Tentative 2015 Race Schedule

Hello, hello! I hope everyone had a good weekend.

My weekend was short, but productive. I kicked it off by staying after school on Friday for some North Star basketball! The Knights were taking on the Turner Tornadoes. Both girls and boys teams won their games and were very fun to watch! I saw a lot of pretty impressive play from both teams. Hopefully I can get to another game soon, and bring Jeff. :)

In the Gildford Gym.

Otherwise, I got some much-needed cleaning and housework done around home, and Jeff and I took a brief trip to Havre yesterday for some errands and a movie. We went to American Sniper. It was pretty good. I didn't know it was based off the story of a real person until the movie ended, so I found it pretty fascinating in that sense. I typically don't love war movies or long battle scenes, and this movie was a lot of both of that, but they balanced the battle scenes and war with some emotional family and relationship scenes. The main character, Chris Kyle, is an inspirational person and the story as a whole was good (and true!). Plus, I thought Bradley Cooper did a great job in his role. Definitely worth the price of admission to see this movie! After a really tough end to the week at school last week, some North Star basketball and a movie were just the escape I needed!

The other thing that happened on Friday is the RaceMT schedule came out. It's not an all-inclusive list of every race in Montana, but RaceMT is based out of Great Falls so the races they do have on their schedule are reasonably close to home for me. I've had some thoughts swimming around my head pertaining to racing and running in 2015 and trying to firm up an idea of what events I'd like to participate in this year, so the calendar from RaceMT helped solidify a few things for me. Most notably, my first race of the season!

Without further ado, here's my (tentative!) racing schedule for 2015!

May 17 (Sunday) Buffalo Jump Race Events, Ulm, MT. In the past they've done one or more of the following: Half Marathon, 10K, 5 Mile, or 3 Mile walk. I'll train for 5mile or 10K, whichever they do this year.  I think this is a trail run. They don't have a website for this race. I came pretty close to doing this one last year but decided against it in the end as I hadn't put in sufficient training to do a 10K at the time and I think the weather was bad. This race is on My Racing Bucket List, so if I do get it done this year, I'll be able to cross this one off the list!

Image source: www.getevent.com

June 7- Possible 5K race in Medora, ND, called the Medora Bully Run. My friend Adria mentioned doing this one because it's close to her hometown. I would probably be up for the road trip, and it looks like a fun race! We'll see.

Mid-June-- Dawson's Run 5K(ish) in Joplin, MT.  Date not set for this race yet. Last year, I was the first place Female finisher for this race. It would be so sweet to have a repeat performance!

June 27 or 28-- 5K somewhere in Iowa, since I'll be there for my Grandma's 90th Birthday celebration and family reunion. Here are a few I'm looking into--

• Kael Man 5K Takes place in Ames (my hometown) at Ada Hayden park, which is where I've run my ATB 5K. Would be cool to do another race there.
• Firecracker 5K in Williamsburg, IA. Pretty close to where my Grandma lives.
• DesMoines Color Vibe 5K. I've never done a color run, so it could be fun.

July-- Find at least one 5K or 10K somewhere in MT. Possibly corresponding with Missoula Marathon.  If I have friends who run the half or full marathon in Missoula this year, I'd like to try to go along, participate in a shorter race, and then cheer like crazy for my friends!

August-- probably no racing due to Harvest craziness.

September 12-- Kickin' Half Marathon and 10K, Great Falls, MT. 10K distance.  I did this race last September and it was pretty good. My first 10K finish!

October-- Opera Run in Bozeman (likely, but not guaranteed) I will do this one if we happen to be in Bozeman for a Bobcat game anyway. Some years it works out, some years it doesn't.

November-- Huffing for Stuffing in Bozeman or Burn the Bird in Great Falls, depending on where we are for Thanksgiving.

Of course, any and all of this is subject to change, but from here, that's more or less how I see my racing season shaping up.  For now, I'm just focusing on getting back in shape with Shape Up Montana, which starts on Sunday, and planning ahead for the Buffalo Jump race in May. It'll be here before you know it!

How was your weekend? If you're a fitness enthusiast, what's on your list this year?