13 medals in '13: A half time report

It's been a busy 2013 so far, and as we come up on the half-way mark (which is also my birthday) I'd like to take a moment to look back at the first 6 months, and perhaps peek ahead to the next 6.

I'm not quite sure when the dream was born, nor am I sure when it became a reality, but here's the best account I can give for what has come to be my year of running. Admittedly, I wasn't terribly sad to ring out 2012 this past January. When laid out end-to-end 2012 probably had just as many ups and downs as every other year, but it somehow uncovered numerous questions and yet provided no answers. I'm fairly certain that my inability to run (without pain, if at all) from February until about September only made these problems worse.  By the end of the year, when I knew I was able to get back in it, races began popping up on my 2013 calendar.  First, Key West Ragnar (January), and then the Country Music Marathon in Nashville (April), and then the Austin Half Marathon (February).  At this point a seed was planted, find a March race and you'll have done four races in four months.  And from there, a running explosion!  I wasn't terribly vocal about it until about May, but by then I was so far in it that my goals were well known - a race a month, and 13 medals in '13.

For the numerical breakdown: As of June 2013, I have run 8 races, 6 distances with PRs at 4 (10K, half marathon, full marathon, and 14.6-miler*), run in 7 cities (Miami/Key West, Austin, DC, Nashville, Fredericksburg and Sterling, VA), and with the help of my amazing friends and family I was able to raise $1,187 for the Huntington's Disease Society of America - bringing my to-date total to $3,111 raised. Beyond that I've been able to see, run with, and be cheered along by numerous friends and family members. I've also had my fair share of "firsts" this year.  I ran my first ever trail race, a half marathon that really turned out to be 14.6 miles. My parents were able to watch me race for the first time. I ran my first race totally alone - showed up alone, started alone, ended alone, left alone.  I ran a half marathon with a two week period of no running prior to it, and did not feel (too) ill-prepared.

My 2013 races thus far have been: Key West Ragnar, beginning in Miami ending in Key West (January), Austin Half Marathon (February), DC Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon (March), Sole of the City 10K in Baltimore (April), Country Music Marathon in Nashville (April), The Color Run in Baltimore (May), the Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA (May), and the North Face Endurance Challenge Trail Half Marathon in Sterling, VA (June).

More than just racking up the medals, each month I'm given a reminder of how truly fortunate I am. There are friends who watch my dog and feed my cat while I'm gone, and friends who offer up their homes (even when they can't be home themselves) and at times giving up their bed for the couch. Friends and family have gotten on planes and driven distances to cheer me on.  There are texts, and phone calls, and emails wishing me luck, cheering me along as I go, and asking for recaps when it's over.  Every month.  By any angle I look at it, normal people should be tired of hearing about this, they should roll their eyes when I bring up my latest training run or my next race.  But, my friends are amazing, and instead of tiring of the mundane details, they ask for them! Some of them are crazy enough to jump in and run with me when I need even more support than normal. There is no way I could keep doing this without all of the support I am fortunate to have! Each medal is a reminder of those friends, near and far. They remind me of eating dinner in a gas station and spewing luggage along side many Florida roads, of early jogs around Town Lake and post-race tacos at Wahoos, of mimosas at 18th Amendment, of country line dancing in our brand new boots and tackling the staircase in the Opryland Hotel, of the Luke Bryan concert...  These 13 medals come with some of my favorite memories ever!  I'd be remiss not to mention that these races have afforded me the ability to run with some of my favorite running buddies, most notably (and probably the only one to be reading this) is NDH. Thanks for being an inspiration, cheerleader, and race companion. I'll run a race with you anytime, Brub!

This year has also taught me to trust my own strengths.  Everyones strengths are different, and I have my own set.  They do not include speed.  They do include perseverance.  Each month I can feel easily that I have grown stronger, I recover faster, I ache less, my mind doesn't win over my body as often as it used to. And, when I'm not running I have developed this sense of calm that I never really thought existed. I have found a way to quiet the anxiety that my life otherwise throws at me. These are the reasons I keep going.

It seems almost apropos that the tragic events of the Boston Marathon happened during this, my year of running. I think any account of my year that didn't touch on this somewhat would be misleading. I have trouble saying that this day affected me, I know personally so many people who were more directly affected and in much more real and terrible ways than I was - I was not there, I did not see or hear or feel it, I haven't even made it to Boston since it happened.  But, this was my turf, my home town (almost too much my home town**).  I arrived to work on Marathon Monday wearing my 2012 BAA5K shirt, and my 2012 BAA Marathon jacket that I received for being an Elite Water Stop volunteer that year. I set up my laptop, and much to the annoyance of my co-workers I was giving a running stride-by-stride of what the lead pack in both the men's and women's races were doing. Once they finished, I was refreshing the tracking pages of my several friends who were running, and getting text updates from NDH awaiting their arrival at the finish line. I will claim to be one of the first people to know about the bombs going off, as I will never forget the few text messages that came in talking about explosions and police craziness, just before the seeming FOREVER radio silence. In retrospect, it was about 20-30 minutes where I was unsure just how involved NDH was in the mess and trying desperately not to think the worst. I knew he was near something terrible, but it was taking too long for the news to fill in the details, and the cell signals were not working to get the very important "I am safe and getting out of here" message out to anyone. It was a small drop of time in the grand scheme, but it's 20-30 minutes I don't need to re-live!  And then, along with the rest of the running community, I watched the horror unfold. Just when I could finally peel myself away from the news, reports of the city on lockdown as a manhunt for the bombers began.  A manhunt that would end a mere half of a mile from my Watertown apartment. The entire experience was surreal, and difficult to digest. But, I've never been more proud to be a part of the running community. Runner's everywhere united in a way I can barely describe, but it was immensely heart-warming, hugely cathartic, and has forever changed the way I approach running. Instead of feeling scared and alone, I felt like part of something nearly unbreakable. As tragic and terrible as the events of April 15th 2013 in Copley Square were, the outcome reaffirmed my faith in humanity. Which, is something we all need from time to time.  From this, we are all a little bit stronger.

If I look through the past 6 months, and remember the unanswered questions that 2012 dug up...I'm amazed to see that they're being dealt with! Most notably, I have a great new job opportunity that I will start at the end of July. Last year left me wondering where I was headed, and while I am still kind of wandering through it all, I feel much more comfortable that I'm moving in the right direction! I'm not saying I found the answers out on a run, but I know I found the ability to make things happen for myself on these runs. And I definitely found the ability to trust my instincts!  As much as I can witness my physical strength increasing, there has been a much needed amount of personal growth as well.

As for the next 6 months, I've got my July race and my November race already scheduled. And a September and December in mind. August and October are question marks, and I'm holding off on making commitments until I know all of my options. But, I can honestly say, this has been one of the best years so far, and I can not wait for the next 6 months.

I have plenty of pump-me-up music on my running play list, but this song has become somewhat of a mantra for me on some runs. It calms me down, it slows my brain, it reminds me to get out of my head, and for the first half of 2013 at least, it is my running theme song.



*The North Face Endurance Challenge ended up clocking in at 14.6 miles instead of the expected 13.1, this posed some additional challenges as that last 1.5 miles did not come especially easy or without confusion. North Face has more than made up for it by providing some additional coupons for their gear and this fantastically amazing sticker!

**Just to drive the point home, and explain why it was so surreal to see CNN, MSNBC, and every other news channel camped out at the end of my old street, and the SWAT on top of the convenience store where my roommate and I bought our beer, this is a google map from our old house to where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found.