2015 has come and gone, and just like every other year, it feels like it flew by! And just like every year, it was full of ups and downs, but thankfully, mostly ups!
I found a new, fun place to work out!
After a friend in Florida told me I needed to check out Orangetheory Fitness, I jumped at it when I found out one was opening close to my house. I took classes before there was even equipment in the studio and became a founding member, going 4-5 days a week! Now, I work there part-time and love sharing my experience with others. The members, staff, and coaches at my studio are seriously amazing and they make it such a fun time to spend an hour working out. If you've never been to Orangetheory Fitness I highly recommend checking them out. I've improved my endurance during runs as well as lost close to 30 pounds. Check to see if there's a location near you!
Finding my stride again
Toward the end of 2014, I was seriously burned out from running...After the Atlanta half marathon on Thanksgiving day and having a disaster of a race, I decided I needed a small break from running, and that's exactly what I did. During that break was when I started going to OTF on a regular basis. After a little peer pressure I signed up for a half in April...I didn't do nearly as much long distance training that I should have, but I could certainly tell a difference in the way I was running...I even got a course PR! Seeing the improvement made me excited to run again..I even PRed my 5k distance 2 times in 3 weeks! I'm excited to see where 2016 will take me on the pavement.
A girls weekend/racecation to Disneyland
I was very fortunate to be able to travel to Disneyland for the Disneyland Half Marathon weekend this year! It was such an amazing time with some wonderful friends, both old and new. You know you have great friends when you can go a couple of years without seeing each other and you're able to pick up like you'd just seen each other yesterday. We came from both coasts...Georgia, Florida, Washington, and California to The Happiest Place on Earth for what we dubbed as #DiamondGirlsWeekend. We laughed, we ate, we drank, and we ran - I miss these ladies like crazy and we're already planning our next #DiamondGirlsWeekend.
With those highs also came a couple of lows -
Losing my job
Last February, my team at work as well as others were brought into a room and told that our company was in the process of being purchased and, as a result, they would be downsizing. They couldn't tell us when the sale would be final as there was a lot of red tape they had to go through, so for 6 months we continued to plug along, not sure of when our jobs would come to an end. As scary as it was to think about ending a job I had been at for close to 9 years, it was also a good thing...I needed to move onto something different and this was the push that forced it. I wasn't too torn up about it (obviously as you can tell from my picture) but not having a job for 2 months was definitely not glamorous. Thankfully, the owner at my OTF hired me as a sales associate. I've started a new full time job but still work at OTF one day a week. The real kicker? I found out the sale went through when I was at Disneyland...haha! So what do I do? I grab a celebration button and drinks!
Lost friendships
We all know that people come and go out of our lives...some we have control over while others we don't. Nothing necessarily "happened" for these friendship to fizzle - no arguments or anything like that. We are probably just in two different places in our lives, and I understand that. It's still a bit sad when you think back on all the fun times you had together, but things change...people change...and all you can do is move forward. A friend shared this photo with me and it's so very true...I still think highly of them and if our friendships spark back up I'd be happy to have them back in my life, but if not, I wish them well with their lives. A plus side to this is that some of my existing friendships have grown closer, and I'm excited to see where the new friendships I've started will go. :)
As my friend, Justin, would say... #MakingLemonadeOutta
So there you have it...my thoughts on my 2015. I'm always excited to start a new chapter in my life, and 2016 is shaping up to be an awesome year. I look forward to taking you guys along for the ride!
Until next time,
