Wow, what can we say about 2020? It wasn’t the year any of us imagined at this time last year, was it?
Well, I’m still going to do a quick recap of my year & overall it was quite good.
I did a few in-person races in the first few months of the year.
Coldwater Rumble 20 miler, the First Watch Sarasota Half in early February, where my boss ran his first half marathon!!, Mermaid Half in San Diego, the Black Canyon 60k, where I finally conquered that course and got a finish!! and the 35th edition of the Los Angeles Marathon.
Some tidbits from these races. I started the year after a 2 month break/burnout last year. Coldwater was just a fun run, where I did only one loop to get in a long run for Black Canyon. Sarasota, not my favorite race, mostly due to race organization, was beautiful & a great race to share with some co-workers. Mermaid Half was a gorgeous day out at Mission Bay, Sean & I ran together and had a great time. I remember that I ran the first 8 miles without stopping which was pretty cool especially considering where I was fitness wise at that point of the year. Black Canyon was super chill, my only goal was to finish the race, I had a DNF & DNS and really just wanted a finish. I finished right at sunset which was incredible. LA Marathon was our last race before everything locked down. I was super close to a course PR and ran the first 16 miles without stopping, which was huge for me, I ran 15 miles straight at Chicago last year but at a slower speed & no hills so this was a big confidence booster.
After LA, I did a bunch of virtual races, including the Limitless Challenge with Aravaipa Running where I managed to secure the fastest treadmill female to climb the equivalent of Mt Everest.
My coach, TJ from Run Doyen, helped me train for mile time trial in August & I ran a 5:56 mile!! That was pretty exciting. If you are looking for a coach, I can definitely recommend RunDoyen – they have a bunch of different coaches and I’ve been working with TJ all year and we’ve had a great time!
I took a little break from running again after this and barely ran in Sept – Nov. This month, I kicked it up a notch and ran an unofficial PR of 1:42 in the half marathon for my virtual Holiday Half.
I partnered with NordicTrack this year & we got a new X32i treadmill which is incredible. I have already run over 500 miles on it & am loving the huge screen that makes you feel like you are on the trail/path with the trainer. Want to learn more about the NordicTrack Incline Treadmills head here. Over the whole year, I’ve run more than 900 miles (up to 34 miles in one go) on the treadmill, which is crazy to me, but it’s been helping me so much to build up endurance, control my breathing & stay consistent.
We got a Peloton bike in late May & while I love the treadmill, the bike has changed my life. I love having another lower impact cardio option, riding with friends & just being on the bike. It’s definitely changed my way of training. After only 6 months, I’m almost at 250 rides and just love hopping on the bike almost every day. I’m super excited to be doing my first Power Zone challenge in January with a few friends. Thinking about getting a Peloton for yourself? Use my code Y87NQW to save $100 on accessories (mat, shoes, weights) and after 10 rides you’ll get your own code to share with others!
Food: One of my favorite places that we ate this year was Laduree x MK in Beverly Hills. It was incredible & all 100% plant based. Probably one of our most expensive meals, outside of Harry’s Bar in Venice LOL but so worth it, especially since it would be one of our last dine-in meals of the year.
I started cooking a lot. I’ve come up with some fun new meals, one pot pasta, all the wraps & sandwiches. I’m loving creating lots of fun new meals every day.
We have been getting boxes from a company called Hungryroot since March & I absolutely love them. We also get fresh veggies from Imperfect foods. We’ve tried meals from Green Chef, Territory Foods & Factor Foods as well.
After being home most of the year, we have decided to update our kitchen and have been spending a good portion of November & December coming up with a plan on what to do. We got a new pantry cabinet, a new stove & range hood on the way. We’re going to paint the walls, update the counters & backsplash tile. It’s pretty exciting and I’ll be updating our progress on here as we go along. We may update the flooring too but that will be a decision for after everything else is done ;).
We did go on two trips this fall, once to Arizona so Sean could run the Mogollan Monster 100k in Pine AZ. We camped out and stayed as far away from others as we could. I couldn’t even crew Sean because their permit only allowed for 50 people total including volunteers/runners. I basically hung out near the camp ground and read/played computer games & did a little hiking.
Then in October we went on a road trip to Moab so Sean could run Moab240. This one was a bit more nervewracking for me and honestly it was a game time decision to even go. I am super glad I did but I was really uncomfortable being around other people.
We decided to make this a vacation and hit up a bunch of our National Parks. We started at Canyonlands, which was incredible. Then we hit up Arches, which is nice, much smaller & waaaay more crowded. Then made our way to Bryce Canyon which was so much nicer than I was expecting and finally on to Zion where we got to go to Observation Point & stay in a Conestoga Wagon, which was pretty cool.
We’ve spent a lot of time exploring our local trails, hitting up various sections of the PCT & Mount Laguna areas. We hung out with the cows & climbed Cuyamaca Peak a half dozen times.
Honestly, after all the travel that we did last year, it was kind of nice to be home & have quality time with Sean.
All in all while being stuck at home for the majority of the year was a lot different for us & I got super frustrated at times not being able to just do what we want, it wasn’t a horrible year and I’m super grateful for a work from home job, a backyard, nice weather and for my health & ability to be able to stay home.
Here’s to a new year, new goals, new adventures & a new kitchen!
