Goodbye 2013!

The first half of 2013 was a bit rocky for me. I was still dealing with my Runner’s Knee and spent many, many frustrating hours trying to fix it. I did orthopedic massage, regular massage, acupuncture, tons and tons of physical therapy, I took a break, I got an MRI, I saw several specialists, and got my bike professionally refitted…

In the end, what seemed to help me heal the most was working with Suzanne from Workout Nirvana. She designed several weight lifting programs for me to strengthen my weak parts to help my knees. It seemed to work. Unfortunately, my knees got better too late in the summer for me to get my cycling fitness back. My mileage this year sucked. But what can you do?

Despite the negative start, my year was pretty good. I got to meet some of my favorite bloggers when I crashed Fitbloggin’ and do a lot of really fun things! I also got to go kayaking for the first time. It was such a fun thing and I’d tried to go again all summer long and never fulfilled that goal. Next year for sure!

Food and Maintenance

2013 was kind of weird year for me weight-wise. I did gain a little bit of weight this year. I think the knee injury and the reduction in my fitness abilities finally caught up to me. The good news was that I was able to turn that around before it got out of control. I lost the weight and got back to my maintenance weight.

I wrote a new series about maintenance and I’m glad that some other bloggers joined me. My hope was that I could give some insight into the maintenance world. Most blogs are about weight LOSS and not maintaining it. You can read the series here:

Maintenance 101: How to Eat

Five Truths of Maintenance

Maintenance 101: Beware of Food Creep

Maintenance 101: Self-Love

Maintenance 101: Challenges

Maintenance 101: Fitness Should Be Fun

I also tried going gluten and dairy-free in February. What I discovered was that doing that did nothing for me. I didn’t really feel any better or notice any changes in my body/symptoms/weight etc. The real shocker was that Michael discovered he had a sensitivity to gluten! The little experiment actually ended up being a good thing. He’s doing his best to be gluten free and that has made him feel a lot better!

Got Engaged/Planned a Wedding

This was the big news of the year. But really, was it? I mean Michael and I have been together for over 5 years now and we had talked about getting married for a long time. Either way, the moment came and it was a very nice surprise!

The wedding planning went pretty well. We got the big things taken care of pretty early on. I even got a dress! No this is not THE dress. 🙂

Even though the wedding is “only” 9 months away. It still feels like a lifetime from now. I can’t wait to marry Michael!

Got a Dog!

We’ve talked about getting a dog for years. Yes, years. We’d go back and forth on what kind of breed we were looking for. 2013 was the year we finally got serious about it. We started volunteering at The Pixie Project as dog walkers to get more experience with dogs and help us find one. I felt very strongly about rescue and didn’t want to go through a breeder.

We met a bunch of dogs, checked out some shelters, but in the end Petfinder.com was where we found our baby! We actually met two dogs from Petfinder and it was hard to make a decision. We loved them both. In the end, Bella was our dog.

She seemed to love us. She had experience living in a house with a cat (that was very important to me), and she was just so freakin’ sweet! She settled in to our house quickly and we fell in love with her. Our life was so changed with her in the house.

Fat Kitty did not warm up to Bella very quickly. I think it will take him time.

Travel

Michael and I had the opportunity to take a few mini-weekend getaways. We went to Sisters/Bend, Seattle, and the Washington Coast. It was nice to break up the monotony of the winter getting out of town.

Our big vacation this year was to LA and Santa Monica. I’ve wanted to go to Hollywood forever and I got my wish! We bummed around Hollywood, spotted some celebrities and then hung out at the beach.

LA LA Land

LA: The Restaurants and the Fitness

Beach Towns

Santa Monica Food & Fitness

Next time, we’ll spend more time on the beach.

Looking Forward

2014 is going to be a really busy year. More wedding planning! My hope is that is all goes smoothly and stress-free. 😉

My goal for 2014 is singular: I want to get back into my fitness loves. I want to keep strengthening my knees so that I can return to cycling when the weather gets better. I really, really missed being able to bike to work a few times a week. It was a great stress-reliever, I liked reducing my driving time, and it also freed up my evenings that would be spent in the gym. All around, commuting to work on bike is a win-win situation. I want that back!

I also want to try and run another 5k. I’ve wanted to do that for a few years now and various injuries kept me from really trying to do that. As I get stronger and healthier, this goal is much more attainable.

QUESTION: What was the highlight of 2013 for you? What’s your goal for 2014?