"Quick" Review of 2023

Winding down 2023

I guess I'm a bit late for this wrap up, but I'll keep it brief. On IG, I normally post a brief year in review. Like I said on IG, 2023 was more of a crockpot year because things were kind of slow and steady - not saying that's a bad thing.

Let's start with the highlights

January: Hubby and I saw Cirque du Soleil's Corteo. Going into the show I wasn't really expecting much because I've never been interested in the Cirque du Soleil brand. I gotta say that I REALLY enjoyed the show because of the dancing, the fun, and all of the AMAZING acrobatics. Maybe it's an age thing for me. In my 20s, I would not have been caught dead at a Cirque du Soleil show, but now in my 40s, I'm down with it.

February: One City Half Marathon (Newport News, VA). I remember registering for the full marathon, but I couldn't (or didn't) run it for whatever reason.

March: Shamrock (half) Marathon (Va. Beach, VA). While my half marathon time was not amazing, I thought this was a wonderfully organized race. If you are ever thinking about running a race in the southeastern part of VA (i.e., Hampton Roads/Tidewater), I highly recommend running a J&A Racing event. They do a great job putting on a race, AND they have amazing post-race parties.

April: Yearly (or near yearly) trip to Spain to visit the hubby's family and friends. During this trip, we visited Bilbao, which is a city in the Basque region of northern Spain. This day trip was my first (and hopefully not last) trip to Bilbao. I have to say that I was really surprised (in a good way) with the amount of cultural and culinary diversity in Bilbao. To be frank, I think that I saw more diversity in this city compared to typical cities that one thinks of when talking about Spain, e.g. Madrid and Barcelona.

May: Eurovision in Washington DC. Since we were not traveling to the UK to see Eurovision 2023, the hubby and I decided to do a weekend trip to DC to attend a Eurovision party. We ended up going to one viewing event, but the bar's A/V system was a hot mess, so we ended up watching it at another bar. Funny thing: Originally, this was just supposed to be a Eurovision trip to DC, but I got a new job in Maryland around this time. So Eurovision in DC became Eurovision in DC and apartment hunting in the DC metro area. We probably should have spent less time "Eurovision'ing" and more time apartment searching. Fortunately, the day after Eurovision, we found two places that somewhat fit our needs.

June: The "big" move from Va Beach, VA to Silver Spring, MD. Geez! in one year, we had two major moves: New York, NY -> Va Beach, VA and Va Beach, VA -> Silver Spring, Maryland. I did not plan on doing this, but my new job's work schedule made it a bit impossible to do a VA <-> MD commute. While the position is hybrid, my onsite days are Tuesdays and Thursday, which would require staying in Maryland three to four days a week. Although we are both enjoying living in the DC metro, I will admit that it has been tough on me. The job and apt (for the most part are fine), but I do not really know people in the area, and it has been a bit hard to meet people. Let me take that back, I know OF people (e.g., former high school and college classmates), but I don't really know them to say Hey X, lets grab a drink next week. One of my goals for 2024 is to reestablish old relations and get involved with a couple of organizations in an attempt to meet new people.

July: Hubby's birthday month. I'm posting this because with the move and getting settled into our new place, I really did not celebrate my birthday, which is in June. Sooooo, I kind of celebrated my birthday with the hubby's by having a really expensive dinner. Random trivia. Our birthdays are separated by one month and one day. After posting, I realize these pictures are not from the really expensive restaurant but from a Spanish restaurant where we had brunch. I was too lazy to change the pictures. ;)

August: This is where the year took a freaking nose dive. While I was on track (for the most part) in training for the Marine Corps Marathon (October), I had a flare up of a herniated disc in my lower back. This injury took me out of everything for about 2.5 months. For most of August and early September, I had major issues with pain associated with sitting, standing, and/or walking. During this time, I remember debating during the early mornings if I wanted to deal with the pain of getting out of bed to use the bathroom or just pissing the bed. Although things are better for the most part, I have been VERY dedicated to stretching 2-4 times a day. The next step is to get my weight under control . . . more on that in a future post.

September: Eh, nothing really worth mentioning because I couldn't do much of anything due to my back injury. At least walking with a cane, prevented me from touching random surfaces with my fingers. ;)

October: I managed to make it to my first yelp Elite (MD Burbs) event. It was great for two reasons. 1. I met a few new folks. 2. It was one of my 1st social event since the back injury.

November: Lol. A friend told me that she saw me in the New York Times article about the benefits of walking vs running. Funny thing, the article was published in November 2023, BUT it's an old picture. After going through the photos on my phone (and based on the color of my shoes), this picture must have been taken in 2018 or 2019 when I was living in NYC.

December: TROPICAL CHRISTMAS in Cancún, Mexico. A few interesting things:

• We survived our first (and hopefully last) Spirit Air experience. Here's the thing, Spirit Air was the only airline with direct flights from the DC metro area to Cancún that were not crazy expensive . . . I'm talking about $500+ in addition to the all-inclusive package, which included the resort stay and airfare. Also, I thought it would be dumb to have a layover for a travel time of 3.5 hours. Again, I was really surprised that there were not more direct flights since we live in a major city and were traveling to a popular destination. All in all, we had a decent experience on Spirit Air, but maybe we were lucky...very lucky. I have to admit that I was very nervous because I (like most) have seen those Spirit Air customers vs employees or customers vs customers fights on social media. Also, word on the street says that Spirit Air is known for canceling (or rather delaying) flights for days. Fortunately, we did not experience either of those situations.

• Tropical Christmas wasn't really all that tropical because the region had an abnormal cold spell. We're talking about temps in the 70s F with rain. Although the weather was not optimal, we did enjoy ourselves and managed to spend a few minutes in the sun. Hey, I even came in third place for the resort's flags of the world contest. I probably would have won if I didn't screw up Aruba's and Mauritius' flags.

• We did a nice catamaran excursion that included snorkeling, a trip to Isla de Mujers, and (of course) drinking. The excursion was nice for the most part, BUT I did not enjoy the captain's 10-15 minute lecture about tipping. Here's the thing, the excursion was about $120 USD with an additional $20 USD marina docking fee. Not to be rude, I'm not buying that $20 USD marina docking fee because I don't understand why that fee could not have been included in the price of excursion. You mean to tell me that EVERYONE has to pay this docking fee, when we are on ONE boat. Our catamaran had about 30 people on it, so the city/county/state/country receives about $600 USD from this boating company on a daily basis. Keep in mind that there are SEVERAL tour companies that operate out of this port. Ok, back to the tiping. The captain kept telling us that they do a lot of work to organize these tours for us. Yes, that is true, BUT the tourists have paid for this service. I understand that this probably more of an issue of the company not paying their employees enough money. I just didn't like the lecture. ALSO, a lot of the crew had pretty nasty attitudes. You're NOT gonna lecture me about gratuity while having a fucked up attitude because you have to do YOUR job. To be honest, I did not notice any of the tourist being rude and condescending towards the ship's crew. If tipping is such an issue, then these companies should add a gratuity fee to the excursion price. Lord knows they add a fee for everything else.

Random Thoughts – Running Topics

Preface:

After running (pun intended) this blog for a few years, sometimes it is a bit tough to come up with topics to write about. Fortunately for me, Sara Kurth has published a massive list of potential blog topics that focuses on running (check out her blog here, ***).

WRITE ABOUT YOUR MOST FREQUENT REASONS FOR PROCRASTINATION OR COMMON EXCUSES FOR NOT RUNNING OR EATING RIGHT. WHAT CAN YOU DO TO OVERCOME THOSE EXCUSES?

After completing J&A Racing’s Chartway Norfolk Harbor Half Marathon, I guess that I have reached the end of my racing/training season.

I am a bit hesitant to say the end because I might randomly register for another race before the end of 2022. Since I’m pretty much at the end of my racing (well, running season), I thought this might be a great topic to buy some time.

I will admit that over the past two years, my running performance drastically has gone into the sh*tter. Especially when one sees that it took me 6+ hours to complete this year’s NYC Marathon. Yes, I know that it was hot as hell in NYC for the 1st Sunday in November, but it still was a crappy performance. Going forward, I really have to do some soul-searching to figure out how to improve during 2023 and beyond. Although I mentioned that I’ve reached the end of my racing/training season, my break will be short-lived. Why? I’ve already registered for the Newport News One City Marathon on March 4, 2023, and my training for this will begin on Dec. 1.

While this blog topic is great, my problem is not making the appropriate changes to become a better runner . . . or healthier in general. So I’ll try to list my reasons for not running or eating right and some of the things I hope to incorporate in correcting these issues.

Problem: Not waking up early enough to do my near-daily runs. The actual problem, staying up very late and watching crappy TV. I think that I’m just wired to stay up late. For as long as I can remember, I’ve never gone to bed before 11 pm . . . unless I was absolutely exhausted or had too many bottomless brunch cocktails.

Anticipated solution (in progress): I’ve already set various alarms to develop a weeknight schedule, which includes setting out workout clothes for the next morning, evening stretches, and getting to bed.

Problem: Lack of motivation for my runs

Anticipated solution: I have mentioned doing this in the past, but I would like to become more involved in the local running community. With this charge, I want to check out a few running groups during the months of December and January. The local November Project Va Beach had a RUNGO challenge over the summer. So I figure that this Rungo card will be a starting place to find (and maybe join) some running groups in the area. My only concern is that I’m more of a morning runner so I might have to go outside of my comfort zone for some of these running groups.

Problem: Overeating. Recently, I have been eating way too large portions. I’m not sure why, but I always seem to be in starvation mode . . . even when I’m not hungry or starving. I think part of this is due to being more sedentary in Virginia. Although I was overeating while living in NYC, I still had to walk to my destinations and/or to public transportation.

Anticipated solution: Starting tomorrow, I’m going to jump back on the intermittent fasting wagon by working my way from 12- to 16-hour fasting windows. Also, I am planning to start another cycle of Beachbody’s 21-day Fix.

This is a portion control eating plan where your portions are determined by your calorie requirements and if you want to lose, maintain, or gain weight. While this plan is not rocket science, the idea is to prepare your meals, avoid eating crap food, and obtain a wide range of nutrients.

Problem: Overeating, part 2. Or, rather, overdrinking. It’s no secret that I love a gin cocktail or 10. While I do not see myself as a complete lush who needs to take a seat in a local AA meeting, I do recognize that I tend to eat horribly when I drink.

Anticipated solution: I guess this could extend my food fast to booze. I’ve already come up with a short-term solution of not drinking for the rest of the week (in my defense I started this fast on Sunday). I will admit that since living in Va (and ultimately having to drive every day), I have not been drinking as much as I was in NYC. However, I still would like to reduce my booze intake. Wait, maybe I should do this AFTER the holidays because I do love spiked egg nog. One plan that I’m thinking about is having two glasses of water between my adult beverages. While I’ll enjoy a nice adult beverage or 10, I HATE the feeling of being ‘liquidity’, ie having my stomach feel like someone is transporting a large tank of water.

Problem: Late-night snacking (wow three eating/drinking issues in a row).

Anticipated solution: Prepare healthy late-night snacks and always have a bottle of seltzer water sitting ready.

Ok, all of these eating and snacking ‘problems’ are becoming problematic.

Problem: Becoming quickly disappointed with the lack of results.

Anticipated solution: I’ll need some help with this one

Problem: Boredom with running

Anticipated solution: Back when I started running, I would look forward to upcoming runs and races. Now, it’s becoming a bit more like a choice. For instance, let me do this 10 mile run so I can run this marathon in 3 months. While I have been doing various Beachbody on Demand HIIT programs to supplement my running, I still feel a sense of boredom with these workouts. Actually, I think it’s a combination of boredom and not seeing results, which probably is closely related to my crappy sleeping, eating, and boozing habits. This actually becomes a vicious cycle for me. Work out a lot -> Do not see any significant results -> Eat like an animal because what’s the point. . . Rinse and repeat. Going forward I would like to add swimming, biking, weight training, and my Beachbody stuff to my running regimen. Not, I’m not planning on doing all of these every day (or even every week). Perhaps, I can switch out swimming, biking, and weight training depending on the week.

Problem with the above anticipated solution: Doing too much at once and not getting anywhere.

Problem: General ignorance. I dunno why but before the pandemic, I used to read several resources about running and listen to various health-focused podcasts.

Anticipated solution: Easy one. Read more and stop listening to dumb podcasts about reality TV shows.

Like Konstrakta (Eurovision 2022 Serbian contestant) said in her song In Corpore Sano

NYC MARATHON TRAINING RECAP – WEEK ???

Since I actively maintain a running blog with updates on WordPress, I’ll just provide training update links to that page.

LINK: NYC MARATHON TRAINING RECAP – WEEK ???

Race Recap: Rock n Roll Madrid Half Marathon

Since I actively maintain a running blog with updates on WordPress, I’ll just provide training updates and race recaps links to that page.

LINK: Race Recap: Rock n Roll Madrid Half Marathon