My 2019 Midyear Review

A very happy 4th of July, everyone! I can’t believe we are already halfway through the year. The older I get, the faster time seems to fly! It’s been a busy year for me so far and knock on wood, it’s all been good. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

My business has been thriving and taking me to some fun places. In January I traveled to San Francisco and stayed with one of my best friends, and then two weeks later I was in Cincinnati and got together with another great group of friends that I actually met because one of them hired me around 10 years ago. We have been great friends ever since and we now get together at least once or twice a year! In February my business brought me to Seattle, in March to St. Louis, and in June to Las Vegas (one of my favorite places on earth!) I’ve also had lots of business locally, which has kept me very busy, plus I’ve worked a bunch of overtime at my ‘regular’ (hospital) job in the past few weeks. While the extra money is nice, I am looking forward to a quieter month of July before the craziness picks up again next month.

I’ve been running sporadically but have kicked it into gear in recent weeks as I am training (yes, me!) for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon later this month. I have the amazing opportunity to be receiving online coaching from Olympic marathoner Jared Ward and his coaching team over at Endure Strong. I’ll post a review of the training program after the race, but for now let’s just say I give it a big thumbs-up!

I’ve run several races this year, which also included some travel. In February I flew to Huntington Beach, California for the Surf City Half Marathon. I had a blast and got to meet some of my fellow BibRave Pros in person. In March I ran the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle. Though I’ve lived in Chicago my entire life, I’ve never run this race. I ran with my running-buddy neighbor and some of his family and we had a great time during and after the race. In April I flew to Washington, DC for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, also a fantastic race! Fellow-blogger Deborah (over at Confessions of a Mother Runner) served as gracious host to Kim (of Running on the Fly fame) and me, and we spent the entire weekend laughing and having fun. Later that month my son, daughter-in-law, and I flew to London for the London Marathon. We were only there for five days, but were able to pack as much sight-seeing in as is humanly possible in such a short period of time. We came home exhausted with another great finish toward our quest to become Six Star Finishers! In May I did the Byline Chicago Spring Half Marathon, also my first time doing a hometown race. I didn’t have a ton of energy at the start of the race so I decided to walk the entire race. The post-race party was great and I went home a happy camper.

Speaking of camping, I will be going to the EMPOWER Summer Camp in Michigan next month! It promises to be a great time with lots of healthy fun and lots of awesome swag. As the mom of three Eagle Scouts and the daughter of a ScoutMaster, I was a camp leader for many years, So accommodations in ‘rustic cabins’ sounds like a five-star resort to me! Want to join me? Sign up here and use code ACCIDENTALMARATHONER to receive $50.00 off of registration!

While I have continued to mention whine about the weight I gained last year, I’m happy to say I am well on my way to that goal. To be honest, our May vacation to Puerto Vallarta served as a great motivator. I knocked off about 10 pounds before the trip and pretty much stuck with the plan during our vacation and came home not having gained an ounce. I’ve continued to work on my goals and I am only about five pounds away from what feels like the ‘ideal’ weight for me.

Besides our trip to Puerto Vallarta, May was very busy with our youngest son’s graduation from Indiana University (an outdoor ceremony where it rained the entire time), followed a week later by my cousin’s daughter’s wedding. Throw in all of the other usual stuff that keeps us busy in our daily lives and it’s no wonder I often seem to disappear from the world of blogging and social media! My next six months will be just as busy, but it’s all good since it’s a positive kind of busy with lots of travel and fun races planned. So far on the calendar:

July – Trip to California for the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon, staying with said close friend, and traveling up to Healdsburg to visit our friends’ winery

August – EMPOWER Summer Camp in Michigan, BTN 10K race in Chicago, travel to Arkansas for business

September – Run Mag Mile 10K in Chicago, travel to Cincinnati, Washington DC, and Seattle for business, Chicago Half Marathon

October – Travel to Canada for business, Chicago Marathon, travel to Huntsville, AL for business

November – New York City Marathon, Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas 5K and Half Marathon

December – Nothing on the calendar so far!

Phew! No wonder I’m always tired! Since it’s  Thursday, it only makes sense that I’m linking up with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics! If you want to participate in future linkups, just follow this link for the linkup rules and a list of upcoming topics. This week’s topic was Your 2019 Midyear Review but you can write about any running-related topic. How has your year been so far? Is it just me, or does it seem I have a crazy busy life? Check out the Discount Codes tab at the top of this page for discounts on some great gear and some of the races I have planned, and don’t forget to check out to Kim’s and Zenaida’s blogs, and visit some of the other linkers while you are there!