Goodbye 2014...

 There are just a few hours left of 2014, so what better time to be nostalgic about the year that has passed then now? No big plans for the evening, except a few extra teenagers, a little take out, and a midnight run planned for later.

There has been a lot of baking this year, but how about everything else?

There has been some running...

1. Chicago Marathon, definitely a bucket list race, I got stung by a bee, and I'd like to do it again and run stronger.
2. OKC Marathon, the last time I ever run the full in OKC, it was brutal.
3. National Running Day, that day that I didn't actually do any running.
4. Route 66 half marathon, the horrible half that turned into an upper respiratory infection and pneumonia
5. Sooner State Games trail run, the day I seriously thought I was going to be last.
6. Strides of March half marathon, my second fasted half ever, and the reason I decided to run the full at OKC. What was I thinking?
7. Birthday running, I love birthday running with the girls.
8. Walking the Turkey Day 5k, got Josh out of bed to walk that with me.
9. Scorcher half marathon, the wettest race I've ever ran, and my last race in the 35-39 age group.

 And some other fun stuff...

1. My 40th birthday, when my aunts and great aunt flew in to surprise us.
2. Joshs's 41st birthday and one of those times he did a shot of tequila on his birthday.
3. Rochelle's birthday celebrating at Blu.
4. The girls' birthday at the Melting Pot in Dallas
5. Food basket deliveries for the Elks Lodge before Christmas.
6. The tailgate after the crappy OU game Josh and I went to.
7. The Daddy Daughter dance, only one year left...
8. Spring break in Branson, or that time we tried to go to Silver Dollar City and it freaking snowed.
9. Birthday celebrating for Sarah and Rochelle.

By the numbers:

• 1,047 total miles
• 7 100+ mile months
• 2 marathons
• 3 half marathons

I think I ran my most miles in a month in October with 147 total miles, and my least amount of miles this December when I logged only 9 miles. That is quite a drastic change. Two marathons in one year is a lot. 

I am looking forward to a fresh start that the new year brings. Time to get back on track, set some new goals and decide what comes next. I can't wait!

Not So Much Running…

By the time I got home from the Tulsa half marathon three weeks ago I was completely worn out. I took a nap, which I try to never do on Sundays, and I was still tired. When The Walking Dead was on later that night I had a cough and could barely stay awake long enough to see one of my favorite shows.

Monday rolled around and I called my doctor and got in to see him Monday afternoon. The diagnosis? Upper respiratory infection. Armed with a z-pak, prednisone and cough medicine with codeine I was on my way. Thinking I would be feeling better in a day or two.

I knew that I was in no mood for running. I had decided during the half marathon that I was going to take a little break. I was worn out and not having fun and really needed a little break.

Thanksgiving was a couple of days later, which meant the Turkey Day 5k. I had so much fun at this race last year. I was bummed that I was not going to feel up to running, so I talked Josh into signing up and going for a 3 mile walk with me.

The weather was wonderful!

He’s smiling even though I made him get up early.

Rochelle stopped by after her 8+ mile run to walk a few blocks with us.

There was a Tim sighting at the OK Runner water stop!

It was a great day, I just love seeing friends out at local races. While I was sad to not run that day I still wasn’t really missing running, my motivation was about zero. That’s fine though, with my hacking cough I thought it best to take it easy.

The following Thursday, I met Rochelle and Patti for a nice easy 4.5 mile run from my house. I was fine when we were moving but whenever we stopped I would again start hacking. It had been a week and a half since I had been to the doctor and I still had a cough, felt tired, and just didn’t feel like myself. I stuck to other non-running workouts and lots of baking until last Tuesday.

I called my doctor and told him I still wasn’t feeling better. He called in another antibiotic for me, which was filled by my pharmacy about the exact time Josh got home from work and swinging by Target to pick up more cough drops and Mucinex. Nothing better than a husband that will turn right around and drive across town again to pick up your meds.

The antibiotic was one I had never heard of and I could tell after just a few minutes that it wasn’t going to work for me. My tongue, ears and face started getting very itchy and while I tried to convince myself that maybe I was imagining it after a little bit of it not going away I had to take two Benadryl and turn myself into a walking zombie for the rest of the evening.

I again called my doctor and went to see him last Wednesday. Turns out my upper respiratory infection had turned into Bronchial Pneumonia. No wonder I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I left armed with another antibiotic and an inhaler. I even took a sick day last Thursday. I spend the day catching up with The Newsroom on HBO just in time to see the last episode of the series air last night.
It’s been three weeks since I started to not feel well, and how do I feel now? Not fabulous. I have gone through more tissues than I can count. (I actually ran out at work today.) I am completely sick of coughing until I feel like I might throw up, I am tired of feeling like I can’t take a deep breath, and

I am so tired of feeling tired.

And I am starting to be bummed about my lack of running. After three weeks off I am going to have to get back into shape before I can run with any of my group. It’s so frustrating.

End Of The Year Plan…

This year of running has been much different that 2013, some good, some bad. If you had asked me in January if I would be running two marathons in 2014 I probably would have laughed at you. But now the year is starting to wind down, and my family is getting very irritated by the Target Christmas commercials that are ALREADY on tv.

So with the holidays just around the corner, I thought I would take a minute and see what’s next. Because as a runner, there is always a next, right?

Well, first of all, what is NOT next is another marathon. It will be a while before I jump into another 26.2, and I have let all my friends know that if they pick another marathon PLEASE let it have a half marathon. I don’t want to even consider a 3 hour training run for a long time.

So what is happening next is Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, where I will be running the half. I am mostly running this for nostalgia, this will be my fifth year in a row. It was my first half, and while it hasn’t always been a great race (read: it was below freezing last year), I love this race.

We go up, hang out with the in-laws, and I go run a little with my friends and then we go home and get ready for Thanksgiving. Sounds like a great weekend to me.

What kind of expectations do I have? None. Last year I was coming off injuries, surgeries and accidents. This year I am coming off about six months of pretty horrible running. I am in search of my love of running so I will lace up, hopefully not have to bundle up too much, and go run for the fun of it. Plus the medals this year do this little spinny thing like my first medal in 2010. I do have a couple of friends that are running the marathon, so there might be some marathon stalking after I cross the finish line.

After that there will be the Turkey Day 5k. The inaugural race was last year and it was so much fun.
Plus I didn’t have to drive All The Way to OKC, it was practically in my front yard. Need I mention that they gave us long sleeved cotton race shirts, and Christmas ornaments?

Then there is talk of some of my friends running a marathon in December. If that happens I would definitely up for going with them to run the half, but we will see how that turns out.

Running for the fun of it, seems like such a novel ideal. I am hoping to get my head on straight so I can set some goals for 2015.

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One of my favorite things about running is birthday runs! I love that my friends love to get up on their birthdays and log some miles as the start of their special day! We celebrated one yesterday, in fact.
My friend Sarah turned one year better. (Not older!) We had to take pictures!


When I posted this on Instagram, I managed to cut most of my fact off.

I have mad photography skills. Anne’s son Pace said “I can see Becky’s eye!”

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Finally, I posted that I didn’t have a copy of the pictures we took after we finished Chicago. Almost immediately my friend Lauren texted me the pictures.

What a great shot of Chicago in the background! Notice that they all have on their comfy clothes and look well rested, while I look horrific. Oh well!