Well, one can say that I sure as heck jumped OFF the blogwagon!! I was so good about posting my training every single week and then BOOM, I stopped. I just got busy with everything. So, rather than go back and do every week I missed, I’m just going to highlight some of the things that have happened since then and then promise to do better in January with keeping this up to date.

If we go back in time to August, when I stopped blogging about my weekly runs, I was doing the trials of miles races at the track. That is where I did a series of different virtual distances at the track and competed against other female masters runners. In August I had the 5k race, and finished in 20:39, which pushed me through to the final round and then I ran the 2k, which is 5 laps and finished that 7:38. I had fun doing this virtual race, mostly because I love running at the track! Second, it allowed me to realize that the work I have been doing with my coach is paying off and I am getting faster!

I also got to be on a podcast! How cool is that? It is called The Social Run podcast and you can check them out here: https://www.stitcher.com/show/the-social-run

Stephen Cameron is a really cool dude and I’m so thankful to have connected with him this year. I had a lot of fun chatting with him about my running over the years! You can follow him on twitter, here: https://twitter.com/midagedrunner?s=11

The next fun thing I did in August was go to the beach with my family for a week. My parents and sister went as well. We just head to the Jersey Shore because it’s close and a nice place to take a family vacation. We are always a little leery about what the weather will be like in mid to late August but we lucked out this week! We had hot weather every single day and we spent most of the time at the beach or just hanging at the house. It was so much fun and we enjoyed our time together!

The kids started school in September right after Labor Day and it was all virtual. My mother in law offered to help us for 3 days a week, which has been a lifesaver so far this year! I work from home on Monday and Tuesday, while helping my son with his virtual kindergarten. My daughter is in second grade and can usually follow along with her teacher independently. Then I head to the office Wednesday through Friday and get as much work done that I can in those 3 days! We have enjoyed having my mother in law around more, as well as her dog Daisy!!

The Sunday before school started I decided to run my virtual 10k for the Queen of Prussia race. This 10k holds a special place in my heart because it’s a women’s only race and it was my first ever 10k that I ran in 2019.

This year I was set to be mentor and was so excited to mentor new friends but then COVID hit and the race didn’t happen in June as planned. It ultimately got pushed till September with a virtual option only. I had run an easy paced half marathon the day before I decided to run this 10k because that was on my schedule. I wasn’t sure what to expect knowing my legs were a bit tired from the day before, but knew that running this on the track I would have some advantage since it was completely flat. I did have other runners at the track that day that I had to run around but other than that I’d say that it went well. I ran a PR!, if you can consider running virtually and on your own, a situation where you can call it a PR! But I ran my heart out. I’ve attached my splits.

Crazy though, I actually ended up WINNING the race and I’m the Queen of Prussia 2020! I could not believe it. I almost dismissed it off at first thinking, well, no one fast ran and so that is how I won, etc. My husband quickly told me to knock it off, a WIN IS A WIN!! The race directors came to my office and spoiled me with stuff a few weeks after the race. It was one of the best moments in my life to date. I felt so damn special, and after the year we’ve had, I needed it!

I also ran a virtual relay with a bunch of runners I’m connected with on Instagram where we each ran a certain hour of the day on 9/26 and all the miles got added together. We ended up coming in first place, how exciting! You basically ran as much as you could for 1 hour and then recorded your time. It was pretty cool and something different!

The last race I ran virtually was the Broad Street Run! This race also holds a special place in my heart because it was my first race that I had ever run back in 2001. It got me hooked on running distance big time and it’s now one of the largest 20 mile races in the country! I ran this easy paced and just enjoyed the 10 miles around my neighborhood. They mailed you out the shirt and medal since they had already purchased everything before the pandemic hit in March for the May race date. Hoping to run this race live in 2021 but realize that it may not happen.

The rest of my runs since then have been pretty consistent with what I have been working on all year with my coach. I run 6 days per week and usually 4 of my runs are easy paced, and the other two have speedwork built it. Our goal is to get me faster, and to get the 7:30 pace to feel not so hard and attainable! I have been good with still keeping with my training knowing that I don’t want to lose time and want to be ready if and when races do come back. I have felt a little burnout though from time to time, but that is normal even in a normal training cycle. I still make myself get out there and run on those days because I know that I will always feel better having gone than having skipped.

Almost forgot, Danny and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary in September as well. My mother in law offered to watch the kids so we went to the Hershey Hotel for 2 nights and really enjoyed the alone time! We are still thinking back to that awesome weekend and wishing we could go back again!

My son Braeden turned 6 in mid November! We had a small party for him outside with our neighbors who we have considered in our bubble since the pandemic hit! We also decided to give him the Nintendo Switch that he has been wanting so badly! I think he quite enjoyed his pandemic birthday this year!

I think that’s it. We visited a farm to pick apples one day! We still had Halloween, again just on a smaller scale with masks. Kids got their Christmas PJ’s and have been in countdown ever since!! We then went to another farm for our Christmas tree this year! Overall we have tried to make the best of everything as we could. Now looking forward to Christmas Day and then we are heading to Vermont for a few days to end the year off with my husband’s family!