2014-A Year in Review

I’m writing a post to look back on my year, and all of the changes that have occurred. If you asked me in December 2013 where I would be in a year, my prediction would have been WAY off. When I left Ohio to attend East Carolina University in 2007, I just KNEW I would never be found living in Ohio again…boy, I was wrong on that account, too.

January was an interesting month for me…I was interviewing for positions in NC and Ohio, and really pushing to stay in North Carolina so that I could stay close to my boyfriend and because I knew that all of my family was going to be living there at some point in the year. Much to my dismay, the job in Ohio at Nationwide Children’s was the job I was offered, and I took it because I was ready(and needed) to work. So, I accepted the offer, and off to Columbus I went in February!

February, I moved to Columbus, and started work the very next Monday. I loved the hospital as soon as I saw it, and it’s a great place to work. I also went to my first Columbus Running Club Turtle Thursday run. I wanted to branch out and meet some more people, and I knew that if I was going to run a half marathon in October, that I had better get running! This was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I have met so many more people as a result of becoming part of the Columbus running culture. I also lucked out with a great co-worker, and two great supervisors at my new job. They were all super-welcoming, and my co-worker and I quickly became pals.

In March, my parents came to visit from Cleveland, we celebrated my Dad’s 63^rd birthday, and I ran my first 5 miles, non-stop, at Turtle Thursday. March was kind of a slow month for me aside from those events.

April was my boyfriend’s first visit to Columbus, my first Clippers game, my first 5 mile race(which I finished in under 53 minutes), and the first time in a LONG time that I was able to go to Chardon for the Maple Festival! 

May was Raquel’s bachelorette party at Middle Bass Island and Put-In-Bay. We had an absolute blast! I am so glad that I was in Ohio to be able to help Raquel celebrate and prepare for her wedding!! May was also the Memorial Tournament, and it was cool to spend some quality time with my Dad watching some after I finished volunteering. It was hot, but it was a good experience!

June was my 25^th birthday, a quarter of a century…I can’t believe I’m already that old! To celebrate, my parents and I went to see Dave Matthews Band at Blossom, my 12^th DMB show! It was a great time, though I’m not sure my parents were so thrilled. June was also Raquel and Ben’s wedding in Geneva, where we had a blast dancing the night away, and spent some quality time with Kelsey!!

July was kind of a crazy month for me. I spent the 4^th of July in North Carolina, visiting my boyfriend, and got to spend some time with friends. Not long after that, my boyfriend of nearly 5 years broke up with me, and I was pretty heartbroken. I didn’t want it to end, but I think we both knew for a while that it was headed that direction, it was just a matter of when. Looking back on it now, I’m thankful that he ended it when he did, and am thankful that we could both agree to be friends. Two weeks after we broke up, I flew down to North Carolina again, where I spent the weekend with my good friends, Lauren and Jackson, and also went to see Dave Matthews Band in VA Beach with them and my now, ex-boyfriend. I went into it with the mindset that I was going to have a good time, and that recent events weren’t going to change that. I am SO glad that I went, and that we were able to have such a great time at my 13^th DMB show. The next day, I spent the day at Lauren’s family’s pool with Lauren and our friend, Jamie, and it was so nice to kick back with the girls and enjoy the beautiful North Carolina sunshine!

July was also the same month that I decided not to mope about ending a long relationship, so I started using Tinder. I figured that it could be a fun way to meet new people, and maybe get a few dates out of it, too. I quickly became enthralled with the conversations that I was having, and after one awkward meet up at the rib fest with a guy too young for me(thankfully, Olivia was with me, so I had a reason to bail), I decided that maybe I wouldn’t be going on too many dates. However, as a result of perhaps a few too many alcoholic beverages combined with Tinder, I agreed to a date with a guy I had been talking to, and my life quickly changed. This guy chose a restaurant not far from where I lived, and I thought “Well, that’s thoughtful, not making me drive too far. I’ll go for an hour or two, and then see what happens.” So, he met me at the door, and 4 hours later, the restaurant was closing, and we finally left…but I still didn’t know what was going on with this new guy.

August proved to be great! I hung out with this guy a bunch, and slowly I began to realize that he wasn’t just “some guy”. I went to North Carolina to visit my parents, since they moved at the end of July, and spent the week visiting the pool, catching up with friends, and ended the week by attending Katherine and Dan’s wedding, what a fun time!! At the end of August, it was official, I had a new boyfriend. Life is awesome.

September brought lots of Ohio State football watching, meeting Josh’s family, going to my first real country concert(Jason Aldean and Florida Georgia Line), and going to Amanda and Zach’s wedding with Josh as my date. I never thought I would truly jump on the OSU bandwagon, but…here I am.

In October, I ran my first half-marathon, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Half-Marathon,  and finished in 2:18:12, well below my goal of 2:30! It felt GREAT! And, to make it even better, my friend Megan from NC came to run the race! October was also full of Buckeye football watching, and we celebrated Halloween on Middle Bass Island with Victoria, Sean, Raquel, and Ben. Josh and I dressed up as chicken and broccoli, and had a great time! I also joined a gym close to my work in October, and started adding weight lifting to my exercise regimen. Josh started giving me workouts to do every day, and I was hooked!

November was…more football, spending my first Thanksgiving in Columbus with Josh, and going to Steubenville with Josh to visit his family and hang out with friends. I met some of his friends from high school at an OSU-Michigan watch party, and had fun stuffing my face with food and laughing non-stop. Josh’s friends are just as crazy(probably crazier) than my friends! 

December has been great, too. I attended my first Blue Jackets game(or Penguins game, if I’m being pulled over to the dark side…), and am getting ready to spend my first Christmas in the South since I was in elementary school. I’m excited to see my family, but also very sad to be missing the annual Giomuso Christmas Eve party, and sad that I won’t see any of my extended family, either. Next year, I’m pushing for a Cleveland Christmas!!!!! Watching A Christmas Story marathon on TBS just won’t be the same this year.

Overall, 2014 has been a year of ups and downs, but I would say for the most part, it’s been dominated by the ups. I have started a journey toward a healthier me, and have realized that life is too short to spend our time being unhappy. If you’re not happy with a situation or you’re not satisfied with where you are in life, make a change! This goes for work, relationships, or yourself.

I am so thankful for all of the experiences that 2014 has brought me, and I cannot wait to see what 2015 brings! I hope that everyone takes time to reflect on the past year, and gets to ring in 2015 with people that they love. 2015 will be what you make of it. Take all of the positives and all of the negatives, and use them to grow and learn, and make yourself the best person you can be.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2015!

Much love,

Ashley

A lot can change in 5ish months...

Well, yet again...I'm sitting here in awe at the ways that God works in my life. Since the last time I updated my blog in May, I have completed 6 races(5Ks to my first half-marathon), watched a 5 year relationship come to an end, experienced the thrill and fun of using a dating app(surprisingly not as crazy as it seems), and managed to find a boyfriend here in Ohio that has made me love living here again.
If you had asked me months ago how I was liking it here, I likely would have said that it was nice, and the people are nice, but my only goal was moving back to North Carolina. It makes seeing my family more difficult, especially since everyone in my immediate family now lives down there, but that's what plane tickets are for, right?

Aside from work being a little slow for the past few weeks, I can honestly say that I am the happiest that I have been in a long time, and am finally pushing myself to achieve goals that I have wanted to work toward for years. I ran the Nationwide Children's Columbus Half-Marathon on October 19th, and I'm already scheming for 2015 races. My overall goal was to run it in 2 hours and 30 minutes, and I managed to go it in 2:18:12, so I was thrilled! My next BIG goal is to run a marathon in 2015. I was going to do the Columbus Marathon next October, but have decided on the Akron full at the end of September. In the meantime, I'm running my first Thanksgiving Day race here in Columbus, and have multiple smaller races, and at least 2 half-marathons on my list.

Fitness goals are ramping up, and Josh is doing his best to push me in the right direction. I joined a new gym that opened up near work, so I have been making it a habit to go there to get strength training done. So far, I've done 3 workouts that Josh has given me, and they aren't easy, but I feel good about it. I'm hoping to do a Pump and Run 5K in March, so that means benching 70% of my weight as many times as I can before running the 5K, which means I have a lot of work to do!! I think that the hardest part of trying to get stronger and build lean muscle is trying to eat the right foods and stay away from eating "cheat" meals on the regular.

I'm really looking forward to all of the fun that the holiday season is going to bring, and believe it or not, I'm excited for some of this cold weather. It makes for excellent running conditions(until roads get icy), and cold weather is always an excellent excuse to snuggle up on the couch with blankets, a hoodie, a warm bowl of chili, and some CHRISTMAS movies!! I'm looking forward to seeing what Columbus has to offer this time of year, and I can't wait to make some more memories in Buckeyeland.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Lots of love and laughter,

Ashley

Oh and...GO PIRATES!!!

Sometimes, you just gotta run...

And by sometimes, I mean always!!
If someone had come up to me in high school and told me that I would become an endurance runner, I would have laughed in their face. My, how things have changed! OK, well, I wouldn't classify myself as an endurance runner just yet, but I'm on my way!

After I accepted my job in Columbus, I decided that this was going to be my chance to make a change and finally achieve a goal I've been wanting to accomplish. I was going to run a half-marathon. For a few years, I have thrown the idea around and made attempts at sticking to a running routine, with many fails. So, I finally decided that I would sign up for the Nationwide Children's Columbus Half-Marathon. This happens on October 19th, and I knew that almost 8 months would be more than plenty of time to train if I would just stick to my guns and do it.

I signed up, and immediately went to the web in search of places to run and what trails might be near by. Little did I know that I was moving to Columbus, which evidently has an area code of 6-run-4.
I came upon Columbus Running Club's website and decided to go ahead and sign up for a profile. After browsing their site, I found a group named "Turtle Thursday Group Runners", which sounded perfect for me, as I am and always have been a slower runner.

So, I showed up at the meeting spot my first Thursday in town, and was greeted by a group of friendly people who were decked out in cold running gear and excited to be running. I didn't know what to expect, but I had a good feeling about it based on their smiles and laughing...oh, and the fact that they start every run(or almost every one) with a selfie!

I set out with the group on the trail, and not long into our first mile of running, I realized that I was incredibly out of shape, and probably started out way too fast if I was going to make it for three miles. Also, it was already starting to get dark, and being a new runner(or not really a runner at all), I had no headlamp or glowpack to keep me visible. Luckily, one of the guys(and the token male for the evening) stayed back to run with me at a pace slower than any turtle, that's for sure. I was incredibly embarrassed to be so out of shape and had NO idea I'd be running with half-marathoners, marathoners, and even ULTRA runners. He explained that they try not to leave anyone behind when they're running, and that everyone is at different paces and endurance levels. That night, I ran 3.1 miles(that's a 5K), and it took me 39 minutes, and it probably would have taken me longer if it weren't for Stu's encouragement and company.

After running, I learned that the group often goes to dinner and sometimes for ice cream. I was a little apprehensive at first, but shoot...I had just moved, and I didn't really want to go eat dinner by myself at home.We had yummy food and I enjoyed listening to the group's conversations about running, children and their craziness, and really, just kind of initially meeting everyone.

So...I went back the next week...and haven't missed a Thursday since.

They've even convinced me that it's FUN to get up and run at 4:30 and 5:00AM...I've only done it twice so far, but I think I'll be joining them more often. Just over 2 months since my first Turtle Thursday, I ran 6 miles in just over an hour, and there's no way I would have made this progress without the inspiration, encouragement, and help(and by help, I mean dragging me along) from Jamie, Laurie, Annette, Stu, Angela, and the entire bale(that's a group of turtles...yes, I looked it up) that runs on Thursdays(and now sometimes also on Mondays...or Wednesdays).

It feels incredible to be making progress in my fitness and weight loss goals(I've lost 10 pounds since my move!), and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. I am so thankful that I have found such a friendly and welcoming group of people that all share a common interest in running, and I can't wait to celebrate more running successes with food and of course, Jeni's!

Now, I just need a hydration belt, new running shoes, a Garmin watch, and Laurie says I need to get out of the cotton shirts...THEN I'll be on my way! No one ever told me how expensive it is to be a runner!!

In any case...
It feels good to have finally found the push I need to accomplish a long-time goal, and I think maybe, just maybe, I am becoming a runner...for life.

Until next time,

Ashley

Post 5-mile run with Laurie on a Turtle Thursday

Wow, things have changed!

So, I haven't posted in over 6 months. A LOT has happened and changed since October!
-My boyfriend's sister got married in November. Good times were had by all.
-My boyfriend spent Christmas with me in Ohio for the first time in the 5 Christmas seasons we had been together. It was so nice to actually be together with him for Christmas.
-We spent New Year's with some of our good pals in NC, and had a delicious dinner with yummy appetizers.
-In January, I became an aunt for the second time. This time, to a little girl, Georgia, and she is ADORABLE.
-In February, my life got flipped upside down! I FINALLY accepted a job...in COLUMBUS, OH. I never thought that I would be back above the Mason-Dixon, but here I am! The end of January into February until I moved was filled with a lot of different emotions. I wanted to be happy that I finally secured a job, but it meant leaving my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years behind, and quite frankly, that was devastating. He was pretty upset, too, but we came to an agreement that we'd try to make it work, and just see where it goes.
-He came to stay with me for Easter weekend, and it was GREAT to finally see him after two months of being apart. It's not easy, but this summer will bring lots of traveling to NC for weddings and DMB and BEACH, all of which involve spending time with him.
-I moved in on a Saturday and started my job on that next Monday! I might be crazy, but it has turned out to be great so far! I'm working in research, which is exactly what I wanted more experience in, and I'm hoping to go on for that PhD in the next couple of years.
-As a result of moving to Columbus and not knowing more people than I could count on one hand, I decided to check out a running group that I found on Columbus Running Club's website...
My next post is totally dedicated to running, so I won't get into that here.
Anyway, aside from being 8 hours away from my boyfriend, and 6 1/2 hours from my brother's family...life is treating me pretty well. I'm incredibly thankful for these crazy changes and all of the ups and downs that I've been through thus far. I can't wait to see what's next.
Until next time...

-Ashley