I’m a sucker for year-end nostalgia. Give me all the lists, all the song mashups, all the retrospectives. I LOVE IT.
I’ve barely ever done a non-running year-end recap on the blog, though. I guess in other Decembers I’ve had more to talk about than rehashing content from earlier in the year? Not this year, though! So, without further ado, a random collection of favorites from 2018!
Top Five Most Popular Blog Posts Written in 2018
1. Bank of America Chicago Marathon Race Recap
Always a popular one. I’m glad people like reading about my marathons as much as I enjoy writing about them!
2. Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon Race Recap
I’m somewhat surprised this is #2, mostly because I don’t consider this race to be A Big Deal, at least not on the same level as the marathon. That being said, it is a pretty large event, so I guess it makes sense that other people want to read about it.
3. Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K Race Recap
Or maybe people just really like how the skyline looks from Columbus? I clearly like taking a picture of it 😛
I’d be lying if I said the main motivation I had for posting this wasn’t to drive more traffic to the blog, so high five, post, for doing exactly what I hoped you’d do. And for being the lone non-running post that lots of people had interest in reading!
5. St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon Race Recap
Oh look, another race recap! This one does genuinely surprise me, though. I’m curious why this race recap was so much more popular than my recap of Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego the week before. My recap of San Diego came in 12th out of all my posts this year, so it wasn’t even close. I understand why my Chicago race recaps are popular–I am a Chicago blogger, after all–but I wonder why more people wanted to read about Seattle than San Diego!
Top Five Favorite Blogged Pictures from 2018 (in order of posting)
1. Hermit Thrush on a birding walk, April
2. Last Sunday at my church, April (miss you forever, church 😦 )
3. Skyline from the Playpen, July
4. Skyline from the Rose Garden in Grant Park, September
5. Cardinal on Montrose Point, September
Top Five Favorite Blogged About Memories
1. PRing at the Chicago Marathon (and all my subsequent thoughts on the marathon)
This was easily one of the biggest highlights of my year.
2. Seeing the Old Post Office during Open House Chicago. That was more than worth the price of a Chicago Architecture Center membership.
3. Traveling up the West Coast on the Coast Starlight train. While I do think this trip would’ve been a lot more fun without a stomach bug, it was still a really cool experience and something I’d do again in a heartbeat.
4. Accurately calling the outcome of the Final Four. I don’t care if it’s all luck – I’m very proud of myself for doing that 😛
5. Cheering on my sister from afar as she ran her first half marathon. I’m still so proud of her for doing that!
What are your favorite memories from 2018?
What a great year you had! Hope you enjoyed your trip down memory lane!
Well, my year in racing was a total dud, but getting engaged was easily my favorite memory of 2018!
That’s a great memory! 🙂
I love all your fave pics but especially the fourth one! Wow!
Did you rate your posts by views or some other way to see which ones were most popular? I wonder if the later one (Seattle) was more popular, for people like me who get around to reading late and only read the newer stuff. LOL oops
Your marathon PR is one of MY fave memories and I think of you when I hear that Panic! At The Disco song.
I think I am going to do a recap this year of non running stuff because some real crummy stuff happened this year. But good stuff too!
And I will have my race recap out soon with that link so you can use it 😉
LOL @ your “that’s a grate memory” to Hanna. Should have been a winky face.
omg “great” not “grate” facepalm
Thank you! I was really proud of it 🙂 It’s my “City in a Garden” picture, if you will 🙂
I rated them by views. I don’t get super analytical about my stats (I just use what WordPress has built in), so whatever had the most views and was written this year made the list!
Aww that’s so sweet about the Panic! song 🙂 And yes, you’re correct about the winky face 😛