With a Little Help From My Friends

This is where I'd normally write a wrap-up of the year, adding up all the miles I ran and posting pictures of all the t-shirts, medals, and other swag I collected.  But 2015 stopped being about all that for me on April 23.  It instead became about the sustaining love of God, and the amazing support of my family and friends.


I have always known how blessed I am to have such a great family.  I'm so close to my parents and sisters, I have a wonderful relationship with our kids, and I have many extended family members that I enjoy staying in touch with too.  But I have really been awed to discover just how many wonderful supportive friends I have.

There's no "I" in Indy, just US

Friends back in Canton, friends here in Indy, and friends all around the world.  Coworkers, former coworkers, church friends, runner friends, SMOMS, bootcampers, friends from grad school, neighbors.  Friends I've known almost as long as I've lived in Indy, and friends I just met this summer.  It's no exaggeration to say that for all the tears I've cried in sadness over losing Kevin, I have cried just as many in humble gratitude at the support I've received from so many friends.  It's also no coincidence that yesterday when I started working on this blog post, some friend or friends anonymously sent flowers to me at work.

We have other talents besides running

I find myself starting to say "I don't know what I've done to deserve all of you."  But then I think that's kind of the point.  When God pours out his love on us, whether through the people He puts in our lives or some other way, it isn't because we deserve it.  It's just because He loves us.  So we just accept it as a beautiful gift.  And then we go out and love each other in response.

Babes of Bootcamp

And so that's my goal for 2016: to be grateful and to give back.  I'm know I'm still going to have lots of bad days; days when all I can do is go home and put Kevin's clothes on and cry till my head hurts.  But on the okay days and the good days, I'm going to try to give back some fraction of the support you've given me, and love you and encourage you on your journey.

Closed eyes, warm heart?

Of course I can't resist posting one pic of race swag.  I call this the Cuss Word Trifecta.  I was joking with Laura the other night that we could make this our motto for 2016: Do Epic Shit Every Damn Day, Badass!  And with that in mind, here's some of the epic shit I have penciled in on my calendar:

Do Epic Shit Every Damn Day. Badass!

• The Indy East Race Series - I hope all my Indy friends will join me at as many of these as you can.  Four 5Ks for only $60!  That price is good through January 15th, so sign up soon.
• Pacing the 13-14 min/mile group with the Indy Runners Spring Training Program - I'm pretty excited about this!  I'll be helping other runners reach their goal of a spring half marathon.
• My second full marathon and first destination race: Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas!  Kevin & I always wanted to go to Vegas, but we never got to make that trip together.  So this one is for Kevin.  I'm going to run the strip, see all the sights, and take everything in that I can.  Several of the FBG are going too, so I know it will be a blast!
• Lots more fun new things I hope to try: ReFit, Barre Fitness classes, possibly a triathlon in late summer, possibly a 50K in December (or January 2017), hopefully going to summer camp with the FBG in August....