2013 was a
fantastic year for me with some challenges.
The highlight of the year was our wedding on the Vineyard in July with
all of our family and friends present. The day turned out perfect and was beyond
what Jash and I could have ever expected.
In the same month of our wedding, just a few days before and after I
helped us buy a new house and helped Rhiannon, my best woman, buy a house in OR
where she relocated to from AZ. Jash and
I are thrilled to have her and Brad living so close now and we get to spend so
much more time together. We love our new
house and the land, we are on over ½ acre with a creek that runs behind our
house with a forest so it seems like it goes on forever and it is very private
and quiet.
We were also very fortunate to move out
quickly with the help of wonderful friends and family and able to sell our
other house immediately (only listed for 1 day) for our asking price which was
on the top of the market. Another huge
event this year was Jash completing his executive MBA through the University of
Oregon! We are now a 2 MBA household and
very appreciative of the time that Jash and I get back together now that he is
done with school. While Jash was back in
school I also went back and got my OR real estate license which allowed me to
buy and see houses this year so it was perfect timing and something that I have
wanted to do since I used to have my RE license back in AZ. Other big events this summer include me
completing 100 marathon/ultra distances before turning 30! These events alone made for a fantastic,
busy, and very exciting summer! Within a
month of getting our house we also adopted 3 chicken girls (Betty, Peck, and
Sweetie) as well as a Winterhawk! Our
house is very full now with and 18 year old ice hockey player and our 3 chicken
girls but it is also a lot of fun and has been a really great experience. A high and a low for this year was finding
out dad had bladder cancer, but he is currently cancer free and continuing with
the treatments, eating better, and getting out and exercising all which are
great positives. He is very strong and
will battle whatever is thrown his way, we are just happy that he is healthy
now and getting stronger and better every day.
Overall the year was pretty
amazing and there was a lot going on but we are very thankful that we have so
many great friends and family that supported us through everything. Below are the highlight pictures we captured
of our wonderful magical 2013! Jash and
I are looking forward to an exciting and even more amazing 2014!
December 2013
Marathons
This December I
ran Seattle Marathon and Ghost of Birch Bay Marathon. These are extremely different races and with
the contrast just a weekend in between it really became clear to me which type
of event I currently more enjoy. Let me
start by recapping both events.
I ran Seattle
on the last Sunday of our Thanksgiving break.
I drove up on a Saturday after having a wonderful holiday with the
family. I went this one solo so Jash
could stay home with our kiddo and get some work done around the house. The first thing that I really don’t like
about Seattle is the price- for what you get it is insane. The shirt is not so great, there is no finish
food for vegetarians- at least nothing that you want to eat after running for
many hours so I always find that really yucky.
The expo is also in the middle of the city at the most inconvenient
location possible. Traffic and people
are always a problem because it is the busiest shopping weekend of the
year. Why they continue to hold it there
is a mystery to me, but I dislike. So I
got that all taken care of on Saturday and headed back to my hotel- which this
year I paid a bit more to have a hotel close to the expo and start so I could
walk everywhere, but then come to realize that the high price hotel does not
include parking so they hit you with that and it is really a terrible
deal. If I ever do this one again- which
I really don’t think I will, I will opt for a hotel out of town and just drive
in and snag free parking early on Sunday morning. My downtown hotel was also really loud which
is another reason in my book not to stay anywhere near the city. What I did like on race morning was sleeping
in. I had a great dinner and early to
bed but still was able to sleep for about 10 hours before the race, which was
awesome! Race day was not as cold or
rainy as expected but the wind was terrible.
You really felt this later in the race which is not the time you want
to. I started out ok, but of course as
it would be with a lot of big races I started to get pulled with the people and
the crowd energy. Not a great thing when
you are really not in your PR shape and are just planning on a fun easy
marathon. A great part of my start was
running into orange socks, I think the last race we ran together in and chatted
was the Winthrop marathon, but we have talked at several events and I love
catching up with him- such a happy running dude and always makes me smile and
laugh and I just love his orange socks and gloves at every event.
I was in an ok
mood going into the half-way point of the race even though I-90 seems to keep
getting longer and longer every year and I look at the super-fast people on
their way back from the out and back and get angry! Well not really angry, but I do start to wonder
how much do these people actually eat to stay the size they are- do they eat at
all? Are they happy? Do they want to be this thin so they can be
fast or are they fast because they are this thin? What does their training log look like? Do they eat Halloween candy? What about desert ever? Usually I just end up wondering how I can get
that thin. Then I remember that I like
food and being happy and move on with my thoughts to more productive
thoughts. This year they ran the gamut
from thinking about work to the future to how much my back was hurting to why
the heck does anyone think hills post mile 20 are a good idea on any race
course. I was not in a happy place for
this race and the latter half. I felt
slow and I realized that that made me happy.
Not being slow in and of itself, but having that realization and being
able to look at my fitness level at least once a month on the marathon course
and test it. I like having that feedback
and knowing what I need to do to change it and also being ok with where I am
based on what I have put into it.
Running is still fun, it is not a crazy pressure that the BQ times and
lower were driving me to and making it not fun and something that I was going
to avoid. I also do want to get better,
to stay healthy and need to consider that in the choices I make for
training. I am happy I can do at least a
marathon a month and would like to continue that since I have been on that
running streak since 2008.
Birch Bay Ghost
was again a fun race and the third time I ran it. I really am enjoying the smaller races more
and more. This really allows me to run
with myself and I like that a lot versus being surrounded by a ton of people
with loud music, crazy talk, and the like.
We had unseasonably warm weather for this event with it being just above 40 and
not raining! The day was really perfect
for the run and although the rain did come it was on my 5 hour drive back
home. The only real downside of this
race is the 5 hour drive back home for me which is why I have not done it since
2010. Overall I would do this one again
and try to plan a snowboard trip up in BC after it!
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