2014 in Photos

2014 could certainly be called the year I stopped blogging!  I know I don't blog anymore, but since some of my blogger friends April & Patty are doing a year in photos, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. Any excuse to post photos is my moto!  Don't expect me not to use words as well, I couldn't possibly just post photos.

Training for the Glass Slipper Challenge is going SO well, I really should be blogging about it!  I have gone back and read some of my entries from long runs last year at this time and it's like night and day.  I've learned to pace myself better, run intervals on long mileage, and even MISS RUNS when I need more recovery.  This year has all been about getting stronger and not pushing myself into injury because my ego says I "should" be doing it a certain way.  And it's made me a better runner in the process! 

I guess I should get to the pics, huh? ;)

This will definitely be my RUNNING year in photos, we did so many things that aren't running related, but this is a running blog, so...

January 2014 I was deep in training for my first half marathon! I was also injured and freaking out about not being able to complete it.

 One of my last long runs before my knees decided they were done...

February brought relief from my fears and the best reward ever!  Finishing my first half marathon.  Not only that I got a trip to WDW with my girl and met some amazing friends along the way. 

Oh I can see I'm not very good at only using a couple shots...are you surprised?

March was hard, I got sick and even though I knew it would happen, I was down about the Princess Half being over.  I had to refocus. Rey cheered me up by running the St. Pat's 5K with me!

It slowly warmed up and I kept on running, even when it felt like I was just going through the motions. My furry running partner (petsitting client) helped keep me motivated.  

I also started to plan my Glass Slipper Training! (and costumes, and drinks, and...well, everything else too!)

May brought my highest mileage of the year.  I have no clue what I was doing out there, just enjoying the weather I think!

  Dallas & I were back to biking as well.

Oh how I love early morning runs as the sun is coming up!  I miss those in the winter when it's just too cold and I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit.

The summer months were spent trying to get myself well conditioned and stay uninjured! I wanted to be ready to start training in the fall.  I ran 4 miles, 3 times a week, the whole summer.  I rarely did anything different.  Other than that, we went to Six Flags, I worked, and when I wasn't running, I was at a pool! 

September brought travel to see Ed Sheeran (twice! and meeting him in person!) but I still got in my runs.  Finally a race as well after the long summer.  The Mustache Dash 5K was fun to dress up for and I got a shiny new PR as well.  I was going to run the 10K but was having some foot tweaking (just tendonitis, I think) and decided I didn't want to end up injured right before half training, so I went with the 5K. 

October brought cooler temps and beautiful fall colors.  I LOVE running in the fall!  It also brought my first ever DNF.  I don't really feel bad about it anymore, it wasn't a running problem that caused me to stop. I had a client call me mid-race with an emergency with their dog, so when I got to the end of the first loop (5K) I had to leave.  I was pretty upset at the time because I was going to use the time to submit for PHM, but I already had a time submitted, so I got over it.

 I may have had a DNF, but Dallas ran the 5K and not only was able to finish but placed 2nd in his age group. Haha, he looked so tired before we started though!

The end of October  brought the best thing,  Official Glass Slipper Challenge Training!

November brought more miles and colder temperatures. 

In December the miles continued to climb and as I look back on the year, I feel pretty pleased with my accomplishments.  I've worked hard to get stronger and build my miles without injury. I'm feeling more ready than ever for the new year and the Glass Slipper Challenge.  I know I have some cold, long runs ahead of me, but I'm ready for the challenge!

Bring on 2015!!  Sorry-notsorry that was so long.  I'm sure this will be my last blog entry of the year since it has been months since I've blogged, but I post daily on Instagram if you are interested in following me there you can find me at twoboysnmygirl!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Is This My Blog??

Hello readers, if there are any of you out there anymore!  I know it's been a while, and will most likely be another long while again(more on that below), but I thought I should pop in and update at least.  I've been running and working all summer long, and I'm excited for fall training to start and adding in mileage!  

I got my hair cut!  I love it...

Miss Elsa is getting bigger and bigger, but is still in crazy-kitten mode...

  

It's been a great summer, I think the highlights were trips to Six Flags and playing messy twister!

 Summer is wrapped up (except for the crazyhot summer temps!) and school has started back up here.  My boys are both in college and Savannah is homeschooled. I would love to say that means things have calmed down a bit, but we're still pretty busy.  It was a great summer but we're pretty ready for fall!  I'm excited for Glass Slipper training, especially.

I've been running three times a week, even in the heat, but my miles are fairly low for August.  I have just been trying to build some strength for when the miles go up in training this fall.  I'm feeling pretty strong and my base "short" runs are 4 miles. 

As for blogging, I realize that I'm not blogging much, but what I am doing is spending more time on Instagram.  I think I'm just better at expressing myself & my life in photos, and Instagram allows me to do that.  Soooooo....

if you want to follow my training/goings ons, feel free to follow me over there.  My username is twoboysnmygirl.  

Until then, happy running!  I hope everyone is doing well!

Glass Slipper Challenge, here I come!!

Well, hello faithful readers!  I know I have been absent, I kind of lost the blogging-itch.  I'm ok with it, the purpose of this blog was to document my journey to train for my first half marathon and I did just that.  I am still running but I find that blogging about it just doesn't call to me much anymore.  It's part of my life and I don't really have to write about it, if that makes sense.  Maybe I'll have more to blog about as I start training for the Glass Slipper Challenge!!

I had to come back to at least post about getting registered today.  I mean, kind of my blog namesake in a way.  I registered this morning and will be headed to my happy place next February to run the Enchanted 10K and Princess 1/2 Marathon back-to-back!  I'm so excited!!!

 

I needed this too.  Lately I feel like I'm just going through the motions.  I run 10-15 miles a week but without something specific to train for I was feeling a bit blah about my running. I have a couple 10K's in the fall but nothing going on this summer.  This morning I went out with my PHM shirt on and got 5 miles done with my furry running companion, Normie.  It was a great run and it's been a while since I've had a run that left me feeling great the rest of the day. It could have also been the 55 degree weather.  It was gorgeous! 

 I'm pretty excited to have something to train for this fall.  I'll be headed down to Princess weekend with a girlfriend and meeting up with a bunch of other women for running, cupcakes, and drinks! I'm not sure if I'm more excited about a girl's weekend or the challenge!   I'm sure you are not surprised that I have my costumes for both races already.  I'm not revealing yet though.  ;) 

The 10K course will be new to me since I didn't do it this year.  I'm doing a joint-costume with a friend and we plan to stop for MANY photos!

 and I will be headed home with THREE medals in 2015, I'm excited to see what they will look like.  

These are the 2014 medals:

 

and last, but not least, you knew I had to do a kitty update, right?  Elsa is 11 weeks old and a pistol!  Crazy energy, but we adore her.  She loves our other two cats more than us though, naturally.

I know many bloggers that are passing on the PHM/GSC this year, who out there is doing it?  Did you have trouble this morning?  I got the link about 3 minutes before 11am and was in and finished pretty quickly before the site was bogged down but I know many friends had trouble and it took them well over an hour with many errors.  Hope everyone got in that wanted to!

Not just National Running Day...

It's also hug-your-cat-day!  Did you know that?  Me either, but it worked out pretty well for my Wide-angle Wednesday post on a running blog where I apparently post copious photos of my kitten.  LOL

Soooo, Elsa is 6 weeks now and thriving.  She's doubled her weight and had her first trip to the vet.  Her eyes are turning green, which is really cool looking.  She also has an instagram account now (meowitgo) thanks to my daughter, and already has more followers in two days than I do.  Have you hugged your cat today?  I know I have.  Who wouldn't hug this face?

She's also completely house-ified now.  Just two weeks out of the wild and she's afraid of plants.  

Since this IS a running blog, I should mention National Running Day, right?  

 

 I can't pick just one thing. Does anyone else have this problem?  Last year I tried to just put MANY reasons why and ended up still not feeling like I encompassed why I ran...

There just aren't words to cover it.  All I know is that I can't imagine life without it now.  I didn't run today because I did four miles yesterday and I'm having a little tendonitis issue in one of my feet and don't want to push it with back to back runs.  I'm smart enough to know when not to push myself into an injury.  

 Hope everyone enjoys their running and/or cat hugging today! ;)

Wide-angle Wednesday

It's been a few weeks since I've done a WAW and I nearly missed today as well.  All is well here, ran a really nice 5 miler yesterday and other than that I'm up to my ears in kitten.  ;) 

I have been sorting through some of my Disney shots and realized that I love to take photos of little details at WDW.  I picked out a few shots and thought it would be fun if you could tell where each of them was taken!  Some are easier than others...

Hope everyone is having a great week!