Days 368-421: Hello World

So it’s been a while since I’ve written anything and I’m really Really sorry about that. Life sometimes gets in the way of the things you would like to do; like write about the things you love to do. Over the past month and change there has been a lot of hectic-ness in my life, which has made me a bit scattered and stretched thin. However, on a positive note, though I may have slid a bit in keeping up with my writing, but I did not slide in my running.  Some big things have happened or are going to happen, so I’ll get to those this time around and in the next blog post, I'll get back to writing about, you know, actual running.

Big things that have happened since January:

• Started indoor rock climbing:
• After the climbing adventures in CA with my boyfriend, I decided to find a place to climb out here. I found an indoor gym in VA and go at least half of the days during the week after work. It is great fun and I have met some really great people climbing there. As the weather starts to warm up, I will be able to start doing some outdoor climbing, which will be awesome. I can now climb 5.7s/5.8s pretty consistently. I am, I promise, going to do a whole post devoted entirely to climbing and how much I have gotten into it.

• Ran the Arlington Love the Run You’re With 5K in 26 minutes:
• I ran this race while my boyfriend was on vacation in England, which made it a bittersweet kind of run. But on the bright side I PR’ed for the 5K and met a very cool running buddy.

• Ran the Arlington George Washington Birthday Classic 10K in 58 minutes:
• This race challenged the hell out of me. The wind was whipping at about 35-40mph in my face for the whole first half of the race (3.1 miles INTO the wind). I was so tired, but on the way back it was like I had jet boosts and finished with a PR for the 10K as well. It was a great race all in all. 

• Signed up to run the 36^th Marine Corps Marathon with the Semper Fi Fund team (and raise $500 for injured Marines and their families!):
• My boyfriend and I had been talking on and off about doing a marathon together; specifically the Marine Corps Marathon, since I had liked it so much the first time around. Then he found out he’d be heading overseas and would not be around when the race was taking place in October. So after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to do the race, but not just for me. Originally he had talked about running with a program/team where we could raise money for injured soldiers and their families. So I did some research and found the Semper Fi Fund Team. This organization raises money for injured U.S. Marines and their families, so I thought, ‘this is it, this is what I’m going to do.’ So come October, I will be running the best road marathon in the country, raising money for a very good cause, and honoring the man I love.

• Signed up to do the 2011 Ride to Montauk Century Bike ride:
• My step dad and I have been talking about doing a century ride (100 miles) for a while, so I decided that this year would be a good a year as any to do one. We did some research and found this one (see the hyperlink), which goes from Babylon, NY out to Montauk (end of Long island). I am really looking forward to this new experience.

• Signed up to run my first ultra, the New River Trail 50K:
• As I'm sure you're aware by now, I've been looking for the perfect race to start my ultra running "career" and it's taken my a while to find that race. I had hoped it would have been the JFK 50 miler, but that didn't work out. Then injury prevented me from doing the 50K last December. After that I basically swore off racing for a year. And then I ran a 5K, then a 10K, then I signed up for a 10 miler race, then the century ride and then the MCM. So since I've already blown the "I'm not racing this year" thing away (and it's only March), I did some research, discussed race strategy with my boyfriend, and then decided to sign up for my first ultramarathon. The race takes place a little more than 3 weeks before the Marine Corps Marathon, which makes it perfectly timed to conquer the 26.2 jitters before starting my taper for the MCM.  So it's official and October will be a kick ass month for 2011.

So those are a few of the things going on in my life. In other news, I have been running 4-5 days a week hitting around 20-25 for my weekly mileage. I’ve been doing 1 or 2 long runs a week, which equal out to either 8 or 10 miles each. When I’m not running these days, I’m either doing the indoor bike/spinner thing, climbing, doing yoga or on that dang old elliptical. And of course climbing pretty much as often as I can, whether I ran that morning or not. I am making a point this time around to not run myself into the ground and fracture my legs to pieces. And speaking of legs, the BEST news is that my legs are strong!

The next post will be about some of my recent runs along a new route, which is beautiful and fitting. Yes, a small bit of beauty does exist in DC. Happy trails! :)