I suppose the reasoning for that is pretty obvious. As you can tell, my fitness commitment for the last year has been ... lackluster, to say the least. And being that this is a somewhat fitness oriented blog, it's hard to admit publicly that I"m not working out enough.
Sure, sure - I have a good enough excuse for my lack of fitness with a new child in the house and all, but still! In the end, an excuse is an excuse, no matter how good it may be.
Disappointment in fitness aside, my life has been filled with a lot of other fun things ... and still a few races despite it all. So ... let's do this. Let's recap 2017.
2017, a year in review!
Races
Tri-U-Mah, more aptly named "Dumpster Fire"
Bay to Breakers, easily my best race costume to date
Rainbow Run, a tradition 7 years running (literally)
Freedom 5, where I passed the torch ... again ... and again ... and again ...
Lake Run, my first family costumed race
Howl'oween Kids Run, where I spent my day chasing burgers
Terror Trot, the last of my costume recycling in 2017
Total miles raced - about 23ish miles
Cumulative info:
Races 82 - 88
Bibs 78 - 83
Costumes
As you can see above, I was somewhat less creative here in 2017. This is partly due to the fact that I've saturated myself with race costumes over the last few years. I mean ... once you've run as a pair of stewardesses with a pilot, a mermaid, a statue of liberty (handing out torches, no less), a unicorn, wonder woman, a skeleton, a hamburgler chasing hamburgers, a robot, a mariachi, a rainbow with a pot of gold side kick, a sriracha bottle, a Christmas tree (of sorts), and a woman on fire ...
Well ...
Plus, my budget for InkNBurn clothing, and generally race registrations as a whole ... with an 18 month old in 4T clothing (yes, I said 4T clothing, as in the size of a 4 year old) ... you know where my money is going. And it ain't on race registrations and workout gear.
Keeping Healthy
Yeah, may as well skip this category in 2017.
Last year, I didn't complete the year of the swim (hence my lack of final recap there), I hardly did any races - and the few I did participate in weren't competitive anyway, and I even let my group fitness participation fall to the wayside.
Rather than focus on the negatives of 2017, what I will say is this: I got sick of being disappointed in myself late last summer, and have therefore started to work towards putting myself back on track.
Right now, I can confidently say I am doing 4 group fitness classes a week (two of which I teach), am committed to starting back on a running program next week, and have signed up for year of the swim attempt #2.
And ... I'm hoping that this re-commitment to fitness will help me in the weight gain area, as I am not happy with where that is a year and a half post baby (almost two years ... in April!)
Changes
Aside from my fitness regime changes (at first in a bad way, and then in a good way), I am also learning to adapt to this "mom" thing. Or rather, this "extra mom" thing. Because, you know ... Talk Like a Pirate Day and Halloween are just two of the many reasons through out the year that I can dress mini me in a costume as well.
And honestly, my change in a "bad way" has actually been a good thing for me. By carrying some extra weight right now, and by being "lazy" and not working out as much, I have had to practice self forgiveness and acceptance - two things that I have never been great at, but have gotten a whole lot better at in 2017. So chalk one up to personal growth.
In regards to things NOT changing, I'm pleased to be able to say that despite having a child, my family's love for travel has not been lost. In fact, we were fortunate enough to take two adventurous trips this year: San Francisco in the spring, and a summertime flying trip that carried us in a loop from Escanaba & Mackinac Island / Niagara Falls & Toronto / Dayton, OH / Madison, WI and then back home again.
Finally
In all of my year in review recaps, I take a minute to revisit my previous years of blogging ... and not to pat myself on the back this year, but it's kind of nice to see how I've grown:
2013 was when I was peaking in my physical fitness, my life was finally coming together, and I was feeling great about things.
2014 was a year of struggle where I tried to cope with a miscarriage, some physical setbacks, and I still tried to maintain a healthy attitude and life balance.
2015 and coming into my mid 30's, I finally settled into a happy place in my life. Some time around 2012 or 2013, I learned to accept things in my life for what they were, and to eliminate things from my life that didn't make me happy. In that process, I found an authentic me that I've just become ... happy with. Which means, I don't really go into a year expecting it to be AWESOME or BAD anymore, I just hope that I can continue to maintain that authentic me, and have a good time while I do it.
So aside from becoming a mom in 2016, and growing into that mom role in 2017 ... I just continue to focus on being an authentic me, looking forward to what more adventures are to come!
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