With the holidays winding down and only a few days left in 2018, I’m dusting off the keyboard… I always intended to pop in with race recaps and kid updates, because those are so special to me, but blogging fell to the back-burner this year.  I’m planning an intentional comeback in 2019, but not before briefly recapping the incredible year we just had:

January:  We celebrated Jared’s 34th birthday before my parents visited from Ohio for Legoland and race festivities.  Liv ran the Kids Marathon Mile and I ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon (1:41:19 @ 7:44/mile).

February:  For most of the month, we celebrated Liv turning FIVE, as well as Jared’s and my eighth wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day! ❤

March:  I ran the LA Marathon (3:50:43 @ 8:48/mile), the Carlsbad 5000 (21:54 @ 7:03/mile), and then our smiley little Leo turned ONE!

April:  My college bestie and her hubby-to-be visited from Colorado, which was so good for my soul!  And I came “this close” to finally breaking 1:40 at the Beach & Bay Half Marathon (1:40:21 @ 7:40/mile).

May:  Aunt Ali flew out for an epic visit, including Frozen on Ice, beach and pool days, and so many laughs.  We celebrated my 35th birthday and my sixth Mother’s Day ❤ and we finished out the month with the Vista Strawberry Festival — I ran the 10K, (45:25 @ 7:18/mile *a new 10K PR!); we ran the 5K as a family, then Liv rocked the kid’s race on her own!  Oh, and Leo started walking!

June:  I ran my third BQ and 25th marathon: the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon, (3:33:38 @ 8:09/mile).  Jared’s parents visited for Liv’s Pre-K graduation!  My parents flew out again, while Jared and I ventured off to the mountains of Colorado for Laura and Aaron’s wedding weekend.

July:  The kids and I flew to Ohio for a quick visit to see (great) grandma and as many friends as possible before road-tripping to Maryland for a big family summer vacation in Ocean Pines, plus a stop at Jared’s brother’s home near DC.

August:  Liv started Kindergarten!  She joined her first soccer league, we enjoyed a couple trips to Legoland, and Jared and I hired our first (professional) babysitter to watch the kids while we saw Steve Martin & Martin Short.

September:  After 12 years of dreaming (and thousands of miles of running, including 25 marathons, 3 BQs, and 2 kids!) I finally, officially earned a spot in the Boston Marathon for 2019!!!!

My sister Amy (“Aunt Mimi”) came out for an extra special visit, and we celebrated Jessica’s 24th birthday in heaven with a flower petal tribute in Carlsbad.

October:  After 18+ months, I finished breastfeeding/pumping for Leo, then ran my first race on the beach: the Surfing Madonna 10K (49:50 @ 8:02/mile).  My mom and brother (“Uncle Rhino”) visited through Halloween.  And Uncle Rhino won a pie eating contest at the school’s Fall Festival!

November:  We flew to Chicago for another memorable Thanksgiving with Jared’s family.  We swam at a hotel pool on Thanksgiving day, visited the museum and botanic garden, went to a Main Squeeze concert, ran our own Turkey Trot, and played in the snow!  We even squeezed in a special visit with my cousin Kirsten (plus my mom and Aunt Debbie) for haircuts!

December:  My parents and brother flew out for one more visit (Thank you, Frontier Airlines for cheap flights!), followed by Uncle Adam, Aunt Leigh, and Jacob from Maryland.  It’s a been a busy month of holiday festivities: eight days of Hanukkah, holiday concerts and parties, plus trips to Legoland and the zoo, yummy food, movies, music, and lights.

I’ve run my highest mileage ever this year (I’ll finish about 50 miles shy of 2000)!  And Boston Marathon training has officially begun!  As the Lego movie theme song goes: Everything is Awesome!

Well, not “everything” has been awesome… There have been plenty of sicknesses, skinned knees, bills, and various disappointments and stressors, but life is so darn good.  I’ll be saying farewell to 2018 with a big grateful heart — and an abundance of faith and hope for all the awesome that’s in store for 2019.

With joy and love, Team Lurie