Still Alive & Kicking

It has been far too long since I've posted. Almost a year actually and it's quite shameful.

So much to catch up on but for the sake of boring anybody who might actually still be checking in I'll keep it brief.

Since I last posted about my race in Kansas, I'll summarize the rest of my racing season in 2011. It rocked! I continue to race in Boulder with top finishes in all of my races. The season culminated with Ironman Canada in August. My ultimate goal was to secure a slot to Kona since I've been trying to get back ever since I went in 2008.  I went into the race saying whether or not I got the slot I was going to take a break from IM in 2012 because I was sick of  "the chase". While I came extremely close, 36 seconds I believe, I once again missed it by just 1 slot. It was very disappointing but overall I had a great race and a PR of 10:22 - finishing 10th female overall (including pros) and 4th overall amateur in the race. In fact, I led most of the women's race until about 13 miles into the run. Need to learn how to run a 3:30 IM marathon!!! Women's 30-34 age group is top notch with some seriously strong women. It's was an honor to do well and race against such incredibly athletic women and I came away from it very proud. Some day I'll get back to Penticton and get some redemption though.

Once Canada was over Kevin and I enjoyed the Fall & Winter with very little structured training. In January I set my sights on the Boston Marathon (April 2012). I qualified in March of 2011 and was looking forward to running in the race as it's been on my "must do" list since I started running. My training was going great and I was getting stronger/faster each week until I hit a little speed bump:

That's right, Kevin & I are having a baby on/around October 3rd! And....IT'S A BOY!!!!

That being said, I put training for Boston on the back burner for a bit. While I'm still running, swimming, and doing lots of things to stay in shape I've shifted from "training" to "exercising" for my health & baby's. So far I've really enjoyed being pregnant and I think it's amazing life experience. Our bodies are incredible in so many ways. For years I've enjoyed what it can do as an athlete and now I'm reveling in the awesomeness that is making life.

That's the latest in our world without boring everyone with minute details. I'm going to work on over hauling the blog a little bit since it's been so long and could use a new look. Hopefully I can be a bit more consistent, at least until Baby H comes and I have zero time for myself :)