I've gone most of the year without writing a blog post. This is a bit embarrassing given I have notably called out people who fail to update their blogs (assuming of course they haven't written a final post to say "sayonara followers, I'm no longer writing!"). The past year has produced some of the highlights and lowlights for both my running and my life. I can't possibly summarize it all and do it justice, so I'll just provide some stats as of this writing:
4 PBs set: 4:06(i) 1500m, 8:45(i) 3000m, 10k road(+) 32:56 (en route in a 15k race), 15k road 49:27
1 Degree Earned: Bachelor of Applied Science, Honours Chemical Engineering
5 weeks spent in Jonquiere, Quebec: For the Explore program learning French
9 European countries visited: England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Scotland
3 Parkruns: 1 in London, 1 in Krakow, 1 in Edinburgh
The 15k race was held on the Palace of Versailles grounds (the start is pictured above). I actually finished tied for first with Menouar Benfodda (green shirt in the centre), after catching him around the 5k mark and agreeing to share the workload. Passing 10k in 32:56 had me already satisfied, and to hold the same pace for another 5k (with it being quite a humid day) and finish holding hands with Menouar in victory was one of the best running experiences I've ever had. While it was technically a road race, there was also a large portion run on grass, so I consider it one of my best performances to date.
I'm racing the Road2Hope half-marathon next Sunday after a fall of pretty mediocre races which I've mainly been using to get myself into shape. I'm hoping I can pop out a good one since training hasn't gone terrible as of late despite some setbacks related to the metatarsals of my left foot once again.
