2019 Year In Review

2019 felt like it lasted 10 years. I honestly don’t remember the middle of the year – it flew by, yet it’s hard to believe that I ran my first ever marathon this year. It was 9 months ago, but it might as well have been 9 years. I have grown a lot as a coach and a small business and I owe a lot of that to my family, the runners I work with, and being persistent each week. I’ve built on the momentum from previous years and I’m finally seeing the results from all of the hard work. Below, I recap my year in a few main categories: my training & racing, coaching, blogging, and the lessons I learned from this year.

My Training

I set out to build off of the good end of 2018 by running a marathon.  I jump started training by having a really good “vacation” weather week in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  It gave me the boost I needed to keep me going all the way through March when I ran my first Marathon.  

We’re in the last 2 weeks of 2019 (gasp!). Marc learned a lot from this year and wrote about all he learned from his year of coaching, running, and blogging.

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After the marathon, I didn’t set out to accomplish anything with my running and I suffered (yet again) with not having a plan.  For me to continue racing and reaching running goals I NEED TO HAVE A PLAN. If I wing it, it doesn’t get done to the extent that I want it to.

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My Racing

After my marathon, I didn’t do any racing for a while. Mentally, I was pretty spent, but physically I was pretty ripped up.  I took a lot of time away from running just to get back to normal. I didn’t really run a race until October when I jumped in a parent’s mile and a 5k cross country race.  Unfortunately, I never really did any kind of formal training after my marathon and I’m looking back and kicking myself for not setting out a plan.

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Coaching

I worked with some amazing runners this year.  I am continually amazed by the work that people like Bob put in week after week.  I’ve had complete strangers (hello Joel, from England), fellow New Jerseyans (what’s up Nick, Alan, Dave, Kara, Leah, John…) from former teammates of mine (I see you Dan and Brett) all decide that I’d be the person who would help them set their personal bests.

• WordPress
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Link
• RSS Feed
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• TikTok

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Blogging

If nothing else, I was consistent.  I am in a blog sharing group and have created, drafted, edited and posted a new blog post every single Wednesday this year. That’s 50 times this year that I’ve put out new content! I’m really proud of that, but I know that if I want TrainwithMarc to keep growing, I need to keep putting out quality content.

If you knew me when I was younger, you might know that  I have never, ever, ever been a good writer. I have the thoughts and ideas, but putting them in a consistent manner that makes sense has always been tough for me.  Luckily, I am persistent and scrappy and I’ve definitely gotten better and quicker at creating content.  

I’ll be taking a break because of the holidays and baby # 2 and then my goal is to post once in January before picking back up in February with some more new content.

What won’t take a break is my newsletter. If you haven’t subscribed, you definitely should!

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Growth Moving Forward

Building momentum is tough.  I feel like growing a blog is quite like pushing a huge boulder up a hill.  When it’s moving and in motion, things flow and it’s easier to navigate. That being said, progress is definitely being made – I’ve hit a big milestone in terms of traffic (and ad money) and I’m going to keep growing and building that momentum.

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Life Lessons

Don’t Stress

One thing I have always tried to be really good at is being consistent.  As Des Linden said, “keep showing up”. I may not have the best content, I may not have all the answers, but I put in the work to assist people.  What is not part of that equation is stress. I am really good at stressing over the things that I love to do – running, coaching, teaching… If they aren’t “perfect” or done when I want them to be done, I stress.  All this stress leads to bad eating, not sleeping, and feeling like crap. Recently, I was feeling run down and didn’t write a newsletter – another thing I strive to do every week – and instead of getting stressed, I skipped a week.  Life went on and my stress remained low.

It’ll Get Done

There’s a saying and I don’t know who said it or how it was exactly said, but the premise goes like this: if you love doing it, it’ll get done.  For me, coaching (writing plans, blogging, social) will always get done – I’ll find the time – whether it’s 5 am or 11 pm. I love doing it and therefore it’ll continue to get done.

Have a Plan

I definitely operate better when I have a plan.  For me, having graphic organizers, sticky notes, and journals help me stay organized and keep my momentum going on what’s necessary to get done.  When I wing it, I tend to do what’s fun – and sometimes that’s endless scrolling when I should be writing or working.  

I’ve set up reminders on my phone using the Reminders app to notify me of the 3 major things I want to get done each day.  With teaching, I use a sticky note on my monitor to remind me of what needs to get done the following day. This way, I’m more focused on what’s necessary and can push back everything else that doesn’t need to get done immediately.

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