Meeting my goal: 90.3 miles of races in 2014

Welp, I did it. I officially completed my New Year's Determination by running 14 races in 2014. And its only mid October too! When I took time this weekend to think of the total mileage in those races I was absolutely shocked and a little speechless that it totaled 90.3 miles. And that doesn't even count the hundreds of training miles I've logged two to three days a week leading up to each race and the countless hours of cross training between running days. To say I feel proud of myself is an understatement. When I crossed the finish line of that 14th race and saw the total number of race miles added up - well, I truly felt like a badass.

On January 1st, instead of setting a New Years Resolution that was sure to be lost, I took the advice of my trainer and friend Shannon and instead set a goal for the whole year - a New Year Determination. I saw Mitzi, Allison and Shannon's 2013 goal of running 13 races and thought, why not go for it? At the beginning of the year I thought for sure it would likely consist of a lot of 5ks and I doubted I could complete it. But when I broke it down this weekend I realized it came out to this:

2 - half marathons
1 - 10Miler
2 - 15Ks
2 - 10Ks
1 - 4.5 Mi Trail Race
and 6 - 5Ks

One 5K included a 1st place finish in my age group! (I doubt I'll be seeing that again for a few years now that I move into the 35-39 age group and will be running with several of the speedy Badass Babes including Allison and Shannon!) And throughout this year I continued to improve my race time from a few seconds a race in the beginning to a whopping 20 min between my first and second half marathon (2:34:50 to 2:14:06). But I think the best example of race transformation was running the entire Army 10 Miler with only walking the water breaks on my 14th and final race.

For me, 2014 was about a year of putting me first. About treating my body like the temple it is; nourishing it with delicious and nutritious food I made, building lean strong muscles, and being thankful every day that I can wake up, lace up and go for a run. It's discovering that hidden deep within me I really am a runner. And what's more, I really enjoy running. I've made some amazing friendships along this journey and had some incredible race weekends with the Badass Babes. The memories and the pictures, the race bling and bibs tell a story of an incredible year and an incredibly rewarding journey. I'm so excited to complete this goal that I've already set my goal for 2015 to include 15 races. The race bib and medal holder is already up on the wall waiting to be filled. Who's joining me in running a race?

 

Running the Army 10 Miler

October 12th I completed my 14th race of 2014 - the Army 10 Miler in Washington, DC. I ran this race with my longtime friend Robb, fellow Badass Babe Tammie and her friend Laura. We had a great race, with great weather, beautiful sights and wonderful company along the route.

I wish we weren't such rule followers and had brought our phones with us on the race - I would have selfied like no one's ever selfied before - such hot military men all over this race course! It certainly gave a whole new meaning to race bunny. And running the monuments was pretty amazing too. But without stopping for photos (really without stopping at all along the course except for walking the water breaks) I finished this race in 1:43:06. Roughly the same pace as my half marathon, which I'm proud of since I had just ran that race two weeks prior.

At the encouragement of several DC friends I made this race into a much needed long weekend, spending a few days before the race to take in the sites, catch up with friends and eat some amazing meals besides just work. And we did just that.

On Thursday Marcus helped me put work on hold for a little while to see and visit the floor of the US House of Representatives, the Speaker's Balcony, the US Senate chambers and gallery, and the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. I also perused through the First Ladies Archives and visited Julia Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian. On Friday we took the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument with Robb, walked through the Newsium (cried through the 9/11 exhibit in the Newsium), and picked up our race bibs for the Army 10 Miler.

 

View from the Speaker's Balcony

Thomas Jefferson's Library at the Library of Congress

halls of the US Senate

View from the top of the Washington Monument

Robb and Marcus take in the sites

Julia Child's kitchen

9/11 memorial at the Newsium

I had my beloved Pi pizza (despite it being a "chain" - apparently blasphemy in Robb's eyes) where I got my gluten and dairy free pizza, we ate heavenly food at Mike Isabella's restaurant Kapnos, ate a pre-race meal at American Tavern with Tammie and Laura, and got drinks with Marcus and Sarah at POV at the top of the W hotel. And before the weekend was up, I saw Evita on stage of the Kennedy Center Opera House with Marcus, Robb and Matt.

 POV

My pizza's better of course

 

Phew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it! But it was a wonderful few days in a city I love, with people I love even more, and I couldn't have been happier for my final race of the year to include a restful and relaxing (and a little working) long weekend. Can't wait to do the Army 10 Miler in 2015 - with headphones and music and cell phone cameras, of course.