100 Posts || 100s of Miles

Greetings from sunny Florida!  I am heading back to DC tomorrow morning after what has been a wonderful Thanksgiving at home with my family.  I so needed a break after what was a hectic few weeks of school, and these past few days were exactly what I needed to be able to push through the last bit of the semester before final exams and then another much-deserved break.  Even though I missed FriYAY for the first time in forever (cue "Frozen" music), I didn't forget to schedule some more content posts that should make up for it.  And today's post is even more special because it is the 100th post on this blog, and I am dedicating it to a topic that is close to my heart - RUNNING!

Just as planned, on Thanksgiving morning, I woke up before the crack of dawn to join the 5,000 or so fellow local running crazies to participate in the annual Thanksgiving Distance Classic.  I ran the same race two years ago with my dad and had a great experience, considering it was my first half marathon, and I basically spent the whole summer conditioning myself in order to start full-on training once school started.  Between treadmill workouts, trail runs, cooler temperatures, hills and such, I came into the race more prepared than I had been for any half marathons that I had done before.  I went in with a goal to break 2 hours and 15 minutes and upped my training from 3 running days and 2 workout days a week to 5 running days and 1 workout day a week.  All of the training and preparation allowed me to not only break my goal, but shatter it, as I completed the 13.1 mile race in 2 hours and 1 minute, which is a full 23 minutes faster than my personal best and 30 minutes faster than my half marathon from earlier this year.  Despite getting tired at the end and a (very) minor foot issue, I am so proud of myself.  Since moving to DC, I have really come to enjoy running even more so than I did in the years before I started doing long distance.  As of now, I am in the middle of enjoying some time off and recovery before starting up again before a potential few races coming up in the spring - another half marathon and a ten-miler.

Special shoutout to my mom for coming to cheer me on at the finish line and letting me celebrate with a Bojangles Boberry biscuit before collapsing on the couch to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - also to my aunt and uncle who tracked my progress throughout the whole race and sent me an encouraging "cheer" towards the end when I felt like dying :)  Also to anyone who has been reading this blog since I started it, thanks for making it to 100 posts - I may be the worst at coming up with creative content during the week, but my schedule next semester is 100% more flexible than this one so I promise I will be more up to date with the life and times of my MIA life in the DMV.  But for now it's back to some schoolwork (& blog posts???) before the final stretch of the semester kicks into full gear.