2016 On The Run, or: "Breaking out of my body, and flying away..."

Well… how about that 2016, huh?

I don’t know what it is about this year, but people just seem to be having the most miserable mess of things in the temporal fluxification of MMXVI. We lost Bowie, Prince, two-thirds of Emerson Lake & Palmer, and the great Alan Thicke, and we gained a Trump presidency.

Yeah, not even posterity wants anything to do with 2016…

Still, onward and upward. It’s the end of the year, the holiday season, and that means two things to the weirding wildlings here at Hokeyblog: Buttkickin’ Holiday Songs and of course our annual On The Run video. Starting back in 2014 and continuing in 2015, I decided to celebrate my running circle by putting these fun little videos together.

As always, I’m not celebrating myself. God knows that’s not only incredibly tacky, it’s incredibly boring, and honestly who gives a funky flippin’ Fiat anyhow? No, this isn’t about me, at least not entirely. Oh sure, you’ll find my grubby mug all over the damn thing, but these videos are about the friends I’ve made and with whom I continue to explore this insane fitness journey.

Like anything else in existence, you can only run your own race. Life is yours and yours alone. But it’s fun to share the road with beautiful like-minded misfits and mirthmakers alike. So to everyone with whom I’ve ever hung out at a staging area, stood in line at a Porto-Potty in the dire hopes of a righteous PRP, high-fived during and out-and-back stretch of a race, carb-loaded with the extra-gluten special, guzzled down craft beers at the Finish Line, suffered through Michelob Ultra when given no alternative, withstood speed training, kvetched during summer long runs, engaged in endless chatter in lieu of continuing laps at the 50m pool, or even just had to endure my endless, pointless, dreadfully trite running stories… thanks gang.

You sure beat having fruit cup any day of the week. F’ fruit cup!

So 2016, as a running/fitness year, was a good one. Lots of PRs, to be sure; 5K, 10K, Half, Full, Sprint tris, even Wings For Life, I managed to exceed my previous best times (or in WFL’s case, distances). I got to visit New Orleans, do Star Wars weekends on both coasts, ran through the Everglades for an inaugural National Park race, and then of course running the New York Marathon itself was an epic experience in and of itself. Wings For Life is still my favorite race, and I even got to participate in another triathlon.

And yet… I’m reaching the burnout point. I think 2017 might be best served by a “less is more” approach. Less events, but with those that remaining meaning a lot more. Like the Big Sur Marathon in April, or perhaps like… something more? I’ll save that revelation for another post.

Anyway, thanks everyone. For reading my blog, for hopping aboard this ridiculous windjammer, helping me pull on the halyard and squaring the rigging towards a destination we might not reach but damn won’t the journey be fun, right? It’s the reason I keep doing this (other for the roughly $14 I’ve earned in Google ad revenue). So here’s to a better 2017 for all of us.

Here’s the final list of my race schedule for 2015, with links to their respective reviews (if applicable):

5Ks

Star Wars Light Side 5K (1/15/2016)
Star Wars Dark Side 5K (4/15/2016)
5K on A1A for Covenant House Florida (5/21/2016)
Weston Hometown July 4th Celebration 5K (7/4/2016)
Beerfest 5K (10/22/2016) — Personal Record! (25:46)