I posted this picture to Instagram this morning. I believe whole-heartedly in the message and everything about it, right down to the smiling open-mouthed goofy ass grin I have. I took some time away from my blog and from various social media platforms for a few reasons. 1) I needed a break. I was annoying myself with my inane droning on and on about things. 2) I thought I might have to pull out from MCM after the Navy/Air-Force Half, and I really wanted to focus on stuff, listen to my coach and not take in any unnecessary distractions from anything or anyone. 3) I was going through some things that I thought would be life-changing but ended up pulling the plug at the last minute because I was no longer comfortable with the situation (which I felt was going to be hostile) that was going to occur once I got to the other side. You pick your battles and after the shittastic year that I have had, I really decided I didn’t have it in me to pick up, do battle, and come out on the other side relatively unscathed. yknow, that listening to your gut thing. I did that for once and feel pretty good about it. 4) I applied to run Boston with Tedy’s team and I did not make the cut. And I wanted to rethink my race schedule and some of my running goals for 2015.

After this time off, this morning on my morning metro ride, I got to thinking about what I was doing when I took the time off to recharge my batteries, and the conclusion I came to was that “I am making moves to make my life MORE kick ass” BAM! 

I will run Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. It is going to be EPIC! My buddy, Linzie, over at SharpEndurance is coming to DC to run MCM and spend the weekend wandering around DC with me! 😀 I could not be more thrilled over here! He was someone I was fortunate enough to meet at a runDisney event and we have been in contact since then, numerous times so when the opportunity to spend some quality time with him came up this weekend, I jumped at the chance! I am going to the expo this afternoon and then picking Linzie up tomorrow. We have a semi-meetup happening with some other InkNBurn ambassadors that are coming in to run MCM at a trolley tour and will do the bRUNch on saturday and the race Sunday! My ragnar teammate (from both trails and road) will be cruising with me during the race also. I won’t be running as fast as I was training for because I have had to switch to intervals to be able to achieve the 26.2 mile distance this weekend. But it is going to be AMAZING!

With that being said. I have done a lot of thinking and not making tedy’s team for Boston was kind of a big blow at first. I wanted to do something as a tribute for my father, but yknow what, I really need a break from distances over 16 miles for right now and I need to reassess my strength and build some more of it. I will be running RnR DC in March and we are pulling together a Ragnar Trails WV team, but I think that is my list so far for Spring 2015. I am hoping to run Cherry Blossom ten miler again, but that all depends on if I get in the lottery or not :-).

Since completing my Masters degree in Software Engineering (yes, I am proud of that) in August (2 months ago), I have taken a step back from a lot of sidework and taken the extra time to learn to relax. Yes, I said LEARN to relax. I don’t remember how to do it, but I am slowly working on it and it is going well!

What are you up to this weekend? Are you going to come check out Marine Corps Marathon and cheer runners on? Are you running? Or, do you just get frustrated because a lot of the roads in dc shut down for this Sunday each year? Lemme know what you are thinking!

HAPPY MARINE CORPS MARATHON WEEKEND Y’ALL!!!!