On Goals...

Every turning of the calendar page means that I frantically look for races to fill the subsequent months to follow. Last year I ran over 1000 miles and raced in over 10 events. Those 10 encompassed 1 5k, 1 10k obstacle course, 1 regular 10k, 4 half marathons, 3 Ragnar relay races (2 road, 1 trail), and the mack-daddy 26.2.

How do I top that in 2014?

This is a pretty serious dilemma for me, because this is also the year that I will write my bigscaryholyshit dissertation and defend it to earn my PhD. Obviously that should be taking up the majority of my time. But the paradox for me lies in the fact that emotional and mental stability are more easily reached when I'm running, under a bit of pressure, and in general just more balanced and focused. Hence the following (still incomplete) race schedule:

January- rebuild my base. I took most of the month of December off thanks to some nasty post-marathon flexor tendinitis, and I need to rebuild slowly to start my half marathon training
February- Start training, Blacksburg Classic 5k
March- Keep training, Ukrops 10k (haven't signed up yet, but probably will soon)
April- Here's where the real fun starts. Last year it was my goal to become a half fanatic. This year my 13.1 goal it to level up within the organization. How does one "level up"? You outdo your previous half marathon fanaticism. For me, this means doing a b2b, or back-to-back. I will run the Blue Ridge half marathon in VA and then roughly 21 hours later, run the Nike Women's half in DC.
May- Keep up my half base for 4 weeks, and add in some swimming and biking for crosstraining. You can guess where this is going...
June- I will probably do Ragnar Chicago (depends on how kind the tax refund is this year) at the beginning of the month, and then start marathon training and sprint triathlon training.
July- Keep on truckin' with training. I am such a glutton for punishment for training through summers. Possibly a repeat of the Merrell Down n Dirty 10k from last year, this time without having mono.
August- IronGirl Columbia sprint triathlon. 0.62mi swim, 17mi bike, 3.4mi run. A million miles of awesome.
September- Monster Month of Marathon training. Also Ragnar Napa Valley. Also a weeklong vacation in Calistoga to kick off taper :)
October- Marathon, TBD. Ideally it will be Chicago,  if not it will definitely be Wineglass
November- Annual Turkey Trot in Naples FL
December- At least one smaller race in there, wherever we are. I hope to have a PhD by the time the holidays roll back in, so I have no idea where we'll be yet.

Phew. I'm tired just typing that out.

Overall goals of 2014:
Harder.
Better.
Faster.
Stronger.

Let's do this.

Once upon a time...

I created this blog as a timekiller between writing a huge grant for USDA funding and studying for my prelim exams to become a PhD candidate.

Then, life happened.

To the tune of running 1000 miles, traveling abroad twice, PRing my 5k, 10k, half marathon and full marathon (!!), and lots of other crazy events in my life (such as cooking a sit-down dinner for 24 people, the pinnacle of my culinary career thus far).

And I deemed myself too busy to blog.

But then I realized, when looking at other friends' blogposts about running, drinking, eating, and doing ALL THE THINGS, that this is exactly the kind of stuff I should be writing about.

So welcome to 2014, everyone. My one written resolution is just that- to write it down. Maybe I'll inspire someone out there to start running, pick up an offset spatula, book that plane ticket, or take the time to appreciate everything they have in life. Or just kill some time like I was trying to do last year with this site.

A day in the life...

Just a typical Wednesday in the Cupcake household.

5:45am- Crickets blare through the phone. Groggily get out of bed and get dressed to tackle today's marathon training workout.
6:15am- Decked out in sexshay compression shorts, Half Fanatics tank, RoadID, HRM and Garmin, strike off for the morning run.
7:30am- Return home from 5mi at goal marathon pace, soaked through EVERYTHING. Decide that sweat in fact soaked through skin and came out the other side of every limb. Grumble to Mr. Cupcake about chafing in highly unfortunate areas on my person.
7:45am- Create the World's Tastiest Lassi (judged only by yours truly, but hey it counts) made of Fage greek yogurt, lite coconut milk, pureed watermelon and white nectarine, and lime zest. Consume smugly as crosswords across the webiverse are conquered.
8:30am- Post-crosswords and cleansing, go to work. Defeat the forces of evil. Well, just a protein gel today. It's a small step towards world domination.
4:30pm- Arrive back at home, swap glasses for safety goggles and  jeans for shorts, and head up the stepladder, brad nailer in hand. It's about time the cedar planks went up in the master closet.
5:30pm- After much futzing with the new air compressor and aesthetics of the cedar planks, consider declaring victory on the closet.
5:45pm- Core workout with a feline audience. She could stand to do some of these Russian twists and heels-to-heaven pulseups herself.
6:00pm- Pans on, olive oil in, oven preheated, make dinner- turkey cutlets with salt-free seasoning, accompanied by pan-roasted brussel sprouts with caramelized shallots and sweet potatoes.
6:30pm- Consume dinner. Kiss Mr. Cupcake on the cheek for his professional pan roasting, while gleefully consuming the extra sprouts. Because hey, I'm doing his INR a favor. Extra glee. Contemplate what dessert to make this weekend for Free-for-all day. Tiramisu is a front-runner.
8:00pm- Viciously cheat on self-imposed marathon training diet with a mint chip Klondike bar. Explain to the left hemisphere of the brain that a 400 calories deficit for the day simply will. not. do. Enjoy the hell out of it.
9:15pm- After two episodes of the F word, head to bed. Watch as much more TV as being conscious can tolerate, and then drift off to sleep.


Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

ZOMG YOU ARE HERE

Congrats!

Your prize for now is this placeholder until I have more time to write a proper entry.