2013…The Year That Changed Me

Me receiving a Worcester Top 40 Under 40 Award at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA.

Happy New Year, Everyone! I hope that your holiday was as good as mine, which was full of laziness (after I got home from work), and I liked it!
New Year’s Eve Workout: Nothing
New Year’s Day Workout: 3 mile run on the treadmill @ 29:02 (I think this is a new tm record!); 20 minute warm-up, followed by 10 minutes of intense Fartleks!

I had been going back and forth over the past two days, trying to decide if I wanted to do a year in review or not, mainly because this year was very emotional for me, and a lot of things that occurred were very personal. Despite the fact that I do have a blog, I am a very private person. But, reading other people’s posts gave me the courage to write about a lot of significant things that happened over the course of the year.

I’ve chosen to break everything down in chronological order by month:

January 2013:

This picture shown above is of my parents; the photo is from a family trip we went on to Kiawah Island in South Carolina in 2012.
January started off pretty rocky for my family, as my father had had a minor heart attack right before Christmas. Luckily, it was minor (he actually was only in the hospital for three days and then went right back to work after getting discharged), but it was still pretty scary for all of us. I’ve always felt that family is the most important thing in life, but seeing something like this happen to my dad made me start to put things in perspective about how short life really is. Although I’m not one to make New Year’s Resolutions, I did start my year off maintaining a healthy diet and with a mission to continue living a healthy lifestyle.

February 2013:

In February, we celebrated our newest Basset Hound, Bella’s first birthday, on Valentine’s Day. We had just gotten her on Thanksgiving in 2012, and consider ourselves blessed to have her as a part of our family.

March 2013:
As an Irish family, we celebrated St. Patty’s Day the right way: I ran the Celtic 5k in Worcester the week prior to the holiday, and the day of, we made Corned Beef and Cabbage and brought it to my parents to celebrate with my family.
And, we celebrated a happy sixth birthday with this little guy…yes, everyone in my family has a birthday holiday, except for me. I am cursed, I tell you!

And, I could not forget to mention that my sister got engaged in March, too.

We are all so excited be making her fiancé, Bryan, a part of the family, as well!

April 2013:
This was another hard month for us, as well. At the end of March/beginning of April, my after had been admitted into the hospital again…this time because we thought he had had a stroke. He had been slurring his words and getting them confused. Then, after an initial cat-scan, we heard what we thought was the worst…my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had to go through multiple cat scans for the doctors to find out if he would need surgery.
We wouldn’t know until the week after Easter whether or not my dad would have to undergo surgery or not, but the prognosis was not looking good. Everybody in my family came over for Easter to see my dad and spend time with him…from as close by as my aunt and uncle who live down the street to as far away as my cousin, who lives in California. A week after the holiday, we found out that my father did NOT have a tumor, and wouldn’t need surgery. We got our Easter miracle! It wouldn’t be until much later in the year that they ruled out a tumor and decided it was encephalitis.

May 2013:
In May, I ran the first leg of the United Healthcare Triple Crown – the Providence Half Marathon in Providence, RI. This was just a few weeks after the Boston Marathon, so there was a LOT of security at the start and finish of the race (as well as throughout). A lot of my family members were worried about me running in a race like this (there were a huge number of entries, as everyone who ran in the Boston Marathon were offered a free entry into the PVD Marathon), but I chose to run in the race anyways, and I’m really glad that I did!
Also in May, I found out that my boss had nominated me as a candidate for the Worcester Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40…and I was named as a recipient!

June 2013:
June was a pretty quiet month for me, other than the fact that I had decided I wanted to train for a full marathon. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of keeping this to myself (I didn’t even tell my husband, who supports me when I make a decision to do anything), because I was so afraid of failing. Of course, without the support of others, I set myself up to fail. That’s why this year, I’ve pretty much announced it to the world that I plan on running my first 26.2!

July 2013:
Another wonderful month…I ran the Jamestown Half Marathon (was still in marathon training mode at the time), and reached a new p.r. of 2:28:19. All I can say about this race was “Oh, the hills!” I totally plan on running this raw again in the future and crushing my last Jamestown p.r.
Our family also spent a blissful week together in our summer home in Maine, where we got to enjoy some beautiful fireworks, great running (for some of us), and quality time together.

August 2013:
August was an amazing month for me…although I was sad because my boss, who had been a great mentor to me, announced that he was leaving, I was given the opportunity to fill his shoes at our magazine. I went through a couple weeks of intense interviews, but a week before I left to go on vacation in New Hampshire, I found out I was getting a huge promotion!
The other wonderful thing about this month is the fact that JP and I celebrate our wedding anniversary in August.

In 2013, we celebrated 7 blissful years of marriage, and went on vacation at my dad’s summer home on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire. We always love going there, because we get to take the Bassets with us and go hiking with them!

September 2013:
During the month of September, I was given my 40 Under 40 award, which was such a huge honor! Colleagues from work, as well as my former boss, and of course my family (and even family friends!) all came to support me.

October 2013:
In October, I ran the Newport Half-Marathon for the second time with Steph. It was even better than the first time running it! And, we thought up this blog while we were running in it!

November 2013:
This month had huge significance, as it was the month of both me and Steph’s 30th birthday, and the start of this blog!

December 2013:
And in December, I closed out the year with another wonderful Christmas holiday spent with family!

Despite a few bumps along the way, I wouldn’t change this past year for anything! And now I’m ready to take on 2014…and the full marathon!

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