Wednesday, March 21, 2018

2018: the year of WINNING

It’s practically the end of Q1 (first quarter of the year) and the second day of spring. And it’s a snow day, which is always the best time for a blog update! While it can be argued that blogging seems dead, what with the proliferation of other forms of more instant updates (FB, instagram etc), and I haven’t even updated this very blog since last summer, a snow day seems as good a time as any.




So now with the obligatory “sorry I haven’t updated in forever” blog apology out of the way, how about a self-indulgent update? Last August was my last blog update  and I was aiming to cram in 15 weeks of training to go after the JFK 50 again, since I had such a wonderful time in 2016. I ran lots during my California vacation, then came back home to real life, and it was just not meant to be.

I couldn’t get myself to train enough (my goal of 5 runs per week) in order to perform as well as I believe myself capable of being, and made the wise decision to pretty much call it a year. The Year of the Rooster (my Chinese zodiac sign) and my 36th birthday came and went. After the last 7 years of alternating sitting on my butt and then trying to cram in training with mediocre results, I was ready to change. Eventually you get tired of your own excuses, and I knew that I needed to get in good consistent training. I was tired of being just like this song in my favorite TV show:




In every race I’ve done in the last several years, I feel like I go into them undertrained and underprepared, do okay but not great, and make the excuse “well anyone who beat me obviously trained more than I did” and “I could do great...if I really wanted to”. Whoop dee freakin’ do!

I didn’t like the feeling of half-assing any more so I interviewed for the SWAP Adventure TeamWe started in November and I’ve successfully reincorporated training back into my daily life. 5-6 run days per week! Through the bitter cold winter! I haven’t trained through an East Coast winter since my first year here, 7 years ago!



Speaking of goals, I did make three 2018 resolution/goal things.
1. Cook so much there are always leftovers.
2. Get out of work on time (6pm).
3. Trust the process! In running and in life.
I even threw in a bonus one—Put things away. Less clutter!

I have been doing very well in all of the above, I am proud to say! Running seems to be the keystone habit in getting back to being my overachiever self.

It has also been very neat watching winners in all different sports:



January, we went to the Tulsa Shootout (dirt race cars) and hung out with Chris Bell’s team. It was pretty amazing to see him to win the final feature race of the night!




February, my husband’s beloved Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl.



Early March, I lost many hours of sleep watching the Winter Olympics.



Last weekend I volunteered at the local Caesar Rodney half marathon and got to watch the winners come through.

I may not understand all the aspects of different sports, but I understand having a passion for something, working hard, and the glory and ecstasy of achieving your goals.

So far in 2018, with consistent training, I’ve been able to finish top 5 in the overall women’s field in every event.
PHUNT 25k: 5th woman
Hearts for Heroes 5k: winner!
Naked Bavarian 20-miler: 4th woman
Beau Biden 10k: 3rd woman



This weekend is the HAT 50k, and the big one is next month, the North Face 50-miler in DC. Some bloggers choose a special “word for the year”, and I think mine for 2018 is WINNING. Winning is not necessarily 1st place (though it sure is nice!) but being the best I know I can be. And winning at life, which consists of many other things!