2019 Race Recap

I've had 'Write a new blog entry' on my to-do list for a while now, but its amazing how quickly time has flown by, especially with everything happening in my life right now. When I logged in, I was actually impressed that its only been a few months... I'd forgotten that I wrote an entry around Surftown at the end of September.

So what's happening in my life that's been keeping me from writing blog entries? I'm settling in to my place in New Jersey (and so are my cats... thank goodness, I couldn't take the 3am yowling much longer). I'm also starting to feel comfortable in my new job, and I'm truly  enjoying what I'm doing. Not to mention the fact that this new job gives me WAY more of a work/life balance, so I've been able to work out and get more running in. Along with that, I've been managing my diet a bit better... portion-wise especially.

In terms of my Crohn's and health, I've been feeling great. I've been keeping up with my Humira, and haven't been experiencing many abdominal pains or pain when going to the bathroom. I saw my GI the week of Thanksgiving, and she said that while my inflammation levels are still up, they're no longer so high that they're concerning to her, especially because my symptoms have gone down (normal levels are ~20, my levels are at like, ~22).

So, looking back on 2019... I'd say that personally, it was a pretty good year. I didn't PR on any of my races... and I didn't run nearly as many as I have in past years (or it didn't feel like I did, anyways), but I'm still happy with what I managed in the transition. New job, new apartment, new sense of self, and a new feeling of health.

Bibs and Medals tell the 2019 story: eleven 5ks, one 3.5 miler, 2 OCRs, five 10ks, and 2 half marathons. A total of 21 races and I'm like "I didn't run enough this year"... I might have a problem, haha.

Not shown above is my absolute FAVORITE bib from this year... for a race that I unfortunately wasn't even able to run. I signed up for the Southington Apple Harvest Festival 5k, and due to a SNAFU with having my mattress delivered to my new apartment (or due to the sheer laziness of the delivery guys, more likely), I had to head back to NJ on the day I was supposed to be running. Either way, my sister had picked up my bib for me. When asked for my name, she responded, of course, with "Allyson... spelled with two 'L's and a 'Y'." Anyone who has known me for any amount of time knows that I've dealt with various spellings of my name. Usually 'Alison', 'Allison', or 'Alyson'. Well ladies and gents, I give you my all-time favorite way to misspell my name:

I mean... to her credit, the lady DID spell it with two 'L's and a 'Y'.

At least it gave me a reason to laugh, despite my disappointment at not being able to run the race.

So, my goal is to just keep going out there and pounding the pavement (or treadmill... its freaking cold outside). Honestly, since I've been running more, I'm actually finding a bit of a renewed love for the activity. My times may not be great, but ideally that'll change when I keep it up.

I'm already signed up for 10 races in 2020: five 5ks, two 10ks, one 10 miler, and two half marathons. One of the 10ks and one of the half marathons is the Disney Princess Challenge weekend, where my sisters and I will be running through Disney on back-to-back days. Its intense, but so much fun, and we're excited that we get to do it again this year.

So here's looking forward to another great year of health and running in 2020. May your headphones always be charged, your sneakers always stay laced, your GPS app always be accurate, and may you cross the finish line in the same spirits (or better) as when you crossed the start line (and if not, remember that there's usually a free beer at the end).