2012 was a great year, epic in some ways and really mellow in others, I traveled much less this year compared to years past. I feel like it became two very different parts where my focus changed drastically in July. The first half of the year was mainly focus on Ironman training and not much else. Life was eat, train, work, train, eat, sleep, repeat. The second half of the year had a smattering of triathlon but my focus was on grad school and work, throw in a mid year injury and there wasn’t much exciting training happening. Here’s a look back at 2012:

January: The year started off just like last year with a half marathon on New Years Day. It wasn’t an organized half as we don’t have one in Colorado but it’s a fun tradition and I ran it as a virtual race.

January had a little fun in the mountains but mostly the focus was on Ironman CDA training

February brought a lot of cold running biking and not enough swimming (this story could be a repeat, I am shocked I made it through IMCDAs swim). I also PR’d in a 10 mile race

March was a big month of training with a lot of daily double workouts.

I also traveled to Oregon for a family funeral, although expected it was sad but good to see family.

In April my mom had a big birthday so we had lots of fun family activities

Cog train after running 14 miles that morning. Later in the month we drove out to Vegas for our first Triathlon of the year

This was not my favorite race, in fact it might have been the worst time I have ever had in a race, the temp spiked to over 100 degrees on the run, it was unexpected so they were running out of water and the gatorade they were serving was hot. It was incredibly difficult but good for mental toughness training.

May was the biggest training month for IMCDA, we were in peak training for most of the month so it was nice to throw in some fun “training” races like the greenland trail 25k and the Boco Loco century ride

My first ride over 100 miles! Then we celebrated mothers day with a 9k and lots of food!

I then traveled to New Mexico for work. I couldn’t bike or swim but I was able to get a couple runs in with the bison.

June’s focus was training, tapering and traveling to Coeur d’Alene, it was fun to be out there with people from the Tri club

Completing an Ironman was amazing and beyond words, it was incredible, I can’t wait to do it again! There is much more I would like to say about the experience of my first Ironman and especially about lessons learned but I think that needs it’s own post.

After Ironman the plan was to continue to do local tris but with a major shift in focus to trail running for a September ultra, but with an injury less than two weeks after ironman and the realities of grad school that had been neglected because of ironman the ultra didn’t happen. I did have the chance to participate in an ultra relay with friends from work and had a BLAST! I hope to do more relays.

After our van was done, beers and breakfast burritos! In August I was supposed to run a trail half marathon in Beaver Creek but I sat out with a very sick pup but mom and Cory killed it!

I also got to snuggle with a skunk

September I was supposed to race my last tri of the year but it was trumped by travel to a conference for work.

October saw an increase in miles again, lots of grad work and a trip to Ohio for work, I am so excited to partner with this University!

November came and went fast but the best part was a family 10k and Thanksgiving

December was great and filled with family and fun, I was spoiled with lots of new gear that I can’t wait to get out and use

And while it’s been nice to have a relaxing holiday, Ironman Lake Tahoe is now less than 9 months away.That means that starting Monday training will get serious and race specific.

While 2012 was a good year I can’t wait to apply the things I learned in 2012 to make 2013 great! How was your year?