My Favorite Things 2011

I realize no one's going to be going batshit crazy over this list because for one, I'm not Oprah, so I'm not giving you any of this shit, and two, who am I and why do you care what I like? But, I think it would be kinda fun to have some posts to review the year. So, here we go.

My Favorite Road Race
Indianapolis OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon.

Sure, I had an awful, awful race that day. But, it didn't take away from the fact of how cool of a race this is! It was well organized, the course is super easy, about a zillion people run this race and all of them are super psyched and happy and amazingly aren't too much in your way. (The race course is built for crowds). I don't really like traveling for half marathons, so I won't do this one again, but man... I'm really glad I did it once!

That's Carolyn and I during the race... ON THE FREAKING INDY 500 RACE TRACK!!!

I mean, how cool is it that you actually get to run on the track? So rad. I loved it!

My Favorite Gear

This was a big expensive year for me and fitness gear. I took the leap and bought some Lululemon yoga tights and some new, supportive sports bras. By the way, I wore the sports bra during the rainy Monkey Marathon and it was the first time I've ever ran a marathon and not had any chafing from my sports bra! I'm in love and have ordered another one and also asked for some for Christmas!

I also hopped onto the compression sock bandwagon (albeit very late).



I actually kinda forget that I have these! But, I do like them and think that they work (even if it's a placebo effect). I even wore them during my interval workout this week. So, yeah, I blame them for running my intervals too fast again!



My Favorite Trail Race

I feel like 2011 was the year of the trail races for me. I ran 100 miles in trail races this year! But my favorite was definitely the 3 Stages Race in Chattanooga, TN.

This was one of the hardest, most rewarding, and most fun things I've ever done. Running 60 miles in 3 days on some of the best trails around and spending 3 days with two really awesome friends made for a great weekend. I've never been so proud of myself after a race and also never been as sore. Oh my god was I sore on Monday.

My Favorite Cross-Training

Yoga. Admittedly, I don't think of Yoga as exercise anymore, but as a bonus it has done some amazing things for my body this year. Last year I got fully addicted to Hot Yoga and then at the end of last year I went on a life-changing Yoga Retreat in Mexico and discovered a whole new yoga path for myself.

I haven't taken a hot yoga class since February and instead go 3-5 times a week to a couple of other studios in town. Nothing against Hot Yoga, I will always have a soft spot for Bikram Style Yoga, as it's what got me into yoga in the first place, but I've just moved onto something else.

When I wasn't sweating my ass off and ruining yoga clothes in Hot Yoga anymore is when I sprang for the Lululemon gear. I also bought a nice new Jade Yoga Mat and threw my old, nasty one out.

My Favorite New Gadget

A Magic Bullet blender thingy.

So, I'm planning on doing a whole other post on health, but I had to throw this out there.

My brother got me one of these for Christmas last year and I was like... okay, yeah, cool. I used it a couple of times, but I already had a blender, so I just kept using my blender. Until I broke the glass pitcher on my blender... I pulled this out (expecting it not to blend the things in my smoothie very well) and it worked brilliantly!

Blending up the smoothie I make everyday for lunch!

It's so much easier to clean than my blender, it works just as well (if not better), and it keeps me from accidentally making a GINORMOUS serving because it's like a single serving blender. I'm in LOVE with this thing!



My Favorite Out of Town Runs

Okay, this is hard... I travelled a TON this year, but my favorite out of town runs were in Scotland and Ireland with my mom.

Seriously. GET YOUR ASS TO SCOTLAND. And IRELAND.

Or ya know, just look at my pictures here...

International Run

Scotland in Pictures Part 1

Scotland in Pictures Part 2

Ireland in Pictures

My Favorite Band to Listen to While I Run:

Cold War Kids.

Few specific tracks I like to run to...

Louder than Ever

Audience

Saint John

We Used to Vacation.

Well, I'm sure there are some totally awesome things that I'm forgetting (maybe this becomes a series of posts?)... but this is a good random round-up.

What were some of your favorite things of 2011?