I've been struggling with writing this post, mainly because I usually do a recap of my year around this time but my life was so running-centric in 2015 that I feel like my last post covered it. However, my life is more than just pounding the pavement, so I feel like I should recap the rest of my life too. You know, the important stuff. So here's a little of our adventures in 2015!
January - Travis and I danced the night away at my company Christmas party. This is noteable because it's the one and only time we went dancing this year. Sad!
February - Our house got the stomach flu, and I was in a wedding! Ignore that last bit of that post that talks about running.
March - We went to the North Shore for a family weekend, and had an adult getaway for our 6th anniversary in Duluth. World travelers!
April - My parents had an epic journey to the Great White North, but after a few bumps we had a great time with them!
May - Travis turned 31 and we had another adult getaway in the Twin Cities. We went to a Twins game, and found a new favorite live-music joint.
June - We celebrated Father's Day with my first rhubarb pie, and the weather started feeling a little beachy!
July - Emily turned 4! The weather turned HOT, so we started spending a lot of time at the lake and in our backyard pool. Maybe we could upgrade to a bigger one in 2016?
August - We had a 3rd adult weekend in the Twin Cities (!! Who are we?!!), and spent a weekend at the Bear River Fair where Emily won her first ever blue ribbon for carrots out of our own garden!
September - Enjoyed some time at my company's annual picnic, and we got to see some big trucks. Ignore that last part about running. Again.
October - I turned 31, and we drove to Michigan for a little vacation. There may have been some running involved. But it was really about the trip...
November - A 4th adult getaway for Trav and I (so spoiled!) where we attended our first UMD Hockey game, and a great Thanksgiving spent with family.
December - A month filled with Santa visits, making wintery memories, cookies and sledding lessons, and Christmas!
Whew! What a year! I feel so blessed to enjoy the life I have with my little family, and I am looking forward to all that God has planned for us in the coming year. I wish you all happiness and health for 2016!
Happy New Year to you and yours!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Running Review of 2015
I had originally planned to post this on Wednesday, but then I remembered that today is the last Tuesday of the month, which means it's time for the Training for Tuesday link up! Hosted by Tracy and Alyssa - go check out their blogs and link up with us!
2015 has been a huge year for me! Running-wise, anyway.
I went to a running camp and met some really cool people. This is so out of character for me, but I'm eternally grateful that I got to go and had the courage to do it on my own.
I ran 1120 miles. Ok, well as of this writing, it's 1110.83, but I have 4 & 5 mile runs planned for the next two days. Come hell or high water, I am running those miles! I keep a spreadsheet to track the mileage on my shoes. This number could be off slightly, but I'm going with it. One THOUSAND one hundred and twenty miles. On my legs. This year. That's a lot of miles, folks.
I'm hoping that 2016 is kind to me, and maybe even better. I have not one but two full marathons in my sights for next year.
I'm hoping that my body holds up enough to do it. I keep hearing that the miles get easier the more you do them. We'll see, right?
How was your 2015 running year? What's on tap for 2016?
2015 has been a huge year for me! Running-wise, anyway.
I ran a 10k PR.
 |
| 2nd Place Women 30-39 |
 |
| and won 3rd place Women 30-39 |
I overcame not one injury, but (almost) two. Getting there. So close.
I went to a running camp and met some really cool people. This is so out of character for me, but I'm eternally grateful that I got to go and had the courage to do it on my own.
I ran 1120 miles. Ok, well as of this writing, it's 1110.83, but I have 4 & 5 mile runs planned for the next two days. Come hell or high water, I am running those miles! I keep a spreadsheet to track the mileage on my shoes. This number could be off slightly, but I'm going with it. One THOUSAND one hundred and twenty miles. On my legs. This year. That's a lot of miles, folks.
I'm hoping that 2016 is kind to me, and maybe even better. I have not one but two full marathons in my sights for next year.
 |
| May 21st |
 |
| October 9th |
I'm hoping that my body holds up enough to do it. I keep hearing that the miles get easier the more you do them. We'll see, right?
Monday, December 28, 2015
Christmas in Pictures
Hello friends! Since a recap in words would be long and probably boring for you, here's our Christmas in pictures. Enjoy!
 |
| Christmas Eve service at Trav's childhood church |
 |
| We had to wake Emily up on Christmas morning. Zak the cat helped. |
 |
| Santa came! He even left Rudolph behind! |
 |
| I got an immersion blender. It is awesome. |
 |
| Emily's favorite present by far - Elsa boots! |
 |
| Trav's favorite gift - a new guitar. Yes, I am an awesome wife. Well, my parents chipped in too. It was hidden in our house for like 3 months without him ever knowing. |
 |
| We made a goose. It took forever, and yielded about 2 pounds of meat. Good thing we had ham too! |
 |
| Emily got ice skates from Grandma and Grandpa! Also, this is how she looked for most of the night: Anna dress, Elsa hat, and her new Elsa boots. |
 |
| I burned off Christmas dinner the next day by running 7 miles in the snow. It kind of sucked. |
That was our Christmas! I hope you all had a lovely holiday whether you celebrate Christmas or make other plans.
What was your favorite gift to get this year? To give?
Friday, December 25, 2015
Merry Christmas!
Wishing you peace, joy, and love this holiday season! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
What running has taught me
On Monday, I ran my first real workout since running the Detroit marathon.
You know, 2 months ago.
You see, I injured myself right after which really slowed things down for me. Or, I guess it would be more correct to say that I had an overuse injury. Long miles will occasionally do that to you.
I've been resting, cross training, and running easy miles since then. I had attempted a few harder workouts here and there, but pain and discomfort would often either force me to stop the workout and finish the miles easy or would cause me ongoing pain for the next day or two.
Finally (FINALLY!), I started feeling back to normal last week. Still kept things easy, but I finally started feeling like maybe I could get back to training.
So, on Monday, I tested the waters for the first time. My schedule had a farlek interval session - 8 x 600m repeats at 7:50-8:00 pace with 2 min rest periods. When I first saw the workout, I said "EIGHT intervals?!? That sounds like way too much." Plus, I was going to attempt this outside on our snowy roads. I had tried a speed workout on my treadmill, and it was way harder than I thought necessary.
But I decided to just give this a try. Who cares if I didn't hit the paces? As long as the effort was there, I would be satisfied.
Imagine my surprise when I started that first interval, and it felt...easy?
No no, not possible. Not easy. Is my Garmin wrong? Maybe the satellite isn't working well. Ok, well this is the first interval. You have seven more to go. Let's just see what happens.
Despite some slushy spots, some uphills, and some traffic issues, I'm happy to report that I nailed this workout!
8:02, 7:57, 8:01, 8:06, 7:56, 7:59, 8:03, 7:56
Yes, some of those are slightly over 8:00. But not enough to even concern me. 4 of those intervals were sub-8! The best part? My foot never bothered me. I even kind of forgot about it.
So, to the point of this post, here is what running has taught me.
Patience - I will get there. The miles will come eventually. My body will fall into place eventually. I just need to put in the work and let things happen.
Perseverance - Yes, it's hard. Yes, sometimes it sucks. But you know what's even harder? Quitting. Well, quitting and doing nothing is easy. But the guilt and mental anguish that comes with knowing I let myself down - that part is hard. So I work through the hard stuff. Because that outcome is so much better than quitting.
Strength - I'm stronger than I give myself credit. Every time I doubt that I can do something - a workout, a race, a long run, I just put my head down and get to work. And you know what? I get the job done! I may be tired as a dog afterward, but that experience is just making me stronger for next time.
I never thought when I started running that I'd get to this point. The point where I want to run marathons, and do speed workouts, and call myself a "runner". But running has taught me so much about myself and life, and it's become enmeshed with my identity at this point. If I could never run again, sure I'd be sad and there would be some angry/depressed days (weeks), but I'd find a new sport and use the lessons that running has taught me to keep going. Because that's what distance runners do - keep going.
You know, 2 months ago.
You see, I injured myself right after which really slowed things down for me. Or, I guess it would be more correct to say that I had an overuse injury. Long miles will occasionally do that to you.
I've been resting, cross training, and running easy miles since then. I had attempted a few harder workouts here and there, but pain and discomfort would often either force me to stop the workout and finish the miles easy or would cause me ongoing pain for the next day or two.
Finally (FINALLY!), I started feeling back to normal last week. Still kept things easy, but I finally started feeling like maybe I could get back to training.
So, on Monday, I tested the waters for the first time. My schedule had a farlek interval session - 8 x 600m repeats at 7:50-8:00 pace with 2 min rest periods. When I first saw the workout, I said "EIGHT intervals?!? That sounds like way too much." Plus, I was going to attempt this outside on our snowy roads. I had tried a speed workout on my treadmill, and it was way harder than I thought necessary.
But I decided to just give this a try. Who cares if I didn't hit the paces? As long as the effort was there, I would be satisfied.
Imagine my surprise when I started that first interval, and it felt...easy?
No no, not possible. Not easy. Is my Garmin wrong? Maybe the satellite isn't working well. Ok, well this is the first interval. You have seven more to go. Let's just see what happens.
Despite some slushy spots, some uphills, and some traffic issues, I'm happy to report that I nailed this workout!
8:02, 7:57, 8:01, 8:06, 7:56, 7:59, 8:03, 7:56
Yes, some of those are slightly over 8:00. But not enough to even concern me. 4 of those intervals were sub-8! The best part? My foot never bothered me. I even kind of forgot about it.
So, to the point of this post, here is what running has taught me.
Patience - I will get there. The miles will come eventually. My body will fall into place eventually. I just need to put in the work and let things happen.
Perseverance - Yes, it's hard. Yes, sometimes it sucks. But you know what's even harder? Quitting. Well, quitting and doing nothing is easy. But the guilt and mental anguish that comes with knowing I let myself down - that part is hard. So I work through the hard stuff. Because that outcome is so much better than quitting.
Strength - I'm stronger than I give myself credit. Every time I doubt that I can do something - a workout, a race, a long run, I just put my head down and get to work. And you know what? I get the job done! I may be tired as a dog afterward, but that experience is just making me stronger for next time.
I never thought when I started running that I'd get to this point. The point where I want to run marathons, and do speed workouts, and call myself a "runner". But running has taught me so much about myself and life, and it's become enmeshed with my identity at this point. If I could never run again, sure I'd be sad and there would be some angry/depressed days (weeks), but I'd find a new sport and use the lessons that running has taught me to keep going. Because that's what distance runners do - keep going.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Earn Those Cookies
As promised, this weekend Emily and I made our Christmas cookies! Well, Emily helped with the sugar cookies, abandoned me for the nutter butter truffles, and napped while I made the chocolate covered cherry cookies. But after 5 hours of mixing, measuring, stirring, baking, (breaking for lunch) icing, and melting chocolate, we have cookies!
Emily actually iced and decorated quite a few of her own sugar cookies this year, which made me pretty happy. I was afraid that I had traumatized her last year after she almost splattered my white walls with red frosting. But we were successful this year!
Saturday started off very early for me, as I wanted to get my run in before we started baking. You know, to bank some calories for the taste testing and quality control portions of baking. Plus a trip to Walmart and the grocery store. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.
I've been participating in the run chat hunt sponsored by RunChat on Twitter. Basically, it's a monthly scavenger hunt where you find certain items while out on your run, and post them to twitter with the tag #runchathunt. I managed to get 2 in the beginning of my 6 mile run, but when I went to snap my third pic of a bridge at the end of my run, my phone froze and died! It was only about 3 degrees, which I guess iphones cannot handle. I put it on the charger when I got home, and all is well.
On Sunday, we went sledding after church. I haven't been sledding since I was probably 12 years old, and Emily has never truly been. We had a baby sled that we would push her down a tiny slope in our yard, but I don't think that counts. This time, we went to the "big" hill down the street from our house.
It was so much fun! Trav and I took turns going down with Em for awhile, which was quite the workout because she wanted to be pulled back up the hill in her sled. Definitely earned a few cookies there! But then she got brave and started going down the smaller end of the hill on her own.
So funny! She was hiding her face in her jacket for the first few trips, but then she earned pro-status. I think she went up and down the hill 10-15 times. Oh to have the energy of a young child! However, we all took long naps after lunch that day.
Tonight, Emily is performing in her first school Christmas performance. Travis said that makes him feel old! I can't wait to see her sing her little heart out!
How was your weekend? Have you ever been sledding?
Emily actually iced and decorated quite a few of her own sugar cookies this year, which made me pretty happy. I was afraid that I had traumatized her last year after she almost splattered my white walls with red frosting. But we were successful this year!
Saturday started off very early for me, as I wanted to get my run in before we started baking. You know, to bank some calories for the taste testing and quality control portions of baking. Plus a trip to Walmart and the grocery store. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.
I've been participating in the run chat hunt sponsored by RunChat on Twitter. Basically, it's a monthly scavenger hunt where you find certain items while out on your run, and post them to twitter with the tag #runchathunt. I managed to get 2 in the beginning of my 6 mile run, but when I went to snap my third pic of a bridge at the end of my run, my phone froze and died! It was only about 3 degrees, which I guess iphones cannot handle. I put it on the charger when I got home, and all is well.
On Sunday, we went sledding after church. I haven't been sledding since I was probably 12 years old, and Emily has never truly been. We had a baby sled that we would push her down a tiny slope in our yard, but I don't think that counts. This time, we went to the "big" hill down the street from our house.
It was so much fun! Trav and I took turns going down with Em for awhile, which was quite the workout because she wanted to be pulled back up the hill in her sled. Definitely earned a few cookies there! But then she got brave and started going down the smaller end of the hill on her own.
So funny! She was hiding her face in her jacket for the first few trips, but then she earned pro-status. I think she went up and down the hill 10-15 times. Oh to have the energy of a young child! However, we all took long naps after lunch that day.
Tonight, Emily is performing in her first school Christmas performance. Travis said that makes him feel old! I can't wait to see her sing her little heart out!
How was your weekend? Have you ever been sledding?
Friday, December 18, 2015
Runner's Survey
I saw this survey over on Run Eat Repeat last week, and thought it would be fun to do too!
1. Would you rather run along a beach path or a mountain trail?
Beach path, for sure.
2. If you could choose the flavor of Gatorade at your next race's aid stations, what would it be?
Lemon lime. I never understand why some races offer RED drinks. Inevitably, it's going to get on you, and then you have to deal with red stains on your running clothes.
3. If I gave you a $100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing you would purchase with it?
Probably some new running tops. Mine are getting pretty ratty.
4. Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far/fast you want to run?
Training plan. I usually run so early in the morning that it's nice not to have to really think about the run. Just do what's on the plan.
5. Would you rather start your run uphill and end on a downhill, or start downhill and end uphill?
Start uphill, finish downhill. Or just stay flat. That's good too!
6. When you can't run, what type of cross training do you chose to do?
Lately, biking. I've also started doing Pilates as my strength training, and I love it!
7. What's your preference - out and back or point to point or loop runs?
Loop runs on days when my motivation is seriously lacking, because then there's no temptation to just turn around and cut it short. But usually my long runs are out and back.
8. If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be...?
Good shoes are a must. But probably also non-cotton running clothes. No one likes chaffing.
9. Do you ever see any wild animals while out on runs?
I've seen rabbits, colorful birds, a few deer, and a baby bear!
10. Ever gotten lost while out on a run?
Not truly lost, but recently I did overshoot a block on a run in town and had to think for a second on where exactly I was. Luckily, not too far off course.
11. If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days, what would it be?
Hmm, this one is hard. I typically don't like to eat something big after a run. A banana with peanut butter is my go-to. But I do love having a big, juicy cheeseburger for dinner after a long run. And sweet potato fries!
12. Capris or shorts...what do you run in most often?
I am a capri girl, all the way. Unless it's supppppper hot and humid, but even then - capris don't seem to bug me or make me hotter.
13. At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it's warmed up and ready to go?
It usually takes me a mile or so to get into a groove.
14. What do you do with your key when you run?
Since my family is usually still home when I run, I typically don't take a key with me. But if I drive somewhere to run, I usually stow it in my fuel belt.
15. If you could relive any race you have done in the past, which one would it be?
Another hard one! Probably my second half marathon (Garry Bjorklund Half @ Grandma's Marathon), because it was my first sub-two hour and I definitely did not think that was going to happen!
Feel free to copy, paste, and add your own answers!
1. Would you rather run along a beach path or a mountain trail?
Beach path, for sure.
2. If you could choose the flavor of Gatorade at your next race's aid stations, what would it be?
Lemon lime. I never understand why some races offer RED drinks. Inevitably, it's going to get on you, and then you have to deal with red stains on your running clothes.
3. If I gave you a $100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing you would purchase with it?
Probably some new running tops. Mine are getting pretty ratty.
4. Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and decide then how far/fast you want to run?
Training plan. I usually run so early in the morning that it's nice not to have to really think about the run. Just do what's on the plan.
5. Would you rather start your run uphill and end on a downhill, or start downhill and end uphill?
Start uphill, finish downhill. Or just stay flat. That's good too!
6. When you can't run, what type of cross training do you chose to do?
Lately, biking. I've also started doing Pilates as my strength training, and I love it!
7. What's your preference - out and back or point to point or loop runs?
Loop runs on days when my motivation is seriously lacking, because then there's no temptation to just turn around and cut it short. But usually my long runs are out and back.
8. If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be...?
Good shoes are a must. But probably also non-cotton running clothes. No one likes chaffing.
9. Do you ever see any wild animals while out on runs?
I've seen rabbits, colorful birds, a few deer, and a baby bear!
10. Ever gotten lost while out on a run?
Not truly lost, but recently I did overshoot a block on a run in town and had to think for a second on where exactly I was. Luckily, not too far off course.
11. If you could have one meal waiting and ready for you each time you got home from a run for the next 30 days, what would it be?
Hmm, this one is hard. I typically don't like to eat something big after a run. A banana with peanut butter is my go-to. But I do love having a big, juicy cheeseburger for dinner after a long run. And sweet potato fries!
12. Capris or shorts...what do you run in most often?
I am a capri girl, all the way. Unless it's supppppper hot and humid, but even then - capris don't seem to bug me or make me hotter.
13. At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start to feel like it's warmed up and ready to go?
It usually takes me a mile or so to get into a groove.
14. What do you do with your key when you run?
Since my family is usually still home when I run, I typically don't take a key with me. But if I drive somewhere to run, I usually stow it in my fuel belt.
15. If you could relive any race you have done in the past, which one would it be?
Another hard one! Probably my second half marathon (Garry Bjorklund Half @ Grandma's Marathon), because it was my first sub-two hour and I definitely did not think that was going to happen!
Feel free to copy, paste, and add your own answers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)