See also Year of Running: 2015. 2014. 2013. 2012. Joining Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC for this year's linkup! Best race experience:  The Twilight 5k. It was a really well done race, and I think I performed the best out of any of my pregnant races!  Best run:  From a general health standpoint it was a bad idea, but from a pure running standpoint, the one run I did at a month postpartum felt amazing! It was incredibly slow - virtually walking pace - but I only walked for literally just a few steps, which was much more consistent than I thought I'd be c ..read more

Linking up today with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0.  Lately, I've obviously been spending more time cuddling my baby than running (or other kinds of exercise). And yet, I've found some significant things that impact life in the same ways with either focus. 1. You're forced to be a morning person. Whether it's fitting in your long run before it gets hot on a summer weekend, or getting your baby on a routine that results in a wake up time around 6:00 am, you're likely to end up getting up significantly earlier than you'd prefer ..read more

Workouts:  Monday: 30 Day Shred level 2 (20 min) Tuesday: Yoga video (10 min) Wednesday: Unplanned rest day Thursday: 30 Day Shred level 2 (20 min) Friday: Rest day Saturday: Yoga video (10 min) Sunday: Rest day Average daily steps: 9,625 ..read more

Workouts:  Monday: Swim 600 yards Tuesday: 30 Day Shred level 1 (20 min) Wednesday: Bike trainer 20 min (est 4 miles) Thursday: 30 Day Shred level 2 (20 min) Friday: Bike trainer 20 min (est 4 miles) + yoga video - core (10 min) Saturday: Rest day Sunday: Unplanned rest day Total swimming: 600 yards Total biking: 8 miles Average daily steps: 10,371 ..read more

Linking up today with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0.  It's my baby's first Christmas! And I've finally sorted out presents for him (and the rest of our families). What do you give someone whose favorite hobbies are staring at shadows on the walls and at his own reflection in a mirror?  Since he can't tell us his favorite color or cartoon character yet - and actually, we'll probably keep doing this going forward, albeit with more input from him - we're going with the "Something you want, something you need, something to wear ..read more

Workouts:  Monday: Bike trainer 20 min (est 4 miles) Tuesday: 30 Day Shred level 1 (20 min) Wednesday: Rest day Thursday: Yoga video (30 min) + bike trainer 10 min (est 2 miles) Friday: Bike trainer 15 min (est 3 miles) Saturday: Rest day Sunday: 30 Day Shred level 1 (20 min) Total biking: 9 miles Average daily steps: 10,381 Hey, a double workout day! That totaled... less time than a single workout used to be. But still! I feel very fortunate that Abe is home 80% of the time, making it feasible to do any of this. Though we're working on the baby's sleep routines, c ..read more

Linking up today with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0. This week's theme is things you wish you'd never bought. I don't know that there's anything that I totally hate or completely regret wasting money on. But, there are definitely some items that I loved at first, and eventually got over or found a much better alternative.  1. Altra running shoes. Though not minimalist, as I usually wear, these are still "foot shaped" and have most of the same characteristics - with the notable exception of cushioning. Instead of a very thin sole ..read more

Workouts:  Monday: Bike trainer 15 min (est 3 miles) Tuesday: Rest day Wednesday: Yoga video (10 min) Thursday: Bike trainer 10 min (est 2 miles) + 3 Day Rotation weights (20 min) Friday: Swim 600 yards Saturday: Rest day Sunday: Unplanned rest day Total swimming: 600 yards Total biking: 5 miles Average daily steps: 9,586 It feels good to be back up to a normal consistency (more days than not), even if it's still pretty short and low intensity workouts. But it also felt fantastic at the beginning of the week to sit down and plan out my week. Particularly when I'm t ..read more

We're now almost to two months as I finally finish this (umm, tomorrow, in fact), but that's kind of the theme of parenting so far, it seems. Best to have merely ideas of what to do for the day than actual goals or plans.  I do intend to post the birth story eventually, but it ended up being a complicated birth and somewhat traumatic (but thanks to modern medicine I survived, with a healthy baby and intact uterus, so all is good now!), so it's taking a while for me to want to sit down and do that writing (though I think it will actually be helpful to do so, both the processing and to ide ..read more

Linking up today with Fairytales and Fitness and Running on Happy for Friday Five 2.0.  This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for many things. For my healthy baby. Modern medicine so I survived delivering that baby. A husband who's an involved and nurturing father. And for becoming a parent in the era of smartphones.  (I promise not all my posts going forward will be in some way related to parenting! It's just what takes up most of my life at the moment, without work or running happening.) There are non-parenting reasons I'm so glad I live when I do with su ..read more