fort Sheridan to Great Lake Naval Base. I was a tad slower than last year but definitely felt myself getting stronger. My surgeon said that with my type of surgery, it would take a full year to be 100% and I was starting to notice how much better I felt.

September brought me the Chicago Half Marathon and another race I’ve always wanted to run because of the incredible huge medals. The weather for this race was in the upper 80’s and was just brutal to finish. I ran/walked the last few miles of the race and was so dehydrated.

Then came Chicago Marathon weekend and the International 5K on Saturday and the marathon on Sunday. The 5K was tons of fun and a great warmup/shakeout run before the big race. The marathon was supposed to be my redemption race after last years attempt and tearing of my quad tendon. Well, it didn’t quite turn out how I planned. I just don’t think I trained the right way for this distance and my knee started to get fatigued half way through. While I did finish, it just wasn’t how I wanted to.

I finished my 2017 race season in a very special way running the first race I ever ran, the Hot Chocolate 5K.

So, where does this leave me? I can’t be too frustrated with this past year after some setbacks and I’m harder on myself than I should be. I was probably just upset that I had a great 2016 and PR’d so many races that I thought that would continue into 2017. It was a challenge and a fun one at that. I learned so much about myself and what my limitations are. 2018 is going to be the year I take my health and my training seriously and have already decided on a running coach and picking just the right races for me. You’ll see me at these races (So far) for 2018: