Life Update

Wow - it's been a long time since I last updated.  Last time I posted, I had just finished the first race of the BAA Distance Medley.  I am happy to report that while I did go on to finish the other two races (including my first sub 2 half at the final race), I've also run a ton of other races, too! Here's a quick synaposis of what's been going on the past years.

 I got married!  

This is probably why I fell off the blogging bandwagon to begin with - wedding planning is a ton of work! My now husband proposed not too long after aforementioned BAA 5K, and then my life became a whirlwind.  We got married on October 6th, 2013 at the Water's Edge in CT, and it was absolutely perfect.

Our wedding day

I became an actual triathlete!

While yes, at the time when I was first blogging, I was dabbling in triathlon.  I had completed the New York City Triathlon twice (once in 2012, and then once again in 2014) but truth be told, I had no clue what I was doing.  I was using regular running shoes on the bike, and relied on the super fast current of the Hudson to push me through the swim.  That all changed in late 2015, when Atlantic City announced they were hosting a new Ironman 70.3 race the following year. No hills on the bike? Sounded good to me! I learned how to become an actual cyclist (err - still working on that one...but hey, at least I can clip into my bike so I look like i know what I am doing) and learned how to swim for sport (errr...still working on that one too...but hey, I can make the swim cut offs!) and became an Ironman 70.3 finisher.  I would love to make the jump to a full Ironman one day, but in the meantime, I am doing my best to keep swimming and cycling in the mix, so I can complete one 70.3 a year in the summer in between marathon seasons.

Finishing my first 70.3 was as fulfilling as my first marathon

I ran all the races!

While I would love to to recap all the races I've run since I last started blogging, it is simply just out of control! When we first left off I was training for my third marathon.  Now, I just finished my 12th marathon last Sunday, during the Dopey Challenge (more on that later.).  My half marathon count has also gotten quite high - I hit 69 during Dopey last weekend. Although I haven't hit a new marathon PR since 2013, I did just run a half marathon PR in September (1:56), so I am hoping that elusive new marathon PR is on its way this year.

Four days, four races, 6 medals - definitely Dopey!

I lost my father.

Not exactly the happiest of updates, I know.  But, if you ever read my "about me" page, you know he is pretty much the reason why I started this whole crazy journey, so it would be negligent to not talk about this on my running blog.  He passed away very suddenly this past April, and it was by the far the hardest thing I ever had to face in my life.  Perhaps later on I will have the courage to write a more detailed post, but for now, I will just leave it as I am still missing him very much, every day.

The last race my dad ever ran, and we ran the whole thing together - the 2015 WDW Half Marathon

 

I underwent a septoplasty. 

 My most reason adventure has not been to a new finish line, but to the OR. For years I have been delaying with horrible congestion, partially because of allergies, and partially because I have a deviated septum.  I finally decided to do something about it, and opted to have it surgically correct this past week.  While it is too soon to say as I am still recovering, I am very much hoping it gives me a significant quality of life update (and if it helps me run a little faster, I won't complain, either!) 

Pre-operation in my hospital gown splendor