My Runniversary

I'm a little late getting around to posting about this but I recently celebrated the one year anniversary of my obsession with running. There are several dates I could consider the beginning of my running life, but I'm going with July 31, 2012, because that is the day I bought my first pair of REAL running shoes. In case you're wondering, they looked like this:

Wearing Brooks Adrenalines felt like running on clouds.

At the time, I looked like this:

Pretty cute and already feeling good about myself

Since then, I have run:

•  2 5k's - Millersville Turkey Trot and the Penguin Run,
• the Warrior Dash,
• the Color Run,
• the Georgetown 10-miler,
• 3 Half Marathons - Flower City, Frederick, and 1/2 Sauer 1/2 Kraut, and
• more than ten jaunts between 10 and 16 miles.

And I look like this:

Look! That's my Warrior Dash shirt... I guess the difference isn't terribly drastic. But look at that curly hair.

In the next year, I'm signed up for:

• 2 5k's - 9/11 Heroes Run and Baltimore Running Festival,
• the River Valley Run 10k trail race (tomorrow),
• the 18.12 Challenge,
• the Runner's World Hat Trick (5k, 10k, and 13.1 in two days),
• probably another turkey trot,
• the Celtic Solstice 5-miler,
• the Philly Hot Chocolate 15k,
• the Frederick Nutjob (5k and 13.1 in 24 hours), and
• (soon) the Missoula Marathon.

You might not have needed this recap but I did. Running this summer has been hard and I needed to check back in with how far I've come and be re-motivated to keep going, to get better, to recognize how much more I can (NOT must) do. It will be hard work but it will also be a LOT of fun as it has been before.

I know I can do it. Thanks to all of you for the encouragement and support you've already given. Here's to the start of another year!