Overall, 2019 was a so-so year of running for me.

It started out strong. I took advantage of the government shutdown last January to work on rebuilding a solid base. By the end of the month I was pretty comfortably running 8 milers as my weekend long runs.



In February, I continued to build on that progress as I hit the peak of my training for the MCM 17.75K. I ran that race in March, which earned me a guaranteed spot in the 2019 Marine Corps Marathon.



That was my first double-digit mileage race in a pretty long time, and I was excited to continue to build on the strong base I'd established and tackle MCM in the fall.

But life had other plans. In April, my appendix burst, which led to emergency surgery and basically four or five weeks of no activity. I could barely get off the sofa for the first week, and when I finally started to feel a little more normal in week two, I'm sure I overdid it by trying to go to work and lug my heavy work bag and set my recovery back. (I'm not patient. I'm also not always the smartest human).

I was finally able to go out for a few runs in early June. They were slow and were more walking than running, but it was something. And heaven knows I needed running back in my life so I could avoid 5 million anxiety attacks before my wedding. (I did not enjoy wedding planning. I've never been so glad to have something be over -- the planning, not the actual wedding. The wedding itself was a blast, would go back and relive that day any time).



By the time we got back from our honeymoon, it was time to dive right in to training for MCM. I made a valiant effort of training through July. But I just didn't have the endurance built up that I needed to start a marathon training plan. Every run was miserable, and after one particularly horrible 8-miler where I almost started crying at mile 6 as I walked back home, I decided I just needed to defer.



I felt so defeated and running was not something I was excited about anymore.

So I cut myself some slack and spent the end of the summer and early fall doing other things. I played softball. I hit up some spin and barre classes. I tried a trampoline class with one of my friends that was exhausting and a bit ridiculous, but a pretty great workout.





As the super hot and humid weather started to fade, and nice fall weather crept in, I got the urge to run again. So here and there I would throw on my shoes and go enjoy some nice short three-milers. I never wore my Garmin. I didn't care about my pace. I was just trying to enjoy running for running's sake again.

As I started running more regularly, I noticed some small amounts of running endurance coming back. Here and there some of my runs didn't feel too hard. Every so often, if I was feeling good, I'd stretch a run to four miles.



And that's about where I am right now. I just got home from an easy four miler to close out the year. It wasn't anything special. I broke no time records, but I managed to run the whole distance and feel fairly comfortable other than some calf tightness.

I don't have big plans or running goals for 2020. I don't want to put that kind of pressure on myself right now. But my hope for the year is that I can run healthy and run happy. There's a race or two I'd like to be able to do, but if I don't do them, that will be OK too. I just want to find the joy that running used to bring me. That will be good enough for me.

You might be surprised to know that after all these years of running, I had never run a turkey trot until last week.

There weren't any Thanksgiving day races anywhere near where I grew up, so I was always on my own for turkey day running.

This year though, I spent Thanksgiving at my in-laws. One of the first things I looked up after we figured out our holiday plans was if there was a nearby turkey trot.

I was so excited when I found the Give 'Em the Bird 5K, which was only about 15 minutes from my mother-in-law's house, and she agreed to do the run with me!



We got really lucky with the weather. Massachusetts in November is not exactly known for its warmth. But we woke up to a fairly sunny day and temperatures in the low-40s. Perfect running weather really.

The race started on a bike path behind an old mill that has been converted into some breweries and loft space.



The bike path wasn't super wide, so the early part of the race, things were a little crammy.

At one point, we crossed a bridge, and there were so many people on it that we were bouncing up and down and it felt like we were running on a more firm trampoline.

The course eventually turned off the bike path on to a neighborhood road and things opened up really nicely then.

I had found a pretty comfortable pace and everything was feeling good.

We took a turn just before the halfway point on the course and started a long, but not too steep climb, out of the neighborhood. The hill took it out of me a little bit, but not as much as I expected it too.

We made the last turn of the course on to another bike path. It was nice and flat, and with only a mile to go, I felt like I could try to push the pace a little bit.



I pushed harder for the last mile and was really happy with how strong I felt as I held a slightly faster than normal pace.

I crossed the finish line in 28:16, and was really excited when I checked my Garmin and realized I had run negative splits.

Mile 1: 9:22
Mile 2: 9:10
Mile 3: 8:49
Last .1: 0:56

This race was super well run, and it was such a fun way to start Thanksgiving Day!