All righty then…

Happy New Year everyone!

Do you have your goals and resolutions done? Are you ready to conquer them? To tackle them? Take the bull by the proverbial horns?

I accomplished a lot in 2010 that I am very proud of. I pushed myself for half marathon PR in March and then again in June. I broke the 2 hour mark on my birthday in the hilly and difficult Mercer Island Half with a 1:56.09. The feeling was indescribable and Mel-Tall Mom was there to give me a hug and share the moment. I will remember that always. I still get teary eyed thinking about it. From that day forth something had changed, I was a girl who could instead of a girl who wished she could. From that race I went on to do the OKC full marathon where I did the first half in 2:00 hours flat and finished with a 4:09. A week later I ran the Tacoma City half in 2:00 hours.

I ran my bootie off and got a 12k PR with 1:08.43 on the hilliest and most difficult course in the history of ever. Then, in June I ran to another half marathon PR in the Seattle Rock n Roll with a 1:55.33. I felt like I was running on the clouds. I was light as a feather. My feet had wings. In August I completed my third sprint triathlon with another PR of 1:34.43. And finally, in December I claimed a 5k PR with 25:46.

With 3 full marathons, one Million Inch (+++) run, 6 half marathons, one 4 miler, one 5k and one sprint tri I would say 2010 was a good year. I may not have hit the 1000 miles I was hoping for, which is a bummer (came in with 900.43), but I know the circumstances I faced and feel my 2010 list is awesome.

BUT… I can’t help but feel like something is missing in my list. So tonight I did something about that hole…

I registered for the my first Half Iron Man- the White Lake Half Iron II on May 14th.

That’s right folks, my 18 week training officially starts a week from tomorrow. I am nervous, scared, worried and EXCITED! I welcome the challenge of swimming 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and finishing it off with a 13.1 run. No biggie, right? Can’t be worse than Portland Marathon was, right? Um, don’t think so. Nothing will be as bad as that! So join me in the next five months as I attempt to tackle the Half Iron Man. AND you know after that there is only one more thing to do….a FULL Iron Man and if your gonna do that you MUST do it in Hawaii. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here…first things first. Learn to swim.

And now for a year in review of favorite pictures and memories (there are so many more but I can’t put them all up on this one post, I’m sure you understand):

Mel, holding me up after running One Million Inches and not a step further…ok, I walked a few extra inches…

The Million Inch Crew

RED…..I don’t even have the words to express adequately what I want to say. Thank you for being there and for being YOU.

AN the RB! I miss our running dates…the epitome of running partners right here…

Me and my amazing BIG sister…

LB and me

Me, Sarah and RED

Not a running pick but this is the day The Hubs returned from Afghanistan and surprised LB at preschool. I will never forget the reaction of LB, “WHAT?! What! My DAD is here?” and he leapt from the top of a climbing toy and ran to his dad...

Me and my Official Race Crew at the Super Jock and Jill 4 miler

My new NC Running Peeps, Me, Jessica and Christina!! So glad to have them! Bring on 2011!

So, here’s to 2011!!!