As we get ready to close out 2013, I thought I'd do one more recap post. Here's a look back at my past year in pictures. While my running year may have been a bit on the rocky side, the rest of the year wasn't so bad.

January
In January I was super happy to be out of the air cast from stress fracture #1 that I spent a lot of time running and doing CrossFit. I was so excited to throw myself back into activity. I earned my first CrossFit calluses...



...and spent lots of time running the monuments at night with my running buddy



February
February was much of the same. Lots of running and CrossFit with some teaching at UMD thrown in. The big excitement in February was the last Duke vs Maryland game in the Comcast Center. The Terps pulled out the win and College Park threw one hell of a party.







March
In March we got a bit of a break from the freezing cold so I got to experience my first outdoor WOD in CrossFit. We pushed a lot of sleds.



April
April was a fun month. We had Sarah's bridal shower and bachelorette party at the beginning of the month. Baseball came back. I cheered for Ryan at the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and at the end of the month my mom and I ran the Nike Half in DC where I completely destroyed my PR.


Bridal shower with the Terp girls


Bachelorette party


Cherry Blossom spectating


Baseball


Nike Women's half with my mom

May
In May, I wrapped up my first semester teaching at UMD. Softball started, and I ran my first 10K in ages.


Empty classroom





June
The highlight of this month was definitely Jon and Sarah's wedding. The runner up was puppy sitting the cutest puppy ever. The low point was the start of my second foot saga.










Unbeknownst to anyone, this ended up being another stress fracture.

July
I spectated for Emily in a race we were supposed to run together. I got the heck of out DC and spent time in Baltimore, PA and Delaware, where I ate a bunch of ice cream and was lazy on the beach.







August
August was a big and busy month. A break finally showed up on my foot during a CT scan so my doctor got me a bone stimulator to help speed the healing. I turned 27. I moved into my own apartment in a building with a rooftop pool. My baby cousin was born. Not in that order at all.







September
Tailgate season returned, and I spectated for Emily and Aila at a race we were supposed to run together.







October
I got furloughed. More football and tailgating. We celebrated my cousin Laura's twins at her baby shower. My foot was slowly healing and I was able to start doing some activity again.









November
I slowly started rebuilding my running base. It didn't go great, but it happened. I went to my first NFL game. I got to hang out with my new baby cousin and catch up with old high school friends when I was home for Thanksgiving.









December
Laura's twins were born (early, but healthy). They're still hanging out in the NICU, but they are getting cuter by the minute. I spent Christmas at home with my family, where I got to hang out with my other baby cousin again. (This was the year of babies I swear). The Eagles won the NFC East last night and are going to the playoffs for the first time in three years.


The twins!





What was the highlight of your 2013?

I did this fun little running wrap up last year, and thought it was a good way to capture my 2012 running year so I thought I'd do it again this year:

Best race experience? The Nike Women's half marathon in DC in April. I was barely able to train for this race because I was balancing CrossFit and teaching at Maryland with my full-time job, but I still managed to shave nearly three minutes off my half marathon PR. Plus my mom came to town for the weekend to run it too and we got to hang out.



Best run? Probably my first run back after I was able to take off my aircast back in January. (After the first time I had a stress fracture.) It was short and not the best run ever, but I was so, so happy to be back to running again.



Best new piece of gear? Being injured so much this year, I don't know that I actually bought any new gear except new running shoes. Is it a cop-out to say my Mizuno Wave Inspires?

Best piece of running advice you received? Stop running. No seriously, my CrossFit coaches told me this multiple times this year, and after my bazillion injuries, I'm starting to think maybe they have a point.

Don't worry, I'm not going to actually stop running (I'm signed up for a half marathon in March after all), I'm maybe going to scale back the intensity and perhaps after the half, the distance.

Most inspirational runner? Meghann and Theodora both inspired the crap out of me this year. Meghann trained for and totally rocked an Ironman, and Theodora broke 4 hours in the NYC marathon. While I was laid up with injuries this fall, I was super inspired by both of these ladies with what they were accomplishing on the athletic front.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Hard and full of injury. Two stress fractures knocked me out of running for most of the year. I think I had more DNS races this year than actual races I ran. And since the last stress fracture, I have struggled to get my running mojo back. I'm annoyed at running, I'm sick of getting injured and I hate how long it's taking me to get any of my endurance back.



So running and I are not in a good spot after this year. Here's hoping 2014 holds better things on the running front.

I'm back home in PA to celebrate Christmas with my family this week. And after the stressful and miserable week I had at work last week, I'm so glad to be relaxing at home and not thinking about work projects for a full 12 days.

Speaking of 12 days, my mom's fitness center at work has been sharing a 12 days of Christmas workout. Each weekday morning, the director of the fitness center sends out the next round of workouts. My mom forwarded me one of the emails the other day and I think the workout was kind of cool, so I figured I'd share.

Here's the Day Nine Workout:

9 chair/bench dips, 8 squats, 7 mountain climbers, 6 pushups, 5 star jumps, 4 burpees, 3 minutes jogging/walking, 2 minute wall squat, & 1 minute plank.

The workout is meant to be an add-on to whatever you're normally doing that day. It's short and sweet and kind of fun.

In other news, this weekend we celebrated Christmas early with my mom's side of the family. On Saturday, my aunts and uncles and cousins all met at my uncle's place for dinner. We had a great time, and my baby cousin Landon was clearly the star of the show.



Babies definitely make the holidays more fun.

Landon's about 17 weeks old now, and he's just the happiest most content little baby in the world. He got a little overwhelmed when he first got there because he had about five million people and a dog all up in his face. But he calmed down and let everyone pass him around and play with him.


Harper (the dog) trying to figure out who this little person is

The day was a lot of fun and I have several more family holiday celebrations coming up this week. Should be a really fun week of family and fun!