A post about everything. EVERYTHING.

I seem to be on a monthly blogging schedule!
I feel like I have accumulated enough interesting things to say to justify a post at this point!
And since it is doubtful that I will blog again until October here is a little of everything. 

Let's see...
Well, Eric and I got married this past weekend!
And clearly, we ran a little race first.
I guess "racing" is not exactly what happened- Eric's Mom threw us and the family a big fun party that evening. So basically the way it played out was that we got there, drank a beer, ate some snacks and ran as best we could after such shenanigans. It was quite a good time!
I totally wore a veil. When else can you do that?!

The guy with the stroller beat us. Whatever ;-)

Then the next day we got married.
It was a helluva party. Seriously, so much fun!
I know this is not a wedding blog but honestly- things were so easy and so great that at some point I might write about details. I feel like bragging, ok? :-)

Laughing. As usual.... All the love!

The wedding party was a great time but (not to be sappy) the day was really about marrying my best friend and how happy we are to be together. We also really like our families and loved having a party where we focused on mingling, taking silly pictures, eating delicious food and high fiving many times.
I noticed later that night that the internet had legit blown up with #bradlowski
You. Are. Welcome.

Yeah, we wore Chucks for the afterparty. Well, Eric wore them all day which is awesome. That is my sister on the right :-)

 

On the running front...
I just won an entry to the Maine Mile! I have never run a mile race so I think this will be super fun and also a PR just for showing up, which always makes things better.
I honestly do not know how I am going to do so I plan to run really fast and be happy with whatever I can do. Marathoners don't tend to train for sprinting but why not right? Maybe I'm destined to be a track superstar. Yeah!! (because.... speed. and mine is amazing)

Running in general is pretty great right now.
I have become aware that enjoying the journey is instrumental.
If every race "training cycle" is fraught with dreading the long run, hating the speedwork, struggling thru the intervals then what is the point.
I love running and enjoy racing- nobody is holding a gun to my head (or any of us casual runners heads) forcing us to do this- so running as a hobby needs to be fun at least most of the time.
This summer I have enjoyed running more than ever. Or, if nothing else, I have taken a step back towards becoming the runner I was several years ago- enjoying the road, accepting that I am only as good as I can be on any given day and meeting myself at that point. (which doesn't mean it is all magic and rainbows. but it is the majority of the time.)

On a running, but different note....
I decided to defer my Chicago entry to next year.
I worried for a moment (literally, a moment) that people might think I was sick, injured, chronically lazy, that maybe I had totally lost my nerve- and judge me but I really can't worry about that and it seems unlikely. I am none of those things and look forward to Chicago '15 when I will feel more financially comfortable with the (large number) of expenses involved. I can not enjoy running when I feel that my decisions are compromising my financial stability!

The good news- and in my mind it is REALLY good news- is that my October marathon is going to be MDI.
I love, love, LOVE running on MDI and I think the marathon there is second to none. As soon as I decided to dedicate my miles to training for that race I got really excited.
I had my first really good marathon on the island and after my yucky Boston this year I need a little MDI magic to put the mojo back into my marathon step.

I have a feeling that will happen! (and I really can not wait!!)