I Run These Towns

In the nearly five years(!) since I've been writing this blog, I've found it fun to reflect on the passing year before setting goals (i.e. making non-resolutions ) for the upcoming year. I set a lot of goals at the end of last year, and this has been a pretty epic running year for me. It has also been the most challenging year of my life (in both good and bad ways). On January 1, 2015 I had a two-week old baby. My eyes felt like they were filled with sand. Sleep deprivation is legit. I gained a new appreciation for all the parents I knew who appeared to be functioning like normal humans. I learned that new parents are, in fact, wizards. I discovered an all-consuming love that I'd never known. My son is a joy every single day. It's the hardest and most rewarding job I've ever done, and I love every second of it.   With my little dude when he was about four months old. This love is the best. I returned to work the first week in February to a new job. I am wit...

I don't relax easily. It's always a challenge for me to let go. After two of the busiest weeks in recent memory I was looking forward to getting out of town and leaving the busy behind. That meant one final day of driving to Ann Arbor for my work Christmas lunch, my son's daycare party in the late afternoon and then finally hitting the road around my son's bedtime. After weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures on the day we were to leave we had the first bout of winter weather in a while. A weird lake effect system made roads icy and nearly impassable. We left around 8 pm and still had slick roads through most of Michigan. Thankfully weather in Ohio and Pennsylvania were better. As we got into West Virginia near my mom's the weather was a little dicey, but we were almost there and not really worried. My mom's neighborhood requires driving up a steep hill to get into it, and we discovered quickly that said hill was covered in ice. We discovered this as our car...

For most of us the holidays are the busiest time of year. Our holidays are generally b-a-n-a-n-a-s, and I love every single minute of it. I hate it when I hear people complain about how busy the holidays are. This is the most wonderful time of the year! There are songs about it! This is the time of year to think of others, donate to charities, attend festive gatherings, wear cocktail dresses because it's Wednesday and soak in every minute of the sesason. I recently saw someone on Facebook complaining about how they stopped sending Christmas cards because 1) they were too busy and 2) because social media fills that need. Let me just stop them right there. If you don't want to send Christmas cards then don't. But don't make excuses. The holiday season is only as busy as you allow it to get. If you want to eliminate certain traditions do it, but don't pretend you don't have time or that Facebook meets that need. It's just not the same thing. You can insert...

Before you ask let me say that yes, this is the second blog this year with a title from "Seasons of Love". I love RENT and that song...so humor me.  Last weekend we celebrated December 13, my favorite day. On that date seven years ago I married my husband in the best party we've ever thrown. On that date one year ago our precious son was born. It is a day filled with so much love that my heart can barely handle it.  Everyone thinks their wedding day is perfect, but mine really was. It was cold with snow on the ground, but it wasn't actually snowing that day. We had the most incredible day, and I worked hard to take in every moment. I look back at those photos and am still in love with that day. It was exactly the day that we wanted, and it officially started this adventure.    We buy Christmas decorations when we travel, and I love decorating our tree and recalling the amazing trips we've taken in seven years: Sweden, Maine, Boston, New York, the Outer B...

Today would've been my dad's 67th birthday. My heart hurts. My chest literally hurts like someone has punched me. I'm distracted. I'm so, so sad. What did I do last year for my dad's birthday? I don't remember, and that makes me sad. A card? Some gift that my mom suggested because Dad was impossible to buy for? A quick phone conversation because my dad hated talking on the phone even more than I did? It should've been more, right? If I had known that was his last birthday I would've done more. But how can you ever know that? My dad turned 60 two days before my wedding. His birthday was overshadowed by my big day, but my dad never wanted anything to be about him. His focus in life was his wife and his children. He was happy to let his birthday go by without celebration. We surprised him at our reception with a cake for his birthday. I love the look on his face as he was surrounded by his family. He was looking at my mom in surprise as if to say, "D...

I lived in Texas for a few years in my early 20's. I mostly remember finishing my third year of law school at Baylor and partying with my friends. We were young, had money for the first time, and the drinks flowed. It was fantastic. I've got some of the absolute best drinking stories from my time in Texas (including being kicked out of a martini bar in San Antonio...I'll tell you about it in person if you want to hear it). Those years were really fun. The last time I was in Texas it was in 2004 when my sister and I packed up my apartment, and I officially moved to Virginia. It was a sad time with a lot of change. I mostly associate Texas with my first time really being a grown up, and I also associate it with the demise of my first real adult relationship. It's a weird connection. Last year my best friend moved to Austin, a city where she and I have spent many nights imbibing in cocktails, dancing and singing along with the musicians in the many bars on 6th Street. I...

It's December, and the holiday season is officially upon us. I love Christmas, and I've decided this year I'll really focus on being present in the season and being grateful. By "focus on being present " I also mean travel to Austin, Texas and the Outer Banks, throw three relatively large holiday gatherings at my house (including my son's first birthday party) and live the rest of my life in a somewhat normal fashion. This has been a hard year. While I may not be slowing down by my (or any) standards, I am attempting to be present during one of my favorite times of year and be kind to my body. Being kind to my body includes a sm all break from running. Last week I ran my final race of the year, the Lansing Turkeyman Trot, on Thanksgiving morning. It was relatively warm, but it was raining off and on. That always makes dressing appropriately a challenge, and I failed miserably (I was way too warm). I sidled up to the start with several thousand other runner...