Hey there! It’s time for Tuesday Topics- this week’s topic: Mid-year check-in: What’s been your biggest win of 2026 so far?
Well, let’s see… have I mentioned that I ran 60 miles on my 60th birthday? Hahahahaha… okay, I think everyone has heard all about that (race recap here in case you missed it, and are wondering what all this insanity is about). The crazy thing is, that seems like it was last year, but was actually in March, just over three months ago. WHAT???
The question is, what’s next? Well, I had my eye on a 50k in November. Everything about it was perfect, including the location, which was a state park about an hour away. But, much to my chagrin, that event has been canceled. DARN IT. Now I’m looking around for another race of that distance around the same time.
My big event of 2027 will be the same race I just ran on my birthday- Hungryland Ultra. Yes, I signed up again! In 2027 the race starts on March 20th, the day before my birthday, but if all goes well I should still be running on the 21st. It’s a timed event, where you run as many 14.3 mile loops as you want to, over the course of 33 hours. Last year I planned to stop at 60 miles. Next year, I plan to go farther. How much farther? I’m not really prepared to say at this point. Heh heh.
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What’s your biggest win of 2026 so far?
Top photo by Larissa Gies on Unsplash
24 Responses
My biggest win so far is that I helped my nephew with the ACT (remotely!) and his score went up pretty dramatically. I feel like that’s pretty good for relatively little preparation on my part. I have been waiting EIGHTEEN years for one of my niblings to ask for my help with a standardized test. I only have so many skills and that’s one of them.
But running 60 miles is way cooler than anything I’ve done this year!
That is a great win!!! I wish I could help my daughter like that (or I also wish that she wanted to help me, or even cared about improving her test scores, TBH. Sigh).
I don’t know… Cool? Crazy? It’s up for debate.
Yes! I’m glad you committed to doing the Hungryland Ultra again. Such a cool event!
Sorry about the cancelled 50k – but I’m pretty sure you will find a good alternative!
My biggest wins in 2026 so far: that I got two Abbott Marathons successfully done (London and Cape Town). Now I will need to try and get in to the next one!
Those are good wins!!! Completing the majors is a tricky goal because you have to actually get into the races. But I have faith that you will do it.
I still feel amazed by how amazing you are completing 60 miles race on your 60th! that’s my goal for my 60!
sorry about the cancelled race. hope you find another fun one or just do the birthday race which is not a small feat!
biggest accomplishment this year is getting back into running, feeling strong and loving the flow. I had my first 50+ miles week last week and knee is holding up.
That is a huge win! Running happy and healthy- we can’t ask for much more than that.
There’s a nice one in December. Unfortunately I can’t go this year.
60 miles is an amazing feat.
I have no big plans besides staying healthy.
My biggest win was my trip to Asheville. A race and a great visit to a new fun place.
In 2027, it will be Savannah
Oh yes, I remember you ran that trail race and it looks really fun. I’ll look into it! December can be tricky as there’s always a lot going on that month. But it would be fun. Too bad we can’t do it together!
Lol, how was the 60 miler just three months ago????? It does feel like it’s time for another race.
I KNOW. Something weird is going on with time here…
Great job by you – and too bad the other race got cancelled, but now you have Hungryland Ultra to look forward to!
Thank you Nicole! I’m definitely looking forward to it, but it feels so far away.
That’s a bummer that the other race you had in mind was cancelled! It’s good to have a plan for 2027, though!
My biggest accomplishment in the first half of 2026 is going to 90 OTF classes! It’s definitely my new obsession and is working so well for me!
Yes, OTF seems to be your thing. And you are killing it- that’s a lot of classes so far.
I cannot tell you how happy your birthday run made me (and is still making me; I’ll randomly think of you and that accomplishment from time to time). I’m a bit nervous to hear you’re going to run MORE THAN 60 MILES (what is this insanity), but if anyone can do it it is YOU.
My big accomplishment for the first half of the year was planning and executing on a multi-month trip to Europe as a family. I am sure everyone is getting very tired of the recaps (and there are still more; I swear, eventually I will be done talking about it).
Now, I’m just trying to settle into life at home. My goal for the summer is restoration. The first week was very unusual, but I’m settling into a routine now and it feels GOOD.
Yes, that was definitely a huge accomplishment. No, we’re not tired of the recaps! But I know the feeling- leading up to, and after my race, I couldn’t stop talking about it and I was wondering when everyone was going to get tired of hearing about it.
You’ve had a fabulous year so far and I love your future plans!
I hope you are able to find a replacement race!
Yes, this has been a pretty great year… and of course the best is yet to come (WEDDING!!!) I’m looking around for a replacement race right now- and if I don’t find one that fits my schedule I’ll just do a “create your own adventure” experience, I guess.
Ooooh, are you gonna go for 100 miles at the race next year?! I think it’s totally doable in 33 hours! But obviously training for a 100 miler can be a lot.
Hmm, well this year honestly hasn’t been a great one for me. I guess I’d say my biggest accomplishment was completing a strong training cycle for my 125 mile race in May. Even though I DNFd the race, my training went really well and I had my longest solo training run and biggest mileage week!
Yes, that’s what I’m thinking right now. Sometimes I get scared of the distance and think no, I’ll just go for one more loop (which would bring me up to just over 70 miles) but then I’ll listen to podcasts about ultrarunning and get inspired- yes, I could totally do it! We’ll see how the training goes. The beauty of this race is that I can run 70 miles, feel like it’s an accomplishment, and not take a DNF (like I would if I signed up for an official 100 mile race). I think that’s also a bad thing though, because it gives me an out. Right now I’m thinking if I can do the training and not get injured, I’ll shoot for 100.
Just out of curiosity, what was your longest training run and biggest mileage week? I’m thinking of switching things up, running more miles during the week not as long long runs. Or, in peak weeks doing back-to-backs more instead of one monster run.
I did 20 miles with like 3500 feet of elevation gain, which I know you don’t have much of in Florida haha, and that week I did 53 miles total. I wish I had done a back to back long run, like 15 miles one day and 15 the next, at least once but it’s usually easier for me to get more mileage in during the week than a huge long run.
Omg, I can’t believe you ran 60 miles this year and next year, you want to do MORE. You are such an inspiration, Jenny!
Hmm… I’m not sure what my biggest win of 2026 has been. It’s a weird year since I got diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune condition at the end of January and have spent the past 6 months trying to figure out the right treatment for that. But I’ve also spent a lot of time working on my home and that has made me very happy! I love my space!
It’s crazy big I also feel like your big run was last year. Bummer about the perfect race being cancelled. I will forever be mind blown that someone can run for that long.
I’m so sorry! Somehow I missed seeing this post (#facepalm). Anyways, you’re already committed to going back k next year, for another “ultra” birthday extravaganza! That’s exciting!