As usual with any kind of blogging hiatus, I had about 10 different points in which I was going to come back here and post and something got in the way. So, here I sit, 6 months since my last post, coming back to this.
I am not going to completely recap the last 6 months. For one, it's too much time to properly fit in to one post. Secondly, most of the people who would read this either follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or in real life, so you know most of the details. In case there are a few who stumble here who would like the blank filled in, here are the major points:
Running:
~I officially finished my first marathon. It wasn't the race I had originally signed up for, the Walker North Country Marathon, but rather the Thunder Bay "Miles With the Giant" Marathon. I just had fun with it, dropping any notions of a time goal after training wasn't anywhere near solid or consistent. Official finish time was 3:58:21. I had fun, and the bug bit hard, I am gunning to find marathon #2.
~Went back to Marquette and ran the half there again. 1:54:10, ran it as my last double digit before what I thought would be Walker. Not thrilled, but it was a solid training run if you look at it from that angle.
~I hit my mileage goal for 2012 on 12/20. 1000 miles. At a few points, it looked like it was not going to happen without some monster runs in the later months. What I discovered was that even just getting out for a half hour consistently helped me get there more than anything.
~I ran my first official, non-NMTC, trail race. It was the Harder'n'He!! Half Marathon, and it truly lived up to its name. Killer hills, rocky single track, lots of falling. So much pain, but it was pretty great, too.
Life:
~My store helped produce the Superior Man Tri this summer. Craziness. Pandemonium. Chaos. But, I learned so much. And, when I got to put the finisher medal on the final finisher--a 74 year old man--it made the whole thing worth it for me. I can't see a 70.3 on my schedule any time soon, but it was really neat to see all the behind-the-scenes of a Triathlon.
~Honeymoon out west. I fell in love with Portland, OR. Head over heels. What a fantastic city. I also got to see the city in which my mother was born (Port Angeles, WA), and run along both the Willamette River and the Puget Sound, as well as see an MLS (Go, Timbers!) and a CFL (Go, BC Lions!) game. Such a great adventure out there.
~ (Obligatory mention of married life). So far, so good. We still like each other, we're still having fun. It hasn't been without a few bumps, but it wasn't anything different than we experienced as a dating couple or an engaged couple. I'll tell you what, though--it is nice to have that wedding in the rearview mirror. The event was awesome, but I was so over the planning portion. It's nice to just be able to enjoy being together and going about our life. My new name seems to be a bit hard to wrap minds around. Mispronunciations, forgetting about the fact I hyphenated, not being sure how to address envelopes to both of us... oh well. It is my name, and I like that I represent two pretty cool families with it.
So, now that 2013 is here, what is on the docket?
~Two mileage goals. First, I'd like to consistently put in a minimum of 100 miles a month. I know if I knuckle down, focus, and make sure I get out consistently this will be easy to attain. I just can't slack. Secondly, I would like to hit 1500 miles on the year. I almost feel as if I'm shooting a bit high on that, but I'd rather aim high and miss than aim low and not feel satisfied. Besides, if I'm shooting for 1500, which is 125 miles/month, then it makes hitting 100 miles/month almost a given. So, either or.
~Crack 1:45 for the half marathon. I'm going back to Bayshore and may or may not be going back to Marquette. That goal has been taunting me since Bayshore in 2011, and I'd like to finally check that one off my list.
~Marathon #2. For a while, I thought I'd be heading west for this and running the Columbia Gorge Marathon. However, a long look at the finances and a chat with Brandon resulted in me shelving that idea until 2014. I'm currently researching fall marathons in Michigan, so I can have my family at the finish line of this one. (Running my first in Canada meant that I didn't get a chance to talk to my family until a few hours after I ran, which I was not OK with.)
And, so this post isn't entirely me talking at you, I leave you with a picture. Me crossing the finish line at Thunder Bay, officially adding my name to the ranks of those who completed 26.2:
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