2017 in Pictures

Welcome to my favorite post to write each year! I admit I love the ego walk down memory lane at the end of the year LOL. This *might* by my last post of 2017, but I do have some runfessions. Life has been a little crazy for the last few weeks, so I didn’t get a chance to prep any of these posts early.

So here’s how 2017 played out…

January

January was a quiet month on the running front. I got a bunch of new gym equipment and turned the kids’ playroom into my home gym. Despite taking it easy on the running front, I managed 100 miles and began my quest for 100 miles a month every month in 2017. I also began training for my spring “A” race – the GW Parkway 10 Miler.

February

February continued with my GW training and my first race of the year – Love the Run You’re With. It was far from a PR, but it was good to push it on a run. I also professed my love of Skirt Sports and of running.

March

March was a busy month. I ran 3 races – the St. Patrick’s Day 10K, Four Courts Four, and Marine Corps 17.75. I also hit my 10 year anniversary of running races.

April

April was a bit of a crazy month. I took an epic road trip with the boys to St. Louis – primarily so that I could run a half marathon in Missouri. (Don’t worry – I took them to lots of really cool places on the trip too.) After the road trip, I ran an awesome race at the GW Parkway 10 Miler and then a crazy hot (like summer hot) race at the Ragnar Trail Relay in Richmond.

May

The start of May was pretty quiet, but I woke on Mother’s Day to discover I was the “Mother’s Day” post for the Marine Corps Marathon. Later that month, I began my big race series of the year. I did 4 states of the Heartland Series, to finish off my “middle of America” states.

June

I finished up the Heartland Series and then Beer Geek and I drove home via Annapolis, Maryland. We stopped so that I could run the 10th ZOOMA Annapolis race, which is where my very first half marathon happened. Once again, the highlight of that weekend was the Friday night fun with my fellow ZOOMA ambassadors.

July

July was amazing and awful. Beer Geek and I took the kids to the Southwest to visit his aunt and uncle, Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Santa Fe, and Denver. The sights and hiking were amazing. What wasn’t amazing was the stomach bug that both Beer Geek and I got right before the trip. It made our visit to his family really rough (although it was nice to have adults to feed and care for the boys while we were incapacitated.) It was the worst stomach virus we’ve ever had and it took both of us almost a month to return fully to normal.

August

August was super busy. The boys and I took our annual two week trip to my parents’ house. It was a lot of fun as usual and my mom and I took Jones to Chicago for a two day trip (where he made me walk around the Field Museum for 8! hours) and I got to meet Marcia for the first time. Beer Geek joined us for our annual Great Taste of the Midwest beer festival. Then we headed to Charleston for the eclipse, where a sudden rain storm pretty much ruined the whole event for us. To add to the fun of the month, I was deep in training for the Marine Corps Marathon using the Hansons Method.

September

In September I ran more miles than I ever have in a month before – 202! To help me hit those numbers, I ran the Navy Air Force Half Marathon as a training run for MCM. I also ran Ragnar DC and then the very next day ran a back to back 5k and 1ok. It was a ton of fun and exhausting at the same time.

October

In October, I ran my 70th half marathon. Sadly, it was not a race I loved, but I got it done. Then I ran a really hot Marine Corps Marathon. It wasn’t my best marathon ever, but it was great to get number 4 done. One more until I can join the Runners Club.

 

November

After all the crazy that was the preceding months, I needed a lower mileage month! I still managed to eek out 100 miles and run the “Growler Relay” from Old Ox Brewery to New District and back. It was a fun race, but I was happy to only be running 7ish miles. I wrapped up the month by volunteering with Shoo at our local Turkey Trot.

December

December started out on a high note with a fast (for me) half marathon at Rehoboth Half Marathon. It was a fun race and the after party was awesome. The rest of the month has involved a lot of cross training with the Faster Way to Fat Loss, as well as miles for the Runner’s World Run Streak. In the end, I should have a barely 100 mile month, but have completed the streak. I also found out that I will be an ambassador for RNR races and Honey Stinger in 2018.

I can’t believe I’m finishing yet another year of running and blogging. I’m still struggling to nail down 2018, so there may not be goals for a while. For now, I’ll keep working hard and racing when I have time.