On the way back...

I've not blogged for over 6 months.  Why? A number of reasons I guess, last December I had a bad fall and didn't realise at the time that I had fractured my fibula, that wasn't discovered until February, and although the leg healed fine, my head took a knock, not literally but this bit's too hard to explain.
I had to DNS the first three races I had booked for the beginning of the year and that just compounded the sense of not being able to do this anymore...
Thank goodness for my weight training which kept me sane and fit/strong.
In April we headed to Boston which was amazing, emotional and fantastic all at once, then to Big Sur for the marathon and a fantastic holiday meeting in person our amazing friends from California :-)  I had managed 10 runs with the longest being 10miles before the marathon, so to finish was the goal.  I did finish, I had a fab day out in the California sunshine, enjoying the amazing scenery.  Then we'd a couple of days in the mountains in the snow and sunshine followed by a few more days back in Berkley.  I managed another few 5kms and 7miles on the Dipsea Trail with John and Dave on our last day.  Still not able to get much proper training in, for a combination of reasons, stress at work, stress about needing to lose weight, stress at not running properly/well/consistently all took their toll and we headed off to Glenelg for the Dirty30 with more than a little nervousness on my part.  I survived even with 2 spectacular falls, so decided to keep my place on the start list for Great Glen Ultra, I had given withdrawing a lot of serious thought over the previous few months...
Long story short I finished GGU having had an amazing day out.  I learned a lot on Saturday, not least that provided you are healthy and have an underlying fitness, then as long as your head is in the 'right place' it's amazing what it can make your body do.
I will write about the Great Glen in more detail once I can sit for long enough in the one place without my legs twitching!!  However I am pretty chuffed that in 3 weeks I have raced over 100 hard, hilly miles :-)
To be continued...

And now the end is near...

As December draws to a close, so too does 2013, it's been quite a year! 
I think I've blogged about most of the ups and downs that this year has thrown at us so won't go over it all again, but if I'd to sum it up, I'd say it's been a pretty good year. 
There have been lots of new friends this year, too many to mention here, but you all know who you are - most of you turn up at various places around the country to either run a few miles, or quaff a few pints, or if we plan it properly, do both!
Last year's marcothon facebook community spawned the D33 training group which in turn morphed into the Ultra Dafties and Sunday Social(ites) and it kinda went from there...
We've also lost a few friends this year too, mostly too young and this reiterates to me that we don't know what is around the corner, so live for today and carpe those diems every chance you get.
 
I planned each charted course, each careful step along the highway - at least that was the intention, but my original 2013 running goals were usurped by illness and whilst at the time I was absolutely gutted, I recovered and went on to tackle some previously unconsidered challenges, all of which I managed to succeed in and have an absolute blast along the way!
I've loved, I've laughed and cried - and for me the tears have been sad in Boston but mostly of joy.  Few of us have gotten through the year without an injury or disappointment along the way, but we are in the main a resilient bunch, we do get knocked down (and bruised!) and we do get back up again and we help each other as best we can.  If you're reading this and you're currently 'on the bench' then take strength from Nelson Mandela:

“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.”

 I've managed to tick off a few things on my bucket list along the way though there are still plenty in the bucket, and I for one am looking forward to 2014 and the challenges it will bring.
Apologies to Frank Sinatra for the quotes, but to finish with another one...

The record shows I took the blows and did it my way!

I was about to finish there, but one of my new friends of 2013 has just posted on facebook, and I think that this is absolutely wonderful so I hope she won't mind me sharing this with you - her timing could not have been more perfect! Thank You Michele xxx
(sorry for the huge images but I wanted you to be able to read them)

Boston 2013

 A full frontage of a pub 100m from the finish line, decorated to celebrate the arrival of thousands of runners to takepart in the 117th Boston marathon.

You will I am sure be aware that there was a lot of excitement in the Munro household, and in our wider circle of friends about our trip to Boston.  John has worked so hard for the last 6 years to earn his place on the start line, and on 9 April, we set off on what was to become a far more epic adventure than we could ever have imagined... 
Before we left, John blogged about his journey to the start line, it's well worth a read!
We flew to Iceland on 9 April with Icelandair and enjoyed a stopover in Keflavik - not the most exciting place we've ever visited, but ideal for spending the day at the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa.  We had a lovely day there, sun was shining, air temperatures were freezing, but the water was extremely warm and pleasant.  The silica and algae skin treatments were lovely and John enjoyed the dried fish crisps - I didn't!
After a very relaxing day, onwards to Logan International Airport where we met James and Sheela who had flown in from Heathrow. 
We did lots of touristy things and I could write them all down in order, but they pale into insignificance in the light of the tragic events which since unfolded.  Suffice to say that we loved our time in Boston, it's a nice city, it has friendly people, lovely places to eat, plenty to keep the tourists busy, and if you're a shopper, plenty of opportunity for that too.  (oh and fabulous salads in the Cheesecake Factory)
I posted many photographs on facebook showing what we were up to, so I'm sure you've seen them all already :-) However the main reason for the trip was The Marathon, the city was building up nicely with banners and bunting and windows decorated like the one above.  The runners coming is a huge event each April for Boston and all the Towns on the 26.2 mile route in from Hopkinton.

You are all I know, aware of the atrociticies which took place at the finish line on Monday 15 April, we had many friends running in the race, all of whom are thankfully safe and well, only two of them were unable to complete the course, being stopped a mile before the finish and walked to safety by race officials and police.  All the rest were safely through the finish line before the bombs went off. 
There has been 24/7 coverage of the events on Global News networks, much of which I'm sure you've seen/heard/read, and I don't intend to add anything to this other than to say that both John and I were there when the bombs went off, and are extremely fortunate that events transpired in such a way that we were both clear of the blasts and were able to meet up with each other shortly after the explosions.  I have no desire to go into details but will say it was without doubt the scariest half hour of my life until I was able to spot him in the crowd, hug him and shed the first of many tears.  We made our way home, walking the mile back to our apartment amongst crowds of similarly confused runners/supporters who at that time had no clue what had happened.  My phone was going crazy with texts from friends and family asking if we were ok -  these people were of course, following the news and knew what was happening in much greater detail than we did.  Our journey home had the soundtrack of wailing sirens from emergency service vehicles.  Boston Uni Med Centre was at the end of our street, and many of the ambulances were taking the same route as we were.  The rest of the details you know, 3 people were killed and now I think in the region of 180 people seriously injured by the bombs.
There were no post race celebrations on Monday night - we had planned to meet up with our Canadian friends, but it didn't seem appropriate so we stayed close to home, and spent the evening catching up with all the messages from friends and family, reassuring everyone that we were safe and well.
On Tuesday morning we left Boston, James and Sheela headed North to Rockport for a couple of days, and John and I headed South to Cape Cod and a couple of days in Provincetown.  We had a wonderful couple of nights in 8Dyer Hotel Frank is the perfect host, the rooms are fabulous and the lounge/lobby area are comfortable, welcoming and perfect for relaxing in.  Breakfasts are amazing :-)
Provincetown and the beaches are beautiful, we went to Race Point beach yesterday on our way home and spotted the waterspouts of whales!  We then meandered up the road towards Boston, stopping at Chatham for lunch then Plymouth to see 'the rock' glad we didn't spend a day visiting that tourist attraction!  Of course, if you go to Provincetown you'll learn that the Pilgrims actually landed there first and there is a memorial tower here commerating this event.  We arrived at Logan International Airport just before 6pm, plenty of time to check in, get something to eat and board our 9.30pm flight.  There was as you can imagine a vastly increased police presence and extra security checks to be gone through, but apart from some nasty turbulence during the first couple of hours it was a reasonable flight and we got home just before 12 noon.

I'm sorry this isn't the blow by blow account of all the fun times we had, the things we saw, the wonderful and exciting atmosphere at the 5k race on Sunday and the Marathon itself on Monday, but I'm sure you'll understand why...
To all of you who texted or sent facebook messages asking after us, to those of you who followed John and James' wee stick men live online on Monday, to all of you we count as friends, heartfelt thanks for your thoughts and messages of concern.  To all the fellow runners, citizens of Boston, complete strangers, who smiled, spoke a few quiet words or shared a handshake in fellowship, thank you.  Maybe over time, I will write some more about it but until then, if you're a runner keep on running, if your not, then support and encourage those you love who do run xx