2013 in Review plus Plans for 2014

I hope everyone's new year is starting off to a great start.  2013 was definitely an interesting year for me for sure.  I remembered thinking how 2012 was full of ups and downs, and it always amazes me how our trials, which sometimes seem huge and terrible, are there for a reason.  Our Heavenly Father is always preparing us for the future, and never gives us more than we can handle at a time, although sometimes it may feel like too much.  Going into 2013, I felt like I had learned in 2012 to let go and deal with things out of my control better.  I had more than my fair share of unusual race circumstances that affected my ability to meet a goal time I had set for myself, and it was frustrating to me.  These things got me prepared to deal with my full Ironman, which has so many scenarios you really have to be able to roll with it and deal with things as they come up.  2011 had been a year of PRs, and 2012 had been the year of the PW. 

So, looking to 2013, I had selected some events and felt like I could try to regain some speed and have a solid spring marathon, which I did at the Derby Festival.  I was pretty aggressive with my training and my time was 5 minutes off my PR.  I was stoked about that.  I had a PR in the Papa John's 10miler that while it felt amazing to achieve, it may have cost me my marathon PR.  Or not.  I just know I felt pretty tired the week after the PJ10, and never really bounced back.  The weather warmed slightly, and there were a lot of factors.  I can't say for sure it was the PJ10's fault, but I don't regret doing it.  I had to dig pretty deep and cut things pretty close.  I got my BQ and it held up to gain me entry into the 2014 Boston Marathon, so everything is all good.

Shortly after the marathon, I got a nasty infected ingrown toenail.  So gross!  It was not related  specifically to running, but it affected my swimming mostly.  It took a long time to heal and I just didn't want my funkified toe in the pool, and especially not in open water. 

I had two century rides planned to do with Ryan and friends from MI.  Kent, Valerie, and  Austin came down for the Horsey Hundred, and 54 miles in, I crashed.  Hard.  I lost control on a steep descent with a sharp turn while going 35 mph.  I slowed before hitting the ground, and slide across the road, and came to a stop by hitting a rock wall on the side of the road.  Had it not been there, I might have flipped over the guardrail and into the bushes.  I was blessed to come away with no head injury, no major bike damage, and no broken bones.  I did need several stitches in my left forearm, road rash on my knee and shoulder, and had two sprained wrists.  My knee was pretty painful, and Ryan urged me to get on the trainer to work out some of the swelling.  It was actually more comfortable to run than ride, and struggled with my wrists when I held myself up on the bike, and my forearms when I was in aero.  However, 2 weeks later, with stitches out and my Dr's OK, I went to MI to do the shortest route of the Michigan Mountain Mayhem.  It was very painful, but I made it through.  It was also a little scary for me to be back outside on the bike.  I was glad I did it, though.  Crashing really have me a new perspective on being out there.  Every event was a blessing to do.

I did a spring tri, and then Muncie.  I waited until the last minute to sign up for Muncie.  I wanted to make sure I was ready.  After missing swimming due to my toe, and then the crash, I was worried about the swim, but I was thankful for the wetsuit swim, and just to be there racing.  I was only a couple minutes slower than my 70.3 PR, so that was also amazing to me. 

I did the tree farm relay, and then I had a crazy fall, which recapped briefly in my last post.  Lots of events.  Most of them were more about the journey than the end result, but I did have some fabulous results too.  I had 2 very fast half marathons.  Neither a PR, but the Iron Horse Half Marathon was the second fastest half marathon I had ever run, and then a month later, I bettered that time at the LSC Half by almost 30 seconds.  I also did two completely different and unique cycling events, the Black Mountain Madness ride where I climbed to KY's highest peak with Ryan on the road, and then went back to MI again for the Iceman Cometh mountain bike race.  Both of those races were incredibly challenging, and I'm so glad I did them both.

So, after that, where will I go in 2014?  I'm super excited to be representing Coeur Sports, and I have added them to the sidebar.  I've started training for the 2014 Boston Marathon on my birthday, April 21st.  Austin has gotten really serious about triathlon, and as a result, I have a whole crew of friends going out to do Muncie, and I am signed up for that.  It is also my 10th anniversary of running my first marathon, Columbus, so I would like to go back there.  Ryan isn't entirely on board with that, just because I get really crabby and tired when I train for a full marathon, so I am working to make my Boston training as transparent to the family as possible.  For example, I ran 15 miles (yes, 15 miles) on the treadmill today so that I could do it while he was at work with the kids in the Y kids club and not take any time away from having all of us together as a family.  Or once it gets warmer, time away from his cycling.  Hopefully the past couple years of ups and downs have me well prepared to take most things 2014 can give me, but I am sure I have more to learn this year too.

Here is a tentative race schedule for 2014:

Papa John's 10miler, 3/22/14, Louisville, KY

Boston Marathon, 4/21/2014, Boston, MA

Horsey Hundred Cyling Event, 5/26/14 Georgetown, KY

Oldham Co Grand Slam 5K series (TBD)

Triceratops Triathlon, 6/18/14, Brighton, MI

Ironman Muncie 70.3, 7/12/14, Muncie, IN

Tree Farm Mountain Bike Relay, 7/26/14, Novi, MI

Columbus Marathon, 10/19/14, Columbus, OH

Big Hit Half Marathon TBD, Louisville, KY

Iceman Cometh 11/8