Well, not really, we didn't forget. We knew our blogs were still there, unfortunately blogs weren't really our top priority recently or in fact for the last maybe year. Considering our last post was when we did the race report for Lake Placid Ironman, and we are actually embarking to take on the race again this year in July.... I guess it's been a while.
It's not that we haven't done anything, in fact, we have done quite a bit, last year was a year of firsts for us, we actually entitled #EPIC2018. It sure was epic, in all aspects of our lives. To start Res decided she wanted to do something epic to celebrate her 40th (although it was December 2017) she didn't decide until then and being in the thick of the winter that wasn't an option. So it wasn't until a few months later that she finally decided she was going to do her first Ultra-Marathon. Since Ultra-Marathons aren't hard enough, she went big while at it, so she picked the Vermont 50 (50K) as her first, just 32 miles of single track running with +6000 ft of elevation gain. Luckily she was able to recruit (suck into it) 3 others Kristin and Margo were the chosen ones to do that craziness. More on that on the future blog that we have to still post (it's written... just hasn't been posted). Since we were going up to Vermont already and I had no intentions to run, but it happens that the VT50 also has a 50 mile MTB bike race that was more appealing than running 50K. Only had a few problems, 1. Needed to dust off my MTB skills, 2. 50 miles and 8000 ft of climbing were definitely a challenge, 3. Training for the Lake Placid 70.3 and mixing up MTB was something that needed to be well balanced and thankfully Coach Mike set up a plan that would keep us healthy, uninjured and get us ready.
Because Res decided to sign up for a trail run, guess what... we started trail running, completed 2 trail run half marathons, that each had their own challenges, from elevation gain (and loss), water crossings, mud, rain, heat (in the middle of spring), so that was fun and epic at the same time. Of course, our ankles took a beat but we had a blast.
We also didn't forget about tris, we did the Atlantic City Olympic and Ironman 70.3 at Lake Placid, another report that is in draft form, but clearly was an epic one too. Starting temps in the 30's, made that much harder, but we love that place and being in Placid for the weekend in the fall is something that we highly recommend. We will put details of our planning and our house rental on that post.
While tris contiue to be part of our lives, as you can see we have started to branch out, do different things, try something different, and it didn't end with ultras or trail running, I became part of a local cycling team and decided to do a multi stage cycling race which in other words, this triathlete got his ass kicked all weekend long by cyclists... but it was an ass kicking that I kind of enjoyed and decided to come back for more this year.
Then we were both signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon, but due to an MTB injury (read: falling on my ass and hitting my tailbone so hard that I couldn't run for 2 months) Res ended up doing alone, well not alone but without me. She ended up running with Kristin and Margo. I cheered them all from the sidelines by riding my bike around DC along the course at times and in and out the course to meet them at as many places as I could, that was something I highly recommend others to do.
In the life side of things, Res got the Junior Officer of the Year - VADM Antonia C. Novello award from USPHS which has been one of the highlights of her military career, also she started a new job which has her commuting to DC or around the country when not in DC. So that has been different, luckily the new job allows her to telework a few days a week so it isn't as bad as it sounds, and it seems like we finally got a system down. Thank goodness for Amtrak, friends and Airbnb. We were able to go to Colombia at the end of the year and spent 2 weeks with family which has been the most we've spent in the last few years.
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