Final Run of 2011

I had planned to head out this morning for my final run of the year, but just as I was about to change into my running clothes, the skies opened up. So instead, we all went to the Brunswick Winter Market, and wandered around, picking up some vegetables, bread, apples, eggs and a delicious homemade bagel to munch on. It's great to see the winter market thriving in town! Gotta love having local foods available year-round! The weather seemed a bit better by the time Sam went down for a nap, so I suited up and headed out before I could change my mind. Rain and mist and 34 degrees isn't exactly prime running weather, but hey. I got in a nice, slow run down to the river and back this morning to round out my 2011 mileage to 1375.

Conditions were interesting, to say the least. I wore my screw shoes and am glad I did. The trails and roads were a mix of frozen and just plain wet, slippery and crunchy, solid and post-holey. I tiptoed across the icy bog bridges and along the edge of the puddles. It wasn't ideal running weather, but it's always nice along the river and the ice build up along the banks was pretty, as were the iced-over bushes along the now grey and brown Heath.

While 1375 miles isn't huge compared to some, it's a good step forward in my training. I have definitely struggled at times trying to balance running and working with spending time with Sam and Ryan, but I am very lucky to have a crazy runner :) as a husband and to have a job which allows me a bit of extra time in the mornings to get in my workouts, and feel like I did a decent job of making the best use of the time I had to run and balancing most things most days. I'd never say I perfected the balance thing because I think that's impossible, but we do the best we can, right?!

I'm pretty proud of how I raced this year. After my failed attempt at 50k in 2010, I came back with two 50k finishes this year, as well as some solid running at the Bradbury races this summer. I still can't believe I managed to win the series - I've never done anything like that before, so that was fun! :-) The only race I wasn't all that happy with was the Old Port Half Marathon, but hey. They can't be all good days, right?! In any event, I'm considering 2011 a solid year running-wise and hoping I can continue the trend into 2012!

Aside from the running highlights, we are happy and healthy and blessed with wonderful family and friends; we constantly say to each other that we feel so lucky to have fallen in with such a great, diverse and nice group of people who first started as a group of people to run with, and who we now count as friends; we were able to make two fun visits this year to NC for vacation and to spend time with my parents; Ryan started his own business; and we end the year the proud parents of a 26 month old who is seeming more and more like a big girl every day, who talks to us in full sentences, who listens and absorbs everything around her, who runs and "stretches" just like Mama and Daddo, who smiles big, has lots of energy and is a total character. She makes us laugh (and sometimes shake our heads in frustration) and is, in general, a joy to be around. We are lucky, indeed!

Here's wishing everyone a happy, healthy and laughter-filled 2012!