2015--Kinda Weird

cheers to the new year!

I've grown to feel like end of the year posts give me closure on whatever might of happened in the past year.  2015 in particular just had some strange stuff: some good, some not so good so a nice "see ya later" post is in order. 

So what exactly happened in 2015??  Like I said, some weird stuff.  I'll break it down in a list format.

Orange Mud -- HydraQuiver

Disclaimer: I received Orange Mud HydraQuiver as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!

Being the water hog that I am when out on long runs, I was looking forward to testing the OrangeMud's hydraquiver.  There are a couple different models, I was sent the single barrel for testing.  At first glance, I thought the whole thing was a neat little device.  It has several pockets to stash cell phone, goPro, gels, keys, whatever you need.  The two pockets in the front have a cinch feature so that you can ensure nothing pops out while you are running, the right one even having a key clip. There's also two shoulder pockets on the pack that velcro shut that can hold even a phone.  I liked the feel of the material.  I could tell that it would be nice and breathable and comfortable.   I was curious to see how it would feel to have to pull a water bottle out from behind me while on the run.  I was equally as curious how easy it would be to place it back in the holder while on the run.  I'm not a very coordinated person when it comes to things like this so I was concerned that I would constantly miss the holder and drop the bottle or that it would just be hard to get it lined up properly while I'm moving.

"Run To Lose"

I started running a little over 5 years ago and my sole purpose was to lose weight.  I had always been an athlete my whole life.  I was on the swim team and played softball through high school.  I was originally on the swim team in college however I was doing an intense, accelerated program for Biology and Physical Therapy.  My academic schedule was such that I would miss practice at least 3 days a week.  I am not someone to half ass something so I made the decision to not be on the team.  Fast forward 6 years to when I was finally done physical therapy school, I had my doctorate but I also had at least 30 extra pounds.  Emir and I joined the gym and did lose a little bit of weight.

we lost some weight for our wedding but didn't keep it off

Running a Marathon is Never Easy--Philly Marathon 2015

The medals this year were AWESOME.  The bell rings

At some point in the last year or two, I lost sight of the fact that running a marathon is no easy feat.  I got it in my head that I can just go out any given weekend and run 26.2 miles, barely breaking a sweat.  I know it has a lot to do with all the ultra training we have been doing especially training for TARC100.  We were doing two 20+ mile training runs a weekend.  But even though we were doing tons of miles somehow I forgot that in the middle of that training Emir and I often said to each other that we didn't think we could run 20 miles straight without walking for a few minutes here and there.  We were just so immersed in our ultra world, running tons of slow miles on the trail, walking up the inclines and stopping at aid stations for minutes on end that we started to feel like we forgot how to run on the road especially in a race.  During my 22 mile training run a few weeks before Philly, I totally bonked and literally took 11-12 minutes per mile to finish the last mile or two which was one reason I had a feeling a PR would not be in the books come race day as I mentioned last post, I had serious doubts.