2013 in Review

Overall this year of running has to be the best ever.  Running in the Boston Marathon was simply amazing and something I never thought I would do.  To top that off I set PR's for my 5K, 10K, half and full marathon distances.  I can't look back at 2013 and be sad.  However, I also ended the year on a sad note with issues on both of my feet and not being able to run pain-free.  I miss running so much and these injuries have helped me see just how much running means to me.  

Top 10 Running moments of 2013:

1.  Running the Boston Marathon with my brother and sister

 

2.  Wasatch Back with the Housewives

3.  Being a pink emissary

 4.  Setting a new PR for every distance race

 5.  Ragnar Trail - and trail running in general

6.  Running the STG marathon in 3:32:00!!

7.   Running the Disney Cruise 5K

 

8.  Running 16 and 20 miles on the treadmill

 

 9.   Wearing pink for every run in October

10.  Running with my new puppy

My 2013 goals:  
My goals for 2013 seemed simple when I set them in January.  However, I only completed 1 of the 3.  Sad. 

1.  Run 1000 miles.  This one I completed and then some.  I ran 1588.80 miles this year.  This is a big deal for several reasons.  First, it's not an even number.  I'm a bit OCD with stuff so that fact that I didn't force myself to run 1600 miles shows I'm a changed woman.  Second, with my injury I barely ran in Nov and Dec - so to have this many miles is awesome. 

2.  Do a half-ironman.  I didn't do a half-ironman because I signed up for the STG marathon and wanted to focus on that.  I think I made the right decision and I'm glad I did because that race was amazing for me.  

3.  Do 2 unassisted pull-ups.  I still can't do these.  But I'm stronger than I was at the start of the year so I'm still happy with my progress.

2013 Races:
I am so glad this year of races is over.  I did more races this year than ever before.  Here's the list:

April:  Boston Marathon
April: Pink Series 5K (PR)
June: Utah Valley Half Marathon (PR)
June:  Ragnar - Wasatch Back
July:  Freedom Run 10K (PR)
August:  Ragnar Trail Race
September:  Disney 5K
October: St George Marathon (PR)
October:  Pink Series Half Marathon
November: Snow Canyon Half Marathon (new PR)
November:  Courage 4Kuu 

Now onto 2014.....

2014 will be a very different year for me with running.  This is the first time in more than 5 years that I haven't already been signed up for a race before the year starts.  I don't even have any races planned out on my calendar.  I'm going to be out of town during Wasatch Back so I'm not even doing that race (sad, sad, sad).  I'm not sure what I want out of my running this year, except that I want to let my body rest and recover and simply get back to the fun part of running.  I don't want to train as hard as I have the last 2 years - instead I want to try new things and have fun. Wish me luck - this is very hard for me.  :)

My goals for 2014:
1.  Run 1200 miles
2.  Do 2 unassisted pull-ups
3. Compete in a new event (anything I haven't done before - distance or type)

My October Pink Challenge

As you know I decided to do a 30 day challenge to see if I could wear something pink during every workout during the month of October for breast cancer awareness.  One stipulation was that I couldn't buy anything new to wear during the month.  The challenge was really fun and I made it no problem.  

A spattering of pink I wore through the month:

After I did the wash I would put the pink items in a bag
so I wouldn't wear them again:

 I went through my workout clothes last night and found 14 more options - without even looking at socks, sleeves, gloves, shoes, etc. 

Conclusion:  I love pink workout gear and I might have too much workout gear.  It is nice to be able to wear anything I want again.  I love wearing all black almost as much as wearing pink when I workout :)

Pink 5K - a new PR

Saturday I ran the Pink Series 5K with these awesome girls.  This was also my first emissary race which was a blast.  It was seriously such a fun run.  I can't think of the last 5K I've done - and at first I was a little bugged that I was only going to be running 3.1 miles but after I was finished and nothing on my body hurt I decided it's a great distance and I like being done so fast!  For this race you get bused up to the start and then you come down some very steep hills - it is a FAST course.  I killed my previous 5K PR (23.29) and finished in 21:13.  I haven't run a sub 7:00 since high school and it felt great to run that fast. 

 

Laurie took this fun PINK picture (I'm the n)
in my shadow I've got some serious booty going on :)

Today's workout: 7 mile hill run - it's Ragnar training time so we will be doing hill workouts on Mondays now.

Race Season is here

Race season is officially here.  I have my second race in April tomorrow - the Pink Series 5K.  Since I just don't feel right about only running 3.1 miles on a Saturday we did 10.5 miles this morning.  It should be a really fun race with all girls and my first official Emissary run. 

My next race is the Utah Valley half marathon and then Ragnar is just a few weeks after that.  I'm also doing a 10K in July, the pink half marathon in October and snow canyon half in November.  And just for fun I registered for the St George marathon again.  It's a lottery so I don't know if I'll get in but I will know by mid May.  It should be a fun and busy year!

Pink Photoshoot

This morning I ran 9 miles OUTSIDE - woo hoo!  Then came home got this kids off to school then laid back down and actually fell back asleep for an hour.  When I finally decided it was time to get out of bed I got up showered and got ready then put on workout clothes.  It was so crazy to have makeup on and my hair fixed while in workout clothes.  

Today we had a photo-shoot for the Pink Series. I had my first meeting with the Pink Emissary girls. I can already I love them all!!  One of our crew was missing today but I'm sure I'll love her as much I do the other gals.  With something like running to tie us all together it was effortless talking and getting to know each other.  

Sophie came with me and decided to do a photo-shoot of her own with my phone.  I was cracking up after when looking at the pics she took.  Here are a few of my favorites: