As I prepare to bid adieu to 33 and bonjour to my 34th birthday I find myself reflecting, as I often do, on the year that’s passed me by. Most people like to do this toward the end of the year but since my birthday is on the 17th (tomorrow), I find I like to reflect now and plan for the coming year over the holidays.
34 couldn’t look any sexier if it tried.
This last year in my life was probably the most event-filled and emotional of my life….and I’ve had some pretty emotional years. In February I returned to work after maternity leave. This was incredibly difficult for me. I really felt that I lost a piece of my identity in going back to work. I’d come to connect with a group of amazing mom’s locally and really felt a sense of belonging that, as a mom, I had yet to really experience. I was one of the very few, if not the only, that has since gone back to work and I spent a good few months really struggling because suddenly, these ladies that I saw on a nearly weekly basis were no longer around. They were still meeting but I was at work. I had no one to share my struggle (emotionally and physically) of being a working mom with. And in it, there was a natural drift that happens when you don’t see people often. Though I’ve loved watching these other relationships grow and blossom, I will freely admit my heart ached quite a bit (and still does) in knowing that this growth was happening without me.
I also experienced some truly epic highs and lows in running this year. Who would have thought that after 2 kids I’d be running my strongest ever! Certainly not this mama. Not only did I PR my half marathon in May, my 5K in June and my 10k in the summer, I also did my first destination race (more on that in a second), met two amazing ladies I’ve been blessed to call friends and really learned to push my mental and physical limits. I also learned the bitter reality of injury in finding myself a nice solid case of tendonitis that’s kept me sidelined for the last 4 months. I thought it took mental toughness to push to greater heights but it takes waaaaaaaaaaaaay more mental balls to deal with injury. My hat goes off to all of you who have come back from prolonged injury.
Slowly getting my running mojo back. One mile at a time.
One of the greatest highlights of my year, as mentioned above, was to run my first ever destination race in California in April. I ran my first Ragnar Relay race (recaps, here, here, here and here) and it was amazing. I was so proud because it was something that I was able to do as a blogger (there are never enough thanks to Ragnar for sponsoring a good chunk of my expenses to be able to participate), and these opportunities very, very rarely happen to people like me who have little blogs that no one reads. I am eternally grateful and as much as I hope that I’ll one day have this type of opportunity again, if I don’t, I will always look back fondly on this experience (especially when I’m popping the top off an ice cold beer with my Ragnar medal/bottle opener!)
I’ve also discovered confidence I didn’t know I had. As a naturally self-conscious person, I tend to shy away from a lot of stuff, including things that I enjoy that maybe others won’t be that interested in or asserting myself. I’ve come to realize (better late than never, I suppose) that I have nothing to be shy or ashamed about. Just because I love running, blogging and working out doesn’t mean I’m weird. It’s part of my uniqueness. Now I just have to find another working mom who loves running (slow), blogging and working out so we can toddle off into Fit Mom paradise together….
Seriously…who WOULDN’T want to be my friend?
So friends, cheers to my 34th birthday! I hope the coming year builds on the epicness that 33 is leaving behind and that there are lots of new, exciting, and preferrably injury-free things to look forward to in the coming year.
Now go have a glass or two of wine for me! No one should drink alone on their birthday!
The post Happy Birthday Fit Mom!! The year that was 33. appeared first on Fit Mom...in Training-Diary of an Average Running Mom.