Looking Back

It is the end of the year, so I'm reflecting on my year of running. It was quite a year! I had a lot of firsts. I had some good things happen and some bad things happen.

I'd say the best thing that happened is that I learned that I can do more than I ever thought possible. I learned that I can push my body and it will do what I ask. Unfortunately, I also learned that if you ask too much of your body it will eventually start pushing back and you end up injured. So, I learned that I must listen to my body.

Some highlights from my year:

• I ran my first Half Marathon!!!
• I discovered trail running
• I ran my first 25K trail race!!
• From September 10 to November 6 I ran two 25k trail races, a 10k , a 5K and a Quarter Marathon. 
• I ran to my dad's house! It's only 9.5 miles, so not my furthest run, but it made me happy. I loved the feeling of running into his driveway and the sense of accomplishment it gave me.

This year was not all good though. The heat of the summer really put a damper on my running. I'm still really dissapointed in myself and my inability to just suck it up and get out there and run. Also? I got injured. I am now doing physical therapy and am still not really sure what is wrong. I'm hoping it is something that can be fixed soon. At this point my long runs are really not going as well as I would like. I'm constantly doubting my ability to run the kind of distances I want to be able to run. I know my problem with the long runs is trying to run too fast. I need to stop looking at my watch and just run.

I am excited to see what next year brings in terms of running. I hope it brings lots of wonderful things. Right now I am hesitant to set goals. I do have some races planned but I will write a post next week telling you all what my plans are.

It was a pretty good year for me in areas other than running also. This year Ryan turned 11, Adam turned 8, and Rick and I had our 12th anniversary. We spent some time in Wyoming with family and also went to Branson and Kansas City for short getaways. I went to Connecticut and NYC.  Ryan's baseball team made it to State and some pretty neat things happened. It was an exceptional group of boys. Adam got his first "real" grade card with actual grades. Straight A's! Rick is continuing to work on his masters and only has one semester to go! Can we say Principal Bruce? I know he will be a wonderful administrator.

I welcomed some new members into my family this year. My niece August is adorable as is Katherine, my honorary niece. On the other side of that, my family lost a tremendous person today. My uncle Mike passed away. I can't say enough wonderful things about him. In fact, I will probably blog about him sometime soon. Right now my heart is broken and I can't really talk about it.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some major things that happened, but that's ok. The fact is, I am truly blessed in so many ways and I hope those blessings continue into the new year. Tomorrow is my last run of the year and I'm excited.

Until next year.....

~Mel