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What a great running year 2013 was, so many events and learning opportunities. This year I really felt like I am starting to become a “runner”. Hey, training and finishing a marathon is no easy task, not many people have been able to do so. But, finishing two marathons in a span of a year while improving your time  by more than 20 minutes, that is the 2013 story for me. To me, that story tells me that I have been able to learn a lot about running, training, fueling, resting and when the body tells you slow down a bit listen very careful and put those learning into practice. Hold on, that does not mean that I know everything about, it just means that I learned some and was able to benefit from it.

In addition to the full marathons, I also was able to compete my 1st out of state event at the Walt Disney Word Half Marathon in Florida. It was a great experience at the event, expo and then of course visiting the parks with the family. Specially seeing the Marathon runners the next day and the few finishing the Goofy challenge. (Half and Full back to back) In addition to the expo and the park visit, traveling away for an event, running in completely unknown environment and participating in an event that held over 20 participants was definitely a great way to start the year.

I was very happy to be able to complete the spring and fall triple crown challenges this year. That allowed me to see different routes and running conditions. From sunny to overcast, from pleasant temperature to the hot and cold extremes to the flat and insanely hilly courses, those provided me with much needed experience and learning opportunities to improve running.

As I step out 2013 with a smile in my face, I am looking forward to what is to come for this coming year. The new insane challenges like the Dopey Challenge at Disney. Yep, here I go again this time with multiple event in a weekend. Perhaps another go to the triple crown challenges and the new item in the list, since I already have run in two states, to see if I have shave off couple more states this coming year towards the new challenge of a Half or Full in every state.

Serenity now…

…insanity later.

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Table thanks to athlinks.com[/text_output][/vc_column][/vc_row]