Looking back to look forward...

2011 was no slouch of a year in the Rowland house.  While we failed miserably at the monthly date-night dinners, we have so much to be proud of.  We traveled more, celebrated five years of marriage (in Seattle no less), finally got all of our furniture to match, bought a grown-up bedroom set, laughed more, worried less, managed the budget better, and socked money into savings.  And that's just the stuff on the "we" portion of the list.

As for me, well, I completed the summer of run. After signing the contract on December 19, 2010 I immediately began to run.  A lot.  I ran my first-ever 5K in February, and never looked back.  Then in May I ran a half-marathon. 13.1 miles of pure happiness (and pain) and the greatest sense of accomplishment I've ever felt in my life.  But I didn't stop there.  I rounded out the month of May with the second-largest 10k in the United States.  Me and 50,000 other people ran 6.25 miles through the streets of Boulder, Colorado in the Bolder Boulder.  And I kept going.  The running of the Bolder Boulder marked 12-weeks pre-Diva's Half-Marathon in Vail, Colorado.  13.1 miles at 9,000 feet above sea-level.  But, as the Bolder Boulder has trademarked, sea-level is for sissies.

Then, on Monday, August 8th, everything changed.  That was the miraculous day that I found out I was pregnant.  The following Saturday, I had to pretend like everything was OK and finish my last long training run with Lisa...10 miles knowing I was pregnant.  We were only a few steps in when I had to tell Lisa why I was so slow, felt so sick, and kept crying.  It wasn't the run.  It was the munchkin! And so the summer of run concluded.  I went to Vail, but walked 8 miles, took a shortcut, meet Lisa at the 13 mile mark and ran her across the finish line.

And now, this morning as I reflect on all of the little things that have happened since the end-of-august, all I can think about is  how I am pretty sure our son is going to come out a dancer, acrobat, hockey goalie, boxer or some other thing that mandates quick movements and spinning.  And that's when everything falls into perspective.

And so, with that, I am very much looking forward to 2012 and all the amazing things that will come with it. But most of all, the birth of our son.  Happy New Year.