Grandma’s Half | One Year and Almost 53 Minutes Difference

I’ve been wanting to write this one for a little bit. I pulled my actual training data from both Grandma’s Half cycles, 2025 and 2026, same start date both times (July 1 the year before), same race, same course. And the difference makes me happy, it makes me feel like I am back ok a trajectory to getting faster and back in pre-kids shape. I had Claude and ChatGPT take turns analyzing all the data 🙂

The Numbers

2025 block (July 1, 2024 to race day):

• 82 runs over 51 weeks, 58.7 hours on my feet
• 304.9 total miles
• 6.0 miles a week average, 11:33/mi overall average pace
• 1.6 runs a week average
• 9 runs of 8+ miles, only 2 of those hit 11+
• Only 2 weeks the entire block where I broke 20 miles
• 11 weeks with zero running miles logged… That’s over a fifth of the whole block.

2026 block (July 1, 2025 to race day):

• 174 runs over 51 weeks, 160.7 hours
• 939.0 total miles
• 18.4 miles a week average, 10:16/mi overall average pace
• 3.4 runs a week average
• 32 runs of 8+ miles, 8 of those 11+
• 21 weeks over 20 miles
• 0 weeks with zero miles.

So basically triple the mileage, more than double the frequency, and actual week-to-week consistency instead of a start-stop mess.

Looking at the weekly chart, the 2025 line is just rough. Zeros scattered everywhere, then a couple of huge spikes right before the race trying to make up for lost time. The 2026 line barely dips below 10 miles a single week, all year.

What Changed

Looking back at 2025, the pattern is pretty obvious once you see it broken out by month. July through January I was barely running, some months only 3 or 4 runs total. Then things ramped up hard in February and March before the race, basically cramming most of my real training into a few months.

2026 looks nothing like that. I was already putting in real mileage in July, and it just kept building from there, all the way through the winter and into spring with no big gaps.. Just showing up, week after week.

I also want to be clear that a lot of the difference here isn’t really about willpower or trying harder. My hip surgery in 2022 changed a lot about how I had to approach training, and it took time to rebuild trust in my body and figure out what actually worked. Some of that 2025 inconsistency was still part of that process. By 2026 I had a much better handle on it, plus Coach Brian at Northstar had a plan for me that was way more dialed in. He gave me a very doable plan, aiming for consistency and getting me out the door. I would see 3-4 miles planned and that wasn’t overwhelming, so I would must go do it. It also was so crucial to have an accountability buddy just a few doors down. Moving into the neighborhood with a built in training partner was life changing.

There’s also a physical piece to this whole year that I don’t want to leave out. I tried Wegovy back in 2024 and it just didn’t do much for me. In July 2025, right at the start of this training block, I started tirzepatide, and it has genuinely helped so much with the food noise. It’s made it so much easier to actually prioritize what my body needs, protein especially, instead of fighting myself over food all day. There was an almost 70 pound difference between the two races. My joints ares super thankful and my hips are feeling so much better without the extra weight.

Race Day

2025: 13.25 miles, 2:43:46, average pace right around 12:22 a mile.

2026: 13.18 miles, 1:50:49, average pace around 8:24 a mile.

That’s 52 minutes and 57 seconds faster!

The 2025 version of me was doing her best with what she had that year, and honestly finishing that race at all was its own win considering how the buildup went. The race was all about the experience, and the joy of being able to run with friends in Eugene in April and just get to the finish line in June.

But it is proof that consistency does more than any single hard workout ever could. Zero weeks off versus eleven weeks off is the whole story right there, before you even get to pace. 21 weeks over 20 miles versus 2 weeks over 20 miles is the other half of it.

I’m already curious what the data is going to look like a year from now. 🙂