'23 in review

 2023 was one of those years that goes by and when you look back, it was just kind of status quo. I ran a 50 miler in January. Ran both some trail and road races in February and March. April, I ran the New South Marathon in the rain. Ended up going down one hill backwards on my back. Not one of my prouder moments. 

During the summer, I was in 3 different race series: River Jam at the WWC, Sundown Series at Ann Spring, and the Food Truck Series at Kings Mt State Park. I rolled to two second place and one third place finish in these series. They were fun, and they give me something to do in the middle of the week while keeping my weekends free. 

With no major races on my calendar throughout the fall, I found myself chasing after a sub-19-minute 5k. I achieve this while running on the runway at the Rockhill airport. Running on a runway was also a first for me. I couldn't ever remember running a race where I never lost sight of the finish line. It is both motivating and demoralizing at the same time. 

I also jumped into the quarry run at the Vulcan facility off Popular Tent Rd. Definitely, one of the events that I am headed back to in '24. I love the feeling where both my quads and my lungs are burning. 

I finished the year with a back-to-back 5ks: Running the Night Owl 5K at Ann Spring while running the We Believe 5k at the WWC the next morning.  

Before this year, I rarely ran at Ann Spring but for whatever the reason, I found myself racing there a lot in '23. We see if it holds for '24. 

Like I said, I didn't have huge highs but neither did I have any major lows. I just had a solid, fun year of running and racing. 

The Cool Down Runner