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!!!
