Racing The States Is 8 Years Old!

BTW, I’m still avoiding putting all my thoughts together on our global pandemic. Every day is different. Every day I feel different. Some days I’m calm and positive and others I’m in full-on panic mode, breaking down into tears.

For now, here’s another post I’ve been working on.

COVID-19, an empty, roped-off playground.

When our local municipalities decided to shut down schools and ban gatherings over 10 people, I ended up with a lot more free time on my hands since all of my jobs were impacted. I’ve been keeping busy with random, long put-off projects and one of those was going through my blog.

I went through all my posts to see what was online, in the interwebs. I deleted some, edited some, made sure links were still working, pictures were still there, etc. While doing so, I noticed my blog anniversary had just passed. My first post was 8 years ago, March 1st, 2012.

Looking back, I can see that my writing style is still relatively the same, I’ve just improved a bit. I used to use too many exclamation points and a ton of ellipses…

Okay, maybe I still do that!

This is a perfect representation of me at the time.

Some of my first posts were TERRIBLE; I deleted a few. Some posts I really liked and I’m still really proud of. But I really liked looking back through them all and reminiscing about where I was at those points in my life.

I went through some times of posting regularly and there were other times of barely posting anything.

I really liked that I used to be consistent in my “pre-race prep” and “post-race recap” posts and I used to do a lot more about updating on daily training and running. At one point I did a regular “Tuesday Newsday” which featured weekly recaps of my training. Maybe I’ll start this back up.

Probably not.

I love that my blog has really become a history keeper. That’s why I didn’t delete a lot of them, even if some of them are embarrassing. It was cool to see my personal history… who I was friends with, who I was dating, things I did, my career changes, life milestones, etc. It’s also a history of what was going on in the world at times. I wrote about the movie theater shooting here in Colorado, the Boston bombings, and now there will be COVID-19 posts.

For those of you that may have not been here from the beginning, here are a few of my favorite posts, most popular posts and a few that I think you might enjoy!

My most popular post (according to the stats): Conquering the Manitou Incline.
-I first did the incline in 2013 and then again in 2015. I wrote a review of my experience and it’s been my most viewed post.

My 2nd most viewed post: Ragnar Relay, Snowmass – Post Race Recap
– This was a first-year event for the Ragnar Trail relay series and I got to run for free as a 3W Ambassador. It was a blast and I was hooked!

Least Views: NYRR Virtual Turkey Trot
– I don’t blame you, this isn’t my greatest work nor the best topic.

Here are a few of my personal favorites that I’ve written over the years:

My Rugged Maniac Review
– I ran this race back in 2012 with my dear friend Shay. To this day, I have never, ever, EVER been colder in my life.

My First Marathon Review (series)
– I ran my first and only marathon, the Vermont City Marathon, back in 2013. I loved everything about my training and experience. I was at a really weird place in my life at the time, but running was such a constant and controllable thing that I was very proud of my finish.

Wow! Look at that girl! 25 Years Old!

Ragnar Trail Colorado
– This is one of my personal favorite posts. I originally wrote it for a couple of different publications that fell through and left me pretty disappointed. But I ended up posting it to my blog anyway and I still love it.

CTM Band Review
– This was my first gear review after becoming a BibRave Pro and I got creative with the style and it ended up being one of my favorite pieces.

5 Tips for Making Your Bolder Boulder Experience the Best
– This is for people local to Colorado, but still one of my better posts.

Things I Didn’t Know About Running Postpartum
– By far the best post I think I’ve ever written and it’s relatively new.

Notable or historic posts:

Attaining the Runners’ High
– This was one of my first “research” type of pieces but I really just like the story of my pothead roommate getting his first runner’s high.

My First 3W Race, the Resolute Runner 5k … and the rest is history! (If you’re new, I now am a race director for 3W Races).

Boston Bombings – this happened a month before I was to run my first marathon.

Ben starts appearing in my posts…

And Layton was born! 🙂