“Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
On Old long syne.” – Robert Burns

So, this is a poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, which is set to music. Y’all know I am full Irish married to a member of Clan Pollock so, that makes me Scottish, too. We even have our own tartan. I’ve always liked this song. I fell asleep on New Year’s Eve at 10:00 while watching football and completely missed singing this song. Getting old sucks.

2014 was a pretty great running year. I ran my first half marathon and then, 10 months later, I ran my first marathon. If you had told me at the finish of the Disney Princess Half Marathon that I would run a marathon in 2014, I would have told you you were crazy. It happened, despite the insanity. In total, I ran 6 half marathons and one marathon plus a few shorter races.

I’ve set out my 2015 races and I have secretly set my running goals. I don’t want to say them out loud yet but here is my racing schedule. I’m still nursing a few nagging injuries. The same old ones from last year so some things never change.

January 18 and 19 – Star Wars Rebel Challenge – 10K on Saturday and half marathon on Sunday. In costumes. I’m super excited about these races. Carly is running them with me and we are going to have so much fun. What is not to love? Disney, Star Wars, beer (the race is sponsored by Sierra Nevada) and running. My four favorite things!

February 4 – running the Vegas Strip at night. I am going to a conference for work in Vegas and I am going to run the strip at night. I don’t know if I will ever make it to an official Vegas race so this is as close as I can get.

February 14 – Krispy Kreme Challenge – 5 miles. 12 donuts. Carnage.

March 22 – Wrightsville Beach Marathon Relay – I will run 9 miles or 5 miles. Heather and I have not divided them up, yet. Heather’s friend Lesley is running the 11 mile leg. I hope there is beer involved.

March 28 – Marine Corp 17.75K in Quanitco. I hope the running gods are smiling on me on March 11 when registration opens for this trail run. If I get in, and I finish, I get automatic entry into the Marine Corps Marathon. I am, hopefully, running it with Heather, Sissy and Sara.

April 12 – Rock N Roll Raleigh Half Marathon – I am mentoring the Fleet Feet training group for the full marathon for this race but there is no way I am running the full. I’m just trying to help other runners reach 26.2. This was the worst race I have ever run. I hated every minute of this horrible, hilly course. I am running it again for redemption.Screw you, Boylan Heights and your horrible hills. This course is going to be my bitch this year.

April 18 – Tarheel 10 Miler – I am running this race 6 days after I make the RNR Raleigh my bitch because this is my favorite race. I love this hometown race but I am not setting any time goals for this since I am going to give it my all in Raleigh.

Marathon training will start sometime in June. It will be hot.

July 4 – I will run the Four on the Fourth. I’m finishing the Tour Le Carrboro, again, this year.

October 3 – Carrboro 10K – part of the Tour Le Carrboro

October 18 – Bull City Race Fest – assuming I get into the MCM, I won’t be able to run the half marathon this year since it is a week before the marathon. I will run the 5 miler.

October 25 – Marine Corp Marathon – I really, really, really hope I get into this race. It is a lottery if we don’t get into the 17.75K. I really want to run this bucket list race. If we don’t get in, we’ve got to find a back-up race so I think it might be the Thunder Road marathon in November in Charlotte. Not as much fun.

Thanksgiving Day – Gallop & Gorge 8K

That is a busy running year. Just the way I like it.