A year in review: 2014

Posted by Rachel

2014, like every year since graduating college, was awesome. It always boggles my mind when people say something like "I wish I was kid again. It was so great having no responsibility." Sure, there are stressful things about being an adult, but I'll take the responsibility with all of the freedom that accompanies it. So here are some highlights of my 2014- running, triathloning, and life.

January
Not too much notable here. We took a weekend trip to Mendocino/ toward the northern coast of CA, and like every other beach vacation I've ever taken it was amazing.

February
This was a good month for running with a 5k PR. I had a (completely irrational) fear that because I turned 30 in November of 2013, I could never PR again. The LMJS Couple's Relay (a super fun race, by the way) proved this fear completely unfounded.

March
March is the month of my favorite race of the year: the Oakland marathon!! I vow to do some distance in this race every year that I am capable (logistically and physically).

April
In April I traveled to Denver for a conference and did some high-altitude running. It was also the month of our famous Bagel Tour.

May
In May we visited New Orleans for the first time. Not a solid place for running, but very conducive to eating extremely unhealthily and of course, drinking.

June
June was an awesome month for triathloning. We had a great vacation/race (PR!) in Monte Rio at Vineman (Olympic) and then later in the month a fun weekend of training and other activities in Tahoe.

July

In July we completed the Escape from Alcatraz duathlon. Despite being absolutely terrified of swimming from Alcatraz, I had a BLAST and even placed in my age group for the first time ever*

(*as an adult). 

There is one more thing that happened in July. I SIGNED UP FOR A FREAKIN' IRONMAN.

August

In August we visited the lovely Buffalo, NY for my Grandma's 80th birthday. We had some fun times at Niagara Falls, which led to a thought that I will one day run the Niagara Falls marathon (or half). We also did a blog group bioluminescent kayaking tour in Bodega Bay. Finally, on the last day of the month I had a huge PR in the Oakland Triathlon Festival- the result of a summer of hard training!

September
September was a very cool month, with a back-to-back-to-back trips. First I got some running and biking in at the Central Coast with my in-laws, and then I had the opportunity to go the the UK for work. I had 24 hours in London and I made the most of it with a 10 mile running tour. The whole time I just couldn't believe how lucky I was to be in London! It was awesome. The day I got back, I drove up to Lake Tahoe to volunteer for the Ironman and cheer on my friends in the 70.3, but disappointingly it was canceled.

October
In October we had the privilege of returning to Santa Barbara for a weekend. Although I struggled with running that weekend, no run could ruin a good-weather weekend in Santa Barbara. Later that month, I PR'ed in the Healdsburg half (miserable as it was) and had a great time eating and drinking with friends afterward.

November
In November, I turned 31 (disclaimer: I dislike prime numbers). But, we took an amazing trip to the Grand Canyon and Zion that more than made up for being a prime number.

December
Here we are. After a wonderful holiday and nearly 2 months of unstructured exercising, I think I'm ready to get back into it. IM Canada, 2015- here I come!!

New Year's resolution: blog more.