peace out 2013...

i'd say 2013 has been a pretty productive running year.  i missed my december goal of 100 miles by a smidge but all in all i'm happy with my progress.  the last time i missed by the same smidge was in march.

these were my running goal miles for all of 2013 and as is evident in the picture to the right…  i made some, came close to others, and fully missed yet others altogether.  injury took ahold of me in the end of september and i only logged 7.23 miles in october but i came back strong to round the year out at a nice respectable 1,060.58 miles.  my goal for 2014 is to log more mileage than that but i don't have an actual number in mind.  

2013 has been a really rough year personally with some really overwhelming challenges.  i did live through it and come out alive so there's that.  i don't suspect 2014 will be any easier on my personal life but i have high hopes for the coming year.  i have HUGE goals and expect a lot of personal triumph!  i hope to stay injury free and emotionally sound.  i endeavor to conquer the marathon as well as the 50K!

i plan to grow in all ways that i can grow and nurture all the relationships that are important to me (new and seasoned) while letting go of the ones that do not serve me.  i will live mindfully and with intention.

which brings me to you… dear readers and friends.  what are your thoughts on 2013 and what are you looking forward to in 2014?  i don't really like resolutions so i'd rather we have goals as goals are something to strive for and keep us motivated to be always moving forward and upwards.  i suppose we can resolve to attain the goals we are setting forth but for me… it seems like when a person makes a resolution it is an absolute and then we always fail with absolutes.  there has to be wiggle room… there has to be room to fail.  without failure there is no growth.  amiright?

so… talk to me people!  what are your plans/goals/resolutions for the impending new year?

hoarfrost

today i was supposed to meet up with some of the LPTR folks to run a 15mi point to point (which, incidentally, i received my LPTR sticker last wednesday! officially part of the group!) on the ice age trail in heartland.  we were supposed to meet at the end point parking lot at 8am to carpool to the start point parking lot.  

turns out that jeff and i had it backwards and were at the start point lot at 8am and there was no one there.  we were worried that no one was coming so we decided we would go run "the usual" back in wales.  we drove back to where my car was parked in wales on the glacial drumlin trail and hopped on that and ran for about 1.5 miles until the turn off onto ice age which runs through lapham peak.  the out and back in lapham is about 7 miles making the run 10 total.  

it was tough running on the sheet of ice that has become the paved portion of the gd.  thank goodness that last night i outfitted my running shoes with screws!  what an amazingly cheap and inventive way of combating the ice/snow!  worked perfectly!  i used 3/8" hex screws which i got from home depot for a little over a buck a bag.  i think there were 8 in a bag so i bought two bags.  i placed the screws near the outside of the shoe so that i wasn't actually landing on them and that is where it seemed the shoes were the thickest.  i know there's a few "how to"s out there where they use way more screws but i found that this was enough for me.  i recommend trying this before going out and spending $$ on yaktraks or some other device that might not work as well and certainly won't be as cheap.  also… i didn't lose any screws on the run!  i believe that it is common place to lose some at some point so i'm really happy that i didn't lose any.

once in lapham it was breathtakingly beautiful!  hoarfrost covered the branches on all the trees and (since we're expecting a dumping of snow) the sky was bright white with heavy clouds.  it was magical! it is really a challenge to stay unhappy, stressed, or negative in any way when faced with such magnificent life.  it is humbling and has the ability to make a person really realize what's important in life.  at least for me.

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