Back and Ambitious!!!

Hey!!!

I've came back after a very long year (nope, no baby to announce, just work and life and the ups and downs that come with it) with a new sense of renewal and dedication.

When I left the blog last year, I realized that I had the wrong focus, that I had become a person who was too obsessed with "competing" with the fast bloggers, the bloggers who ran Boston, the runners who are generally freaking amazing.  I LOVE these bloggers, but it took me a heck of a long time to figure out, I'm not them.  I'm not even close.

After I got back from my whirlwind Europe trip, which was awesome, my friendship with my best friend, the person whose wedding I attended last November, went off the rails.  Reasons will not be discussed, but it is sad to see one of your longest friendships fall off over something so insignificant.  Things were rocky, then bad, then we just stopped speaking.  And I'm ok with it.

I've moved forward with life and work, finding great people in my life to "fill the void" so to speak, and expect a pretty big improvement at work very soon.  More to come on that in the near future.

With respect to running, the past year has been all about running for me.  I did the Resolution Run last December, and it was a great race.  I made good time for me (somewhere around 33 minutes) but didn't really care.  Maybe that was due to the Irish coffee I drank before the race.... ;)  But it renewed my sense of being a runner, and that I could define what that meant.

Since then, I have ran in the following races: a short (5k), small prediction race in March, the Spartan Race, the Perth Kilt Race, a Race called Rattle Me Bones, and the Franktown 10k.  Most of these races went very well.  The 10k didn't, mostly because I undertrained, and once again focused on time expectations without putting the effort in.

In December, I turned 29.  Eek!!! Most women certainly know, you hit a certain age and really have to evaluate where you are and what you want to do.  I decided I am at a good place overall - great job, family, own my own home, decent-ish debt load, etc.  Even with my contentment, I decided I haven't been spending enough time (or money really) on me and what I want to do.  I am the person who hands over the remote to my husband, who gives my step-daughter my shoes when she forgets hers at her mothers, who lets my friends have the last slice.  So this year, I have given myself a 30 under 30 (really a 30 before 31) list of things to do, and have started crossing them off. 

There are several fitness related ones, including doing the May Race Weekend 10k again and beating my sucky PR for that race of 1:09:45.  I actually went and signed up for a running room clinic so that I can meet new running friends who are at my pace.  It excites me and makes me internally freak out all at the same time. 

I am also planning to do the Spartan Trifecta, which you can read about here because I'm crazy, and frankly, there needs to be more women's names on that list. 

Finally, I have a few other goals that I will share that are not running related - cooking a meal I am terrified of, eating something scary and awesome, zip lining for the first time in my life, losing some weight, reading some of the great classic books, etc. 

I hope to make this new version of Running from the Law interesting to you, so if anyone comes back and reads this post, please, please tell me what you want to see.  Me making an idiot of myself? Less running more life, or vice versa?  Informative posts about things like research and gear??? More/less pictures?  Let me know.

K, I'm out for now, but will check in soon with pictures of my newest running gear, and details of the trip I went on over Christmas. Later!