Not in order of importance: Runner. Wife. Vegetarian. Dallas-dweller. Attorney. Traveler.
Those are probably the topics most likely to be referenced in this blog. Relevant facts about these roles:
Runner: I started this blog with about 10 marathons under my belt, most getting progressively faster, and I wanted to qualify for Boston. That finally happened for me in 2010 at Twin Cities, and then I ran Boston for the first time in 2011. I managed to requalify, but thus far, I haven't run it again because my one experience seemed so perfect and fun (also happened to be on our wedding anniversary and the day before we flew to Italy; so now I'm reluctant to have a competing Boston memory that might not be as magical). Since then I've become a certified running coach and I spent a while gunning for a particular personal record time. The closest I came was Berlin in Sept. 2013, but still about 9 minutes slower than I wanted. I may give it another attempt, but all my marathons since 2013 have been slower, so that may well go down as my lifetime marathon PR. In any event, I've continued doing marathons that sound fun, and I see several more marathons in my future. I wish I could afford to train full-time instead of working. I have wonderful running buddies who make training fun. They've become my "real world" friends as well. I rarely enjoy running as much when I'm alone, unless it happens to be race day. I've been running since about 2003, and keep track of my PRs at all distances, but I think 5k might be my strongest event (it predicts the fastest marathon time using a pace predictor). I've done over 100 road races since I started. About 25 marathons now, a bunch of half-marathons, and some other shorter races (a handful of 10ks, some 15ks, tons of 5ks, about 15 years of the annual local 8-mile race on Thanksgiving day). My dream annual running schedule is to do short distance and speed work in the spring, then do a marathon or two in the fall marathon season, but of course some great races like Boston are in the spring, so that plan doesn't always work. Regardless of what season my big marathon of the year is, what I've learned is that I need to manage my training schedule to recognize that I don't spend much training on vacation (we usually go overseas for at least 2 weeks once a year), or over the Christmas holidays when we're with my family. But those breaks seem to work well for me, keeping my love of running strong.
Wife: I've been married since April 2009, marrying for the first time in my 30s, which I guess is somewhat unusual. I'm glad I held out for the right guy and consider myself insanely lucky to have found someone so wonderful. My husband ran as well but stuck to half-marathons and shorter distances. He shot down my idea of being one of those couples who does something cheesy like running the whole NY marathon holding hands, which I've seen. He's been off running for the last few years and far more interested in biking, but he likes lots of different kinds of exercise and we like doing a boot camp together. He has a lot of family in Italy, and we got married there (in a town (Pizzo Calabro) near where they live).
Vegetarian: Vegetarian since May 2001, but only a healthy vegetarian since early 2008. Before that, my philosophy was that Cheetos were vegetarian. I don't want to get too deep, but becoming vegetarian was almost a spiritual thing for me. I don't believe that it is humane (or moral, Christian, Godly, kind, right, acceptable, whatever you want to call it) to eat meat given the conditions in which nearly all animals sold as meat are raised and killed in this country. However, as one argumentative brother of mine discovered when questioning this, I don't think I would be opposed to eating meat from an animal that lived in the wild and died of natural causes or an accident. So basically, road-kill. Haha. Even animals raised and slaughtered in the best of conditions are not animals I want to eat, because I don't think the killing part is justifiable when we have so many healthy vegetarian options. And since eating road-kill or old animals that have heart attacks or something isn't really an option, I'll stick with meat-free. Notably, I do eat meat sometimes when I travel outside of North and South America. There are fewer factory farms and in some places it seems integral to the culture or important to our hosts. And in places like mainland China, "vegetarian" sometimes seems to get lost in translation or interpreted to mean "just a little meat."
Dallas-dweller: I've lived in Dallas since 2000; I have a wonderful bunch of friends here (many of whom I've met through running), but I miss my family and my husband's family, who are far (more than a day's drive) away (and not in the same area, which would be quite convenient). But I guess I don't miss them enough to move closer -- we like our life in Dallas, love the weather here for 10-11 months per year, and have no immediate plans to move away. I like it when our families come visit us frequently. That seems to be the best! I would love it if they all moved to Texas.
Attorney: I've been an attorney since 2000, and made the switch from a big firm to a small firm right before it was time to really commit to trying to make partner, and then I made the switch to working at a company in 2011. One great thing about my current job is that the hours are more regular and it gives me time to run, travel, cook and do lots of other things I enjoy. And now that I'm in-house, I find that I love everything about my job. It's not painful to go to work. I have great pay and hours, wonderful co-workers, and interesting work, which is like a dream.
Traveler: I love to travel. So far I've been to over 50 countries, and I desperately yearn to go to about 140 others. But our true travel love is Italy. Our mutual love of Italy is what brought me and my husband together, and we head over there at least once every 24 months or so to see his family, who live near the town where we got engaged and married in Calabria. Someday we would like to retire there. There are some killer hills for running in the area, but not many runners that you see. I've posted more about my travel on a separate page.
