As 2013 draws to a close, it's time for a retrospective. This has been some year. So proud of my accomplishments, and the path I'm on for next year. For the first time, I feel like I've finally found out the secrets to what is going to get me where I want to be, and have faith that I will get there! And I am eternally grateful to Brian and the rest of my family for all of their support - I could not have done it without them. :)
It all started in January, when my employer rolled out the FitBit program with incentives to wear the glorified pedometer all year. I started wearing it a couple weeks into January, and wore it off and on throughout the year. By the end of the year, I was just shy of recording 2 million steps. Had I worn it every day, I would have far surpassed 2 million. The goals were always 10,000 steps/day and 10 flights of stairs/day, so that's where the competitive side of me stepped it up,and my records were 20,241 steps (almost 10 miles) one day, and 100 flights another day (and did my calves hurt the next day!). I signed up for the 2014 program, so I'll have to make sure to wear it more consistently!
This was the year that I decided that if practically everyone I knew was running 5Ks, then I should be able to too. So I signed up for my first one on a whim, along with my sister whose trainer was pushing her to do one. It was actually 3.3 miles, so it was slightly longer than a 5K. I was so proud of myself for jogging the entire race without having to stop and walk at any time (especially considering that I'd never jogged more than 10 minutes straight in my life - apparently, all the Jillian Michaels routines and HIIT sessions on the elliptical built up some endurance)!!! So that was the beginning of my 5K addiction this year, and did several more races:
- 5/19 - Shamrock 3.3 miler (Glastonbury) in 40:56
- 6/15 - Life Without Limits 5k Run, Walk, & Roll (Manchester) in 36:34
- 7/28 - Biggest Loser 5K (Killington, VT) in 47:29, which included a ride up the chairlift (and some massive hills!)
- 8/10 - Electric Run (fun run - not timed)
- 10/27 - YMCA 5K Spooktacular in 35:38
My husband and I also did some obstacle course events with some friends from work as Team Human Cones:
- 6/23 - Merrell Down & Dirty (Hartford) in 55:45
- 8/31 - FitAthlon (Glastonbury) not timed
- 11/2 - FitAthlon (Farmington) not timed
And after joining CrossFit in September, I did 2 CrossFit throw downs:
- 10/19 - Festivus (came in 26th out of 29 novice ladies)
- 12/7 - No Baby, Leave the Stockings On (came in 40th out of 72 scaled ladies - good improvement!)
We've already signed up for next years' Merrell, and we're going to try the Warrior Dash for the first time! And we have our sights set on the next CrossFit Festivus throw down in the spring and place toward the top of the novice group. I'd like to run a couple of the same 5Ks again to see how much I can improve my time. At first I thought I'd want to gradually advance to running a half marathon, but now I think I'd rather focus on getting my fastest 5K time.
Action photo retrospective!
 
 
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The biggest changes definitely started happening in August once I cut gluten and dairy out of my diet. I could not believe the changes I saw in just 2 months. Down 25+ pounds since then, and holding with ease! And although the scale stopped moving for a couple months, I've still been losing inches, and love that it means I'm putting on muscle from all the heavy lifting at CrossFit. I love feeling strong!
A huge highlight was cleaning out 90% of my clothes (and Brian's) and donating them to charity because they were too big for us. And it's been so fun rebuilding my wardrobe. I've bought a couple cute dresses and wear clothes that are more form fitting now, and love wearing them! I can't believe I'm fitting in a size 12 and medium shirts! Looking forward to hitting a 10 next year as I continue to slim down and firm up.
I know I've been slipping on my diet lately - too many holiday carbs sneaking. In January, I'm looking forward to a more Whole30 diet (with the exception of a few parties with friends). In February, I want to do an even more strict Whole30, like I did back in August, to see if I can jump start some weight loss again. Two big fitness goals for 2014 are doing one strict pull-up and climbing to the top of the rope, and I've got to drop some weight to be able to do them.
One last delicious Paleo recipe for the year:
