Q & A 2012: A look back

Last year at this time, I recapped my running from throughout the year by listing out each month's miles & the races I completed.  Recently, I've seen a few people recapping their running year through a list of questions.  Neither really seemed to be how I wanted to recap my year - probably because the year turned out much differently than I thought it would - but I'm stealing the questions from Paulette's blog because the thought of posting basically nothing for part of spring and early summer is really depressing.  If you want to read race recaps from this year's races, just click on the "races" tab above and you can find them there.  

Shall we get started?  (feel free to steal these and play along)

Best Race Experience - This one is actually pretty easy.  Without a doubt, I'm calling the Down and Dirty Mud Run that I did with Erin as the best race experience of 2012.  I was literally DAYS out of my boot for my stress injury and I wasn't sure I'd be able to complete the race.  I couldn't run so we walked the course, laughed, had fun, and kicked ass on the obstacles - plus got really muddy in the process.

Runners up are definitely the two Disney races I ran this year: The Tinker Bell Half and Wine and Dine Half.  They were two of the "worst" races I've ever run as far as time goes, but running in costume, Disney magic and getting to spend time with very dear friends makes up for that piece.

Best Run - This one is more recent and also a race.  My best run of this year was the Turkey Trot 5k I did on Thanksgiving Day.  I had just come off of a disappointing performance at Wine and Dine and decided on a whim to run this local 5k.  I had no real goals related to pace, just to go out and see what I could do.  What I did was manage to annihilate my previous 5k PR by almost 5 1/2 minutes and run my first sub-30 :)  Not only that, I managed to re-kindle the love of running that I'd been missing. The only bad thing? That 28:15 5k is going to be very tough to beat.

Best Piece of New Gear - This will have to be my Trek Lexa road bike.  This bike kept me fit while I was recovering from my injury and helped me finish my first triathlon.  Now, it's hooked up to a trainer in my basement (because the trails are more snow-covered now) and will help keep my fitness up this winter.

Best Piece of Running Advice Received - This question is a lot tougher to answer.  With my injury this year and all the rehab I've done, I should probably go with something related to listening to my body and allowing it to heal, and while those are VERY sound pieces of advice, I'm going with something else.  "You can breathe when you're done."  This year was the year of the speed work and pushing myself.  I did Yasso 800's for the first time at a 9 mm pace.  Something I thought I'd never be able to do.  All that speed work didn't pay off at Wine and Dine like it was supposed to but it paid off in spades at that Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot.  "You can breathe when you're done" was my mantra for the last 1/2 mile or more.  It's about pushing yourself farther than you think you are capable.  Someone also recently said, "Don't eat yellow snow" - also sound advice, especially around these parts :)

Most Inspirational Runner(s) - There is no way I can pick just one person for this so I'm taking the easy way out and saying ALL OF YOU!!! Whether you walk, cycle, run, sprint, whatever, reading about your workouts on DailyMile or Twitter motivates me to get my ass out the door.  The social media community never ceases to amaze me with the love and support they give.

If You Could Sum Up Your Year of Running in Three Words What Would They Be? - Hmmmm.....

• Fun - I ran in some REALLY fun races this year (see above) and just recently found out how fun it is to run with a group.
• Frustrating - This year's injury(s) really kicked my ass.  I don't think I ever had a month where I was running 100% injury or pain free.  This was definitely the year of faster/slower/faster/slower. I'd seem to be making great improvements and then BAM something would knock me down again. 
• Faster - While I didn't get my half marathon PR that I was gunning for, I set PRs in the 10k and 5k - both after coming back from injury.  I'm pretty damn proud of that.

So how about you?  Pick one of these questions to answer - or steal the lot of them - let me know how you did in 2012.

(Almost) Wordless Fitness Friday

• Exceeded my total miles goal by over 200 miles
• Failed in my total races goal (only did 8)
• Failed in miles ran this year - going to miss 500 by less than 20 miles and last year I did over 770. Injuries suck ass but I don't think I would've come close anyway since I didn't train for a full marathon like last year.
• Failed in maintaining a healthy weight. While I like to see high numbers for training, the number on the scale this year really makes me sad.

I wish I felt better about how I did this year, and maybe my attitude will change when I go back and write a recap post (if I write one).  How about you, did you meet your fitness goals this year?

Wordless Thankful Thursday

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Wordless Merry Christmas

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Wordless Christmas Eve

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Wordless for a Week

I saw this idea over at Average Moms Wear Capes.  ChristieO is planning to go wordless for the entire week of Christmas and is only posting pictures on her blog.  I then saw Brooke at Frugal Trophy Wife is doing the same.  With the hustle and bustle of Christmas, this seems like a great idea.  I use blogpress a lot anyway and I can just post pics from my phone while spending a little more time with the family and less time on the computer.  Now let's see if I can actually do it and not write/say anything for a week (ok, it's really only 5 days - I've got this).

If you want to join in, head over to Average Moms Wear Capes - Christie will have a linky if you want to share your posts.

So, in advance - Merry Christmas!!!

My Christmas Survey

I saw this last Thursday on Tina's blog and decided it would be fun to play along.

1.  Favorite Christmas Album/CD/Song:  I actually have a few.  As for a traditional Christmas hymn, O Holy Night is my all-time favorite.  Instrumental? Sleigh Ride. Love the trumpet horse whinny.  For something fun, I LOVE the 12 Days of Christmas sung by Straight No Chaser.  Really, any of their Christmas songs rock.  Even the kids request them.


2.  Run on Christmas morning or take the day off? I probably won't run Christmas morning since we're traveling that day, but hopefully I'll get a few miles in on Christmas Eve.  If I don't run Christmas Eve and the weather cooperates, I'll head outside and run before we leave.

3.  What do you usually eat on Christmas morning? We don't have a traditional Christmas breakfast.  My son will probably want to make pancakes though and the girl will want hash browns.

4.  Favorite holiday or Christmas tradition?  I would say my favorite holiday tradition is getting ornaments throughout the year during my travels and then decorating the tree.  When I was growing up, my favorite tradition was to go to the 11pm candlelight service at our church and ring in Christmas at midnight.

5.  Real tree, fake tree, or no tree? Real tree. Always a Fraser Fir. Always from the same place. No tinsel (we have a cat who would eat it). Only ornaments and lights with an angel on top.  The angel and tree skirt were made by M's mom years ago.

6.  Christmas pajamas, yay or nay? We don't do the Christmas PJ tradition.  I think if I'd started it when the kids were little it would've kept going, but we all just like to sleep in our usual stuff.

7.  Where do you spend the holidays? It depends on who is hosting :)  We host often because we have the space. Otherwise, some years we go to my sister's and sometimes to M's mom's or his brother's house.

8.  Food that you always have during the holiday season/favorite Christmas treat? My girl would say lefse, but I'm not picky.  Again, the food depends on who is hosting. One of the teachers I work with always brings in candy her mom makes.  That's pretty awesome. I might have eaten 3 yesterday.

9.  Open presents all at once or take turns? If I had my way, we'd take turns. I want to see what people get.  That being said, every year it turns into a free-for-all. I'm out-voted EVERY. FREAKING. YEAR.  When we are at my sister's house, the ceiling fan will be on and everyone will shoot their wrapping paper into the fan.

10. Favorite Christmas(ish) movie?  Is it bad to say I don't really have one?  If I had to pick, I'd say Charlie Brown Christmas.

Your turn!  Pick one of the questions to answer in the comments or feel free to steal the whole post - just make sure to come up with your own answers :)  Let me know if you write a post so I can read it!