I'm baaaaack!

After a year-long blogging hiatus—fraught with meager milage, persisting injury, zero weight loss and a downward slope in motivation—the calendar has turned it's last page and we are now in what will, hopefully, be lucky '13. As such, I resolve to roll my muscles and stretch and pamper my shins like a good little runner. I resolve to set bigger and better goals for myself in terms of races, paces and distance. I  resolve to stop being such a baby and put in the damn work. Therefore, I decided to begin by running in the new year. Literally.

And man, oh, man do I love starting the new year running. The NYRR Emerald Nuts Midnight Run is probably my favorite race. It's also my favorite way to spend New Year's Eve: fireworks, running, sparkling cider, costumes, cheering, no expectations, no disappointments. It's an unscored race and I didn't even time myself because I was stopping to take pictures, drink cider, call my mom on the way up Cat Hill... My shin burned a couple of times, as it is still wont to do, but overall I felt good. 

And I thought I would feel pretty lame running it by myself this year, but there were plenty of other people doing that too. And I also got the feeling that a bunch of people were using it as the kickoff to a healthier 2013, which makes me glad because you really can change your life through running. It's pretty amazing the physical and mental obstacles you can overcome by putting one foot in front of the other. 

In the last mile the song "The Funeral" by Band of Horses came on my iPod, which is not so cheerful, but it was good for taking a minute to reflect on 2012, so I tried to pick one thing I did/liked/was proud of from every month. This past year felt a bit subdued and anticlimactic for me, so I'm gonna work on putting in the miles and the smiles to make 2013 better :)

Have a good one everybody!

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