2012/2013

A bit late to the game on this one but eh, might as well post, right? After all, 2012 was a pretty darn good one for me!

Watched the fireworks and the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run
in Central Park this year!

Here's my 2012 in running:

• Best race experience: No-brainer (also I only ran in two races last year!) - Chicago Marathon. Worked my ass off for that sub-4 and was rewarded with a time that shattered my expectations.
• Best run: 20.5 miles in DC three weeks before the marathon - the weather was great, I ran fast, I felt awesome. It was the perfect pre-race confidence booster!
• Best new piece of gear: Brooks Defyance - I swear, they are making me faster.
• Best piece of running advice you received: I really enjoyed my friend Zack's text the night before the Chicago Marathon, which read, "Don't be polite. Draw some blood!" Beyond that I don't think I really got a lot of running advice - I also didn't really seek any out and relied on ME to stay motivated. My marathon day mantra of "Be fearless. Be relentless. Be limitless" seems like pretty good advice, too.
• Most inspirational runner: I'm inspired by just about every runner I meet and whose blog I read. We're all sort of in this together - juggling a job with fun with training and I think it's really interesting to read about how we're all doing this to accomplish a similar goal. My good friends Lani, Christina and Shawna inspire me as well!
• If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?: Oh gosh...hmm. 2012 was really about the marathon for me - breaking four hours. When I did that, I shattered what I thought I could accomplish. Throughout that training cycle, I became the kind of runner I want to be, and now I know for certain that (as Chrissie Wellington has said) my limits might not be where I think that they are, and that I can push them farther than I had imagined possible.

Recap of my 2012 goals:

• Finish P90X - did pretty well on this! I think I ended up doing 78 days before I decided to focus a bit more on running than P90X - but I did get a lot stronger (especially in my shoulders - I think my best plank was 4 minutes!) and enjoyed P90X a lot!
• Run a sub-4 marathon - CHECK! 3:47:40 in Chicago!
• PR in the half marathon - CHECK! 1:57:44 in the RNR DC half!
• Be totally injury-free all year - CHECK!!! This is probably one of the more important goals that I accomplished - SO happy I was injury-free all year!
• Do 9+1 - NOPE. Just wasn't motivated to race so much - plus I feel like I was traveling all. the. time. in 2012. Maybe this year!
• Go to a new country/state - CHECK! Nebraska and Illinois can be crossed off my state visits! Also went to Cape Cod and Santa Barbara for the first time, which was awesome.
• Go to the Astoria beer garden - NUH UH! Ugh. THIS YEAR!
• Explore as much as I possibly can in New York - check-ish? I feel like I did a pretty good job! There's still lost more left to see and do though!

And now for my 2013 goals:

• PR in the half: I feel like this is totally doable. I ran a 1:51 in the second half of the Chicago Marathon, so I think I should be able to break 1:50 - sub-1:45 would be SO awesome though. I have two chances this spring (NYC Half and Long Branch Half)! Definitely going to make them count!
• Be injury-free all year: I've found a great training plan that works well for me (Run Less Run Faster) and I'm going to stick to it.
• Try out a new exercise class: I joined the Refine Resolution Challenge - my first class is on Wednesday and I've been buddied up with the wonderful Dori! I can't wait to get started!
• Move up in bib numbers for NYRR races: I renewed my membership and hope to do more races this year - right now I'm at 8:59 (and that's from approximately three years ago!) so I think I should be able to do this!
• Go to the Astoria beer garden, the Tenement Museum and the Guggenheim: Been in NYC five years, and I have yet to check of any of these! 
• Have an amazing vacation somewhere I've never been before: Well I'm going to Mexico with my mom in October, so that should definitely be doable!
• Roast a chicken: Never done it! I really want to do it. Don't ask me why, I just do.
• Read more: I did a pretty good job of reading this year - a move to Harlem means more time on the subway (eight stops instead of two plus a crosstown walk when I lived on the UES) so I'd like to keep reading more books (and the New Yorker).
• With that - read the books I already have sitting on my bookshelf! I have SO many but I'm never in the "mood" to read them...must improve this.

There are probably more to add...but those are the ones that come to mind right now. 

Let's see if I can do it...here's to 2013 being even more awesome than 2012!