In line with last year's  2013 Year in Review , I wanted to do something similar for 2014, but with a separate new year "goals" post to follow.  2014 began on a good note with a marathon PR at the Clearwater Marathon A happy finish with my adorable niece running behind me! and then quickly declined after injuring my foot. I got to wear leggings like every day. After taking six weeks off, I felt recovered enough to run an "easy" Iron Girl half-marathon in April Just happy to have made it through uninjured! and then moved through highs and lows as I began summer training for the Marine Corps Marathon and transitioned to a new job in September, after more than 12 years of working at USF. My good-bye picture as I drove away on my last, sad day. I trained through some still-lingering foot pain for 15 weeks, but in the end, I successfully completed the Marine Corps Marathon in October, exceeding my goal.  ...

I've been reluctant to write anything about my continued progress  in the past weeks because I'm afraid of cursing it. But now I'm ready to write. First, an anecdote: Sunday I went to  boot camp  (I don't know what to call it anymore) for the fourth time in three weeks, which is a great accomplishment considering I wasn't able to go at all for about seven weeks straight. And of course I'd lost some strength during that time away, and I prepared myself for that fact, initially. But after being back for a couple of classes, I expected to be able to do what I could do pre-injury, and when I couldn't, I got really frustrated. I had a rough start to the morning: I woke up late, almost didn't go because I felt like crap and had no motivation, but Tim talked me into going, even though I made us both late for the warm-up run. So when I then tried to jump into the first team drill, going head-to-head with a woman who was stronger and faster than me--injured...

In an effort to allow my persistent running injuries to heal but not abandon training altogether, I've taken on a couple of new endeavors. The one most outside of my comfort zone is Tampa CrossBoot . This is a type of training that, to quote the website, "embodies the camaraderie and team effort of fitness bootcamps and the strength and conditioning concepts of CrossFit." But since that doesn't tell you much if you're already unfamiliar with those two types of training, here are some highlights from my first class: I forgot how to jump rope. I paid for this memory lapse with 20 burpees (the penalty for each mess-up was 5 burpees. You do the math). I've since bought a jumprope so I can practice. Mountain-climbers are not meant for Floridians. I kind of liked getting dirty. All of our exercises were done outside at a local park. It felt good to not fear the dirt. I couldn't do everything (or all reps), and that was okay. People really did work at their...