11.01.2012

Then and Now: October

Another month over, another month closer to a new year. October was a fun filled month and I love sitting down and looking for photos to put on my monthly round up. However, as I was sorting photos to do this post, I got a little sad. Last year in October, I went to California, Missouri, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York. This year, I went to....California, and I didn't even move around very much. Comparing the two years makes me realize where I am doing things differently. Sometimes this is a good thing and other times it makes me realize that there are areas where I need to get back on track.

Without further ado, here are the Who, the What and the Where of October 2011 vs October 2012.

THE WHO:

In 2011, I got around. 
I hung out with the Parentals, the East Coast family, running friends, 
work friends and high school friends.


 In 2012, it was local family all the way. 
I even accidentally ran into some of them at a Giants game! 
I also spent time with my favorite girls and some new friends too!
(The bagpipe player is my cousin. He can wail on that thing!)



THE WHAT:

Running Miles:
2011: 147 / 2012: 149

In 2011, I was ramping up for my first marathon, so I was putting in a lot of training miles for that. In 2012, I was busy doing more races with only a few miles thrown in on the weeks between. Raced miles counted as about 40% of all miles run this month.

Races:
2011: 2 / 2012: 4

In 2011, I did the cupcake classic (virtual race) and The Green Stride Half in MA. This year, October was the month of races and I had a race every weekend of three different lengths! They took me to Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Cloverdale and San Francisco! See my races page for more info.

Reading:
In 2011, I read a whopping 7 books, my favorite probably being The Hunger Games or Room. In 2012, I read three books and all of them were about running. None of them knocked my socks off. Check out my bookshelf for more info.

THE WHERE:

2011: 
Home, Newport RI, NYC, Missouri, Cambridge MA


2012: 
Oakland, San Francisco, Marin Headlands, Sonoma County


The Verdict? Like I said, last year I went all over the place, but this year I only went to the four places where I had races (see above). I am realizing I need to make some travel plans! However, this year, as far as the Who portion, I am really loving getting more time to spend with some of my favorite people, which I was not able to do as often when I was traveling for work. It's really nice to be able to do things with people on shorter notice (and more often) rather than having to make a big thing out of the times when I was home. I have been having lunches or brunches with friends and I am remembering how important those little half an hour visits here and there really are!

How has your year been different than last year? How has it been the same?

4 comments:

  1. That is really cool that your miles ran were so similar!

    Last October I was just starting to really get hit hard with a sinus infection that never went away. So I spent the month feeling sick. This year I was healthy. :) I read 6 books this month and read 5 last year, so pretty similar. November will be a lower # for me as I am reading a Julia Child biography which is 1,000+ pages long!! I am going to really know her well by the time I finish. ;)

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  2. I agree with Lisa, that's neat that your mileage was so close from year to year. I'm pretty sure I didn't read any books last October since work was much busier. This year has been a little slower and I've had more free time. I ran almost all the same races as last year. A couple of my favorites are in October so that month fills up fast!

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  3. You know what this month's comparison shows? It shows that you can travel all over the place or stay closer to home, but life can be interesting either way. It is, after all, what you make of it.

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  4. You seem to consistently be rocking the October mileage! Last October I DNS'ed Chicago due to an injury and went to a conference in Fort Worth. This year I ran a local half-marathon in Alaska and went to a conference in Cincinnati. Both Octobers I did a lot of grading.

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