In the beginning

After a couple years of running consistently under my belt I figured I'd try to track my progress going forward and have a place to document my training, successes, and what I can work on for next time. At this time, I plan to keep this blog private and really only use it as a digital scrapbook reminder of what I have accomplished and where I'd like to go. At this stage of my life I love that I now have running as something I can actually work on, progress and keep myself occupied with. My family is at a great stage where I have more personal time and don't feel too awful going on runs on Saturday mornings with Matt home with the kids. The kids have picked up on the idea that running/being healthy is a norm and have both started running short distances around the neighborhood with Matt or myself after we finish a longer run. They talk about 'racing' and I love that they enjoy mimicking what we are doing. As for 2014, the winter was hellish and I spent most training time on our (borrowed) treadmill. I invested in a Hulu subscription and watched countless episodes of The Biggest Loser, The Mindy Project and the Bachelor all while staring out the window at mountains of snow on the treadmill. A great friend moved to Japan in September (2013) and left her 'mill in my care so I have put it to use. She is scheduled to return in 3 years so that give me plenty of time to save up and invest in my own one day. I had registered for the Carmel Half Marathon shortly after last years to take advantage of the early sign up discount and regretted that all through February. I was not convinced I'd run the race until about 24 hours pre race when I had the guilt hit me. I was in decent enough shape to run it and knew I'd finish so I decided to just do it since the weather was supposed to be so nice. I PR'd by about 20 seconds and finished at 1:50 (not 1:45 like my goal had been pre hellish winter). I felt decent about my time and am excited to take on a couple more races this year. As of now I have the Indianapolis Monumental 1/2 in November (signed up with a neighbor) and am thinking of doing the Tour de LaPorte (near Matt's hometown) in late August. It would give me something to focus on this summer and I am excited to see what I can accomplish since it looks to be a fairly flat course! As for the structure of this blog (I am going to use that term loosely and we'll see how often I update), I'd like to post a Pre Week goal and then follow up with Reality. If I race I'll be sure to do a race write up as well :)