Boston, Part 1: BAA 5K

Last weekend, I knocked three things off my bucket list:

1. Visit Boston
2. Spectate the Boston Marathon
3. Run a race in Boston

Martinsville Half Marathon 2019

The time has come to recap my lifetime half marathon #36! This post is slightly late, but for a good reason. I went to Boston! But, more on that later.

Disclaimer: I received free entry into this race in exchange for promotion of the event. However, all opinion are my own.

26 Books for 26 Years

Tomorrow is my 26th birthday, and I thought a lot about what to post.  I thought about 26 things I’ve learned, but that seemed cliche. But then, it hit me. 26 books for 26 years.

Books have always been a huge part of my life. I can remember where I was for almost every book I have read. I was the kid who would go out to family dinners in middle school and sit at the table with a book, only paying attention to the rest of my table once the food came out.

As I sat down to write this, it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Coming up with my top 26 books was easy. I’ve already read over 26 books this year alone. But, I love so many of them that I kept editing the list to include some I had left out. At one point, I had 35 on the list, and had to narrow it down. But, I finally arrived to what I think I am happy with.

Now, I’m going to preface this with a disclaimer. These are not the 26 best books I have read. They are not all literary masterpieces. Some are ridiculous, I realize that. But, they are arguably the 26 books that have had the most impact on me. The books I’ve stayed up way too late reading, thought about for weeks after finishing and re-read a time or two. 

Marrying Your First Love

Tomorrow marks 11 years since Zach and I started dating. In May, we will have been married for 5 years. We started dating when I was 14.

A quick Google search will inform you of all the negatives of doing this exact thing. You won’t be able to play the field, to learn what you value in a partner. You will make your life decisions around the other person, causing you to miss out on things. What if you make a huge mistake?

Making Friends as an Adult

One of my goals for this blog in 2019 is to not only blog more (looking at you, missing recaps from 2018), but blog once a month about “life stuff”. I’ve had ideas bouncing around in my head for a while now, but always talked myself out of posting them because “I have a running blog”. But, on the flip side, this is also my blog and I can post whatever I want. So, here we are. Enjoy the first installment of “Life Stuff”. 

Run Holden Beach 2019

For my birthday in March 2018, I somehow convinced Zach to get me a race registration. However, the joke was on me when race day in October rolled around and the race was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. Luckily, the kind people at Coastal Race Productions offered us participants the option of deferring to the 2019 race, which would be permanently moved to January (I guess two hurricane cancellations was enough!).

ProCompression Ambassador (and Discount Code!)

If you’ve been watching my blog for a while, you may have noticed that I wear some super fun apparel when running. One staple in my running wardrobe for the last few years has been ProCompression socks. I first found them on Instagram when I was training for my first marathon. I got a grab bag and instantly fell in love with them.

Martinsville Half Marathon (Discount Code!)

Hello friends,

Long time no see. It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but I promise that this year I will post a little more than last year. I have some exciting things that I want to talk about!

2019

“I will always be The Optimist. The Hoper of Far-Flung Hopes. The Dreamer of Impossible Dreams.”

Looking back on 2018, I’m glad it’s over. This year was hard. Really hard. I wasn’t myself for a long, long time.

But, life is too short to be anything but yourself. So I’m ready to be back. To love life and the people in it. Be vulnerable. Live unapologetically. Say sorry. Be bold and do big things and go on crazy adventures.

The last few weeks of the year have been just the beginning.

2019, may you be the year of love.

LewisGale Salem Half Marathon

In my typical fashion, this recap is late. But we are getting better at this! Two weeks ago I ran the LewisGale Salem Half, the second in the Blue Ridge Triple Crown Series.

Disclaimer: I received a free registration to this event, but all thoughts are my own.