In February, my family took a 2 1/2 week trip to China, Thailand and Hong Kong. These were all new countries that I got to tick off while visiting my brother who's teaching English over there until July. We visited during Chinese New Year, which was awesome. We went to Beijing, Dali, Kunming, Phuket and several islands around Phuket, and Hong Kong.
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| Chinese New Year fair in Beijing |
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| Me in Dali |
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| An island somewhere off of Phuket |
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| Long tails off of an island |
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| My brother and me at Victoria Peak |
The next big event of 2011 was running my first marathon on May 1 along the C&O Canal in Maryland. It was an exhilarating experience, and I worked my ass off to run a 4:13:12 marathon.
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| Super excited! |
After the marathon, I took a trip to Seattle and Portland with Lani and Emily for our annual trip. We met when we transferred to the same college at the same time, and now we take a trip someplace new every year.
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| Pastry from Piroshky Piroshky near Pike Place |
In June, I started a new job and geared up for more marathon training. I didn't blog at all in June, but I took Core Fusion classes for two weeks through a Gilt City deal I got. It was a nice change from running all the time, but come July I was ready to train!
(Most of my pictures from the summer involve sweaty pictures of myself that I've already posted here, so I'll spare you...)
But I fit in some fun, and in July my friend Jennifer (who lives in Zurich) came to visit. It was so fun to show her around my city and spend time with her. I saw Sufjan Stevens in concert, ate crabs in Maryland, and went to Coney Island for the day. On the running front, I ran Summer Streets, took many pictures of gorgeous sunrises, and drank a lot of coconut water.
In October I turned 27 and PR'ed at the Staten Island Half Marathon, finally running a sub-2 hour half marathon and clocking in at 1:58:59. Before I knew it, November 6 was there and I ran the New York City Marathon, PRing in that race with 4:06:31.
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| Sweaty and happy |
After the race, I treated myself to a 10-day adventure in Europe, stopping by London and Zurich (Part 1 and Part 2) and squeezing in a couple of runs there as well. When I got back, I found out that I had a stress fracture and have put running on hold (only 2 1/2 weeks to go till I can run again!).
But just because I can't run doesn't mean I can't stay fit. The doctor said I could do absolutely everything except run, so I've been hitting the elliptical and StairMaster, spinning, and walking on the treadmill for cardio, and taking yoga classes and doing strength workouts as well. Just last week, I added P90X to the mix and so far I'm loving it (though we'll see how I feel in 83 days...).
And as for my goals for 2012? (Yup, goals, no resolutions here.)
- Finish P90X - this will happen
- Run a sub-4 marathon - ohhh how I would love for this to happen...
- PR in the half marathon - it'd be icing on the cake!
- Be totally injury-free all year - I know what I did wrong, and I know how to avoid injury in the future
- Do 9+1 - this shouldn't be a problem
- Go to a new country/state - already planning my 2012 adventure! Spain? Portugal? Somewhere else?
- Go to the Astoria beer garden - this has been something I've wanted to do since I moved to New York. I WILL do it this year!
- Explore as much as I possibly can in New York - see new things, try new things, meet new people
There are probably more, but I think this is a good place to start!
I hope you all had a wonderful 2011. Mine was pretty great, and I think 2012 is going to be an awesome year!
Such an awesome year Margaret! You accomplished so much!! Love all your traveling pictures and have to admit I'm still gobsmacked by your hardcore marathon.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! xx