Cheers to 2010

Seeing as it's New Year's Eve, this is the obligatory year-in-review post. I'll do this in photos.

In 2010...

January

We went to Philly for the NIRCA Winter Conference. Ben turned 26 (even though sometimes he forgets he's not 27 yet).

Steph & Julia on the Rocky steps

February

Seriously, nothing happens in February. Training began for the InRunCo half marathon training group.  We made lots of new friends!

Also, after 4 months of being on the market, our Indianapolis house was shown in an Indianapolis news story: http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-home-sales-going-up-022210,0,160908.story

March

Ah, snowed-in March. All I remember was lots of snow.  We were living with Mama & Papa B at the time, and Jose Carlos was here (he took this photo).

April

Ben and I managed the event timing for one of our first races of the year, the Coach Hep Cancer Challenge (5k run).  No major hitches. At the same time, half/full marathon training was in full swing.  We also visited my mom in Newark/Columbus and went to the Chihuly exhibit at the Columbus Art Museum. All of that is made of glass!!

May

Oh yes. Indy Mini season!  2010's Indy Mini was just cold and windy. Every year we/the store sets up a tent at the Indy Mini finish celebration area and we grill out for all of our customers - free food after the race!  Grandma makes tons of cookies and brownies, and it's a good time because everyone sits and waits for other training group folk and recount war stories from the hours prior. Not the case. It was so cold that everyone peaced out really early... and I can't really complain about being back in bed by 1pm either! For the 4:30am wake-up, Indy Mini day is always brutal. Ben cooked out and I ran the half marathon completely unprepared (Ben didn't start racing much until later in the year). I surprised myself, finishing in 1:32:16.  As Ben puts it, the Indy Mini really isn't that much fun...  it's just that because everyone else and their mother does it, you feel like you have to too!  Why do we do this to ourselves?!

Doesn't everyone just look cold?

In May I also ran the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, MI and set a marathon PR!  3:16:06.  I highly recommend this race. If you're not sold by the beautiful shoreline backdrop, then consider the fact that everyone gets Coldstone Ice Cream at the finish. (and the best oranges you will ever eat in your entire life - shown below!) Yes, those are headphones... I run best when I listen to music when I run. You can hate all you want. :)  Unfortunately, I spent the next month being injured, since I hurt my left hip during training/racing.  After the Indy Mini, it started setting in that I had a marathon in 3-4 weeks, so I cram-trained for it with my cram-for-the-marathon training plan.  It turned out mostly well, but I wouldn't recommend it if you get injured easily.

Me and Rachel N. at the finish.

It was a BEAUTIFUL out-and-back course.

June

I broke 20 minutes in the 5k - twice - this month! Two PRs, one week after another (if I remember right) on certified courses in the Mag 7 Race Series.  On the injury front, I found out that my left leg is about 5-7 millimeters longer than my right leg, which explains the hip.  Ben raced in a bunch of Mag 7 races as well. Ben started hitting it pretty hard with the ride-run-rides on Wednesdays, where we'd meet at the store, ride ~12 miles out to Pate Hollow, run the 3/4/6 mile loop, and ride our bikes back. It was a pretty tiring day!

In June we started living in our friend Maggie's apartment as subletters... it was nice to have our own space, but apartment living also made us appreciate having a stand-alone house! One neighbor was an opera singer, his roommate was a bassist. The other neighbor just didn't understand how to keep his car parked on his side of the stall...

Anyway, we closed on our house (but didn't move in 'til August)!

July

We got new cell phones. So you'll quit seeing more of the grainy Palm Centro photos from here on out. The Bartleys were Droid X-ing it up!!  We went on our annual pilgrimage to Denver/Boulder, CO and took in the sights. We went to the top of 3 fourteeners, Mt. Evans (cheat - you can drive almost the entire thing), and the peaks at Greys and Torreys. When you climb that high, you have to consciously remember to breathe! The scenery at the top was gorgeous, and almost worth all the complaining I did to get there. There's nothing quite like the Rockies... and now we know why they are named so. We made it to the bottom of Greys & Torreys as it started pouring down rain, just like it does every day. My friend, Matt, is in the photo -- we're buddies from Ohio State and used to run together a bunch, back when I thought he was insane for running marathons. :) He is one of the coolest Chemical Engineers I know!!  Matt also took us to Beaver Creek trail, where we ran past some pret-ty large elk... he didn't mention to us that mountain lion wasn't uncommon until after we finished the trail run.

That's the elevation reading -- the air is really thin up here!

Oh! And how could I forget -- RED EYE RELAY!! What a great time... to fill you in, RER is an overnight ordeal consisting of 7 relay team members who each run 3 legs of 2-5 miles each, throughout the course of the night. In total, there are 108 miles of rural Indiana roads to be covered over 2 loops.We had 3 teams-- "14 feet, 21 legs," "Team Roadkill," and "The Clean-up Crew." Everyone wears reflective gear, and headlamps are a must. You learn a lot about your friends when you and they are sleep-deprived!!  After hours, we converted the store of the basement into a crash pad for people to sleep between their legs. Apparently the police stopped in too, since it was completely sketchy that people were hanging out in a running store at 3am in the morning. Fun times!  And so many stories...  here's what it looks like in the wee hours of the AM, but this is only if you're lucky enough to run with/pass another person along the way. It's very Children of the Corn.

Team Roadkill:

The Clean-Up Crew

Here's 14 feet, 21 legs (below) posing for an event-win photo! We won the overall award and started the latest. Yeah, so maybe we had a few ringers on our team... we still battled it out all night with another store team from Dayton.

August

Our anniversary month!!  Our Colorado trip was obviously one of the major highlights of Summer, but in August we revisited Eagle Creek for our annual photo shoot at "our spot." A few weeks later we produced the first-ever Bloomington Half Marathon, in a low-key way. After the race Ben decided to congratulate one of the finishers.... (our Team Slow bud Erin)

I also signed up to race in my second-ever (sprint) triathlon, which I was super fun because Lesley, Erin C., and Emily were doing it also. This year, no panic attack in the water! It was at Eagle Creek, and I loved it because there was such a good positive vibe to this women's-only race.  I ended up finishing 29th overall. I laugh a little because I was in 161st place after the swim... this is obviously my weak spot! :)

Accepting my prestigious mug award with VIPs

It was so much fun, I didn't want to finish.

Erin - one of my favorites. I LOVE her tri top.

On the house front, we ordered and received some furniture, so we were no longer using the red couch as the all-purpose dining table, sofa, and laptop workspace. That was a relief!

September

In September, we spent the majority of our month working on Hoosiers Outrun Cancer, the largest 5k run in Indiana. It's a benefit for - you guessed it - cancer and brings about 2,500+ people from all over the state and beyond. We stickered, tagged, labeled, entered names into the race database like fools for a few weeks. We had nightmares about HOC. When we weren't doing HOC, we were talking about HOC. When we weren't talking about HOC, we were thinking about HOC.  You get the idea. :)  This was also one of Ben's only experiences in driving a vehicle with a manual transmission. Let's just say that YouTube was a very helpful teaching tool... he drove an F-150 with a 12-foot trailer too!

We spent a LOT of time running in September, which is why (I'll say that at least) I have no worthwhile pictures from that month.

October

MARATHON SEASON BEGINS!  On 10-10-10 Ben ran the Towpath Marathon in Akron, OH. He did awesome!! He initially intended to pace a few of his teammates on "Team Buddy," as it came to be called, but ended up finishing second overall. He won a free pair of New Balance shoes, running 2:47:16 and requalifying for Boston!  His full, detailed race report is here.

The Towpath Gang - also known as Team Buddy

Meanwhile, on 10-10-10 I went with a bunch of ladies to run the Chicago Marathon. It was SO hot, when I passed a bank at 10am clock it read 92 degrees. Sick... I ran a 3:24, but was extremely happy with how it went considering the "conditions." They black-flagged (i.e., encouraged people to quit) the race less than an hour after my finish. Anyway, I messed up my foot around mile 8! This resulted in me having to wear a boot for a few weeks after the marathon (locked cuboid, or so we think. Stress fracture is out.). I can't say I was too upset about taking time off. But, I'm so proud of the others!!  Here are all of their/our smiling faces (this was before we realized it was insanely hot outside):

Best runners & support crew ever.

Action shot!

Then, a week or so after the marathon, Ben and I were mentioned in the Bloomington newspaper. Um, except our name isn't "Hartley."  LOL

October is also known as NIRCA-madness month, the month where we start to go nuts because Nationals is coming up in November. 2010 lived up to its rep once again. Ben didn't have as many opportunities to train for the Tecumseh Trail Marathon (December) as he wanted to, but he still got in some decent trail time.

At the end of the month, we took a week-long vacation with our parents to San Diego - Carlsbad. It was warmer there, but still wear-a-jacket-out chilly. We took a sailboat tour/ride with my mom and went to the famous SD Zoo, and we spent almost an entire day at the USS Midway aircraft carrier museum.

Have you ever thought about how a giraffe bends over?!

Sailboat

Sunset from our resort.

November

NIRCA madness!  Well, you've already seen the sumo wrestling and meet photos. 

In mid-November we found out we were accepted into the Boston Marathon. 

We also hosted our first big shindig at our house, the Fall Training Group Social, complete with fire-pitting-s'mores-making fun. Anneke, our resident wino, brought cases of wine for everyone to try.

The house was completed packed!! Fortunately, our neighbors were more impressed than annoyed that we had so many friends who came over that night. :)

The official Bartley Thanksgiving celebration was also at our house, so we were house-cleaning, house-decorating freaks during the month of November.

At the end of the month I finally - after 5 years - figured out what breed Todd is!  I had always thought he was a mix, but it turns out he's called a Black Polish. Here's a picture of a black polish that's NOT Todd... now tell me he doesn't look like Todd's evil twin!

December

Ben ran the Tecumseh Trail Marathon! It had just snowed about 4-5 inches the night before, and the race was revised at the last minute to an out-and-back from Yellowwood. The scenery was beautiful... the kind of thing that makes you fall in love with running a million times over. And, someday soon (hint hint!) Ben will be sharing his race recap. He finished in 3:45.  Look how much he's enjoying himself, below. This was only 3 miles in.

But, that quickly turned into this:

I ran too, (shh!) as a bandit. Since I was still injured, it was completely a random idea... I hate when people run bandit, but after pacing Rachel for 4 miles, I felt slightly committed since I'd be obstructing the out-and-back runners behind us. I felt good, and nothing hurt! It was pretty exciting that my injured foot - yes, from October in Chicago - wasn't bugging me for the first time that day. Except then my right foot started acting up at mile 21. Anyway, I finished the marathon too, as a long run with Dustin, Rachel, and Emily.  Yep, definitely got in trouble with Dr. Brian Murer the following Monday morning.

Beyond

So, as 2010 comes to an end in a few hours, it's time to get geared up for another fantastic year of running, traveling, and having fun!  Who's with me?!