The Year in Review – Fine Fit Day in 2013

Every December, I feel surprised at how quickly the year has gone by. When I look back, though, so much has happened this year and January 2013 feels like an eon ago. Once I started compiling this post of the year in review, I was amazed at how much can be fit into one year!

Here’s what happened on Fine Fit Day in 2013!

January

January was a slow blogging month for me, since we were away over Christmas and the New Year, visiting my family in Australia. Roman was just 10 months old when we got on the plane to go over. While we were there, he began walking! This post is a photo recap of the good times we had: I survived taking a baby on a trip to Australia (but got sick and couldn’t work out).

I also started taking yoga regularly with my friend Jenny, who is a certified yoga instructor. Now, at the end of the year, I feel pretty comfortable walking into a yoga studio, but at the beginning of 2013, I was a little intimidated: Taking a hard yoga class with a friend who is literally a yogi is slightly intimidating.

Also in January, Roman turned the big ONE!! Here he is on his first birthday:

February

February rolled around and I received a nasty anonymous email. There’s always an upside, though – I ended up writing this post on the power of positivity, which is still one of my favorite posts I’ve written:  The Power of Positivity.

Also in February, I launched my series Fit Mama Friday! I spent most of January and early February contacting friends and acquaintances to see if they’d be interested, then writing up their stories. By mid February I was ready with the first Fit Mama Friday, my dear friend Elli: Introducing Fit Mama Friday – Meet Elli.

February also included running a 4 mile race in my backyard – Prospect Park: Race Recap – Al Gordon Classic 4 mile.

March

I wrote this post on how to pack as lightly as possible for the gym, after a friend asked me for advice. She’d just joined a no-frills gym and it meant she had to take everything she needed with her (there weren’t even towels), but she didn’t want to lug around a heavy gym bag all day: Gym Bag Weight Loss.

Also in March, I shared some speed workouts you can do outdoors, when you don’t have access to a track: Speed Workouts for the Track Deprived.

April

First up in April, I shared some tips on re-motivating yourself when you’d fallen out of your exercise routine: Breaking Out of a Fitness Slump .

We also visited some friends in Philly for a fun weekend and Fran ran a 5K! It was so pretty there, with all the spring blossoms. It was so lovely to see our friends and catch up:  Philadelphia Fun and a 5K.

Do you waste time at the gym? In April I wrote this list of time wasters during your workout – see if any of these apply to you: Stop Wasting Time at the Gym.

Another post which ended up on my list of favorites was from April. It’s all about the mystery ingredients you may be surprised to find in your food: Fast, Easy, Cheap, Fake.

May

In May I was lucky enough to attend the Fitness Magazine FitBlogNYC event – a group of fitness bloggers all together in one place for seminars and information booths from the events’ sponsors, as well as a workout. It was such a fun day and I recapped it in two posts, one about the seminars we heard in the morning and one about hanging out with the other bloggers and taking a yoga class with Tara Stiles.

Since I was spending so much time at the playground now the weather was nicer, I started thinking about how children play and how adults can learn from them in terms of getting fit and using their bodies: What Children Can Teach Us About Exercise.

Also in May, I changed my blog name from “Life in Training” to Fine Fit Day. I made the switch from Blogger to WordPress and began working with Rita from Blog Genie to make the blog look all pretty and shiny. Welcome to Fine Fit Day!

After reading lots of blog posts and articles about whether ‘Strong’ is the new ‘Skinny’, I wrote my take on it: Is Strong Wrong?

My home borough of Brooklyn was host to the Brooklyn Half Marathon, which I ran (and was surprised by my time): I Ran Brooklyn! NYRR Brooklyn Half Marathon Recap 2013.

June

June was an awesome month for me professionally, because I began writing my weekly column ‘Working (Out) Mama’ on The Stir, sharing workout advice for busy mamas.

Fran, Roman and I headed up to Vermont in June for a vacation, staying with friends in Burlington, then down to Woodstock. It was such a lovely trip and incredibly hot for Vermont – this was in the middle of a heatwave! Vermont Getaway.

Also in June, my friend and yoga/running buddy Jenny broke the news that she was moving to LA. Boo. 🙁 I still miss her terribly!! (Jenny, come back!!) 😉 Why I’ll Miss My Running Buddy.

I ran the NYRR Mini 10K in June, an annual all-women race, which is one of my favorite races of the year: The race that holds a special place in my heart – NYRR Oakley Mini 10K recap.

July

In July I became a Sweat Pink Ambassador! It’s a great program aimed at inspiring women to achieve their best selves with the help of sweating hard: I’m Ready to Sweat Pink!

I went on a little rant about protein: Can we talk about protein, please?

Since it was a hot summer, I shared some tips on how to beat the heat while working out: Be Cool, Honey Bunny!

And I started training for the ING NYC Marathon!! This was the first of a weekly update post I wrote over my 16 weeks of training: Marathon Training Week 1 Update – HOT.

August

I wrote a post on CrossFit for my column on The Stir and readers of both that column and of Fine Fit Day let me know their thoughts. There were some valid points made by my readers, so I wrote a follow up post on the blog to address their counter-arguments: The CrossFit Controversy – Readers Weigh In.

Training for a second marathon made me realize how important it is to appreciate the journey towards a goal, rather than solely focusing on the goal itself. Here’s what I learned: Losing Sight of the Journey – or, What I’m Learning from Training for a Second Marathon.

In August I wrote the first post in an ongoing series, Running Tips. This post on Intervals for Beginners is one of my most popular posts ever: Running Tips – Intervals for Beginners.

September

September brought a couple of featured interviews on two women running unique businesses in NYC. I interviewed Kristin Deiss, of Deiss Energy Work: What is Reiki? Energy Healing, Skepticism & Holistic Health. Also featured was Heather Curatolo, who had recently left a high-powered corporate career to run her own pet-sitting and dog-walking business (and became incredibly fit as a result!): Doggie Love – How one woman changed her life (and health!) for the love of dogs.

Week 9 of marathon training found me reflecting on the same point the last time I was working towards the marathon. Back in 2010, this was the week I was injured, so this time around I was feeling happy and positive about being so strong and prepared: Marathon Training Week 9 Update – Reflection.

We went on a weekend trip to Chicago for a friend’s wedding in September and had such a wonderful time! Here’s my little family, in all our finest:

October

October 25 was our 11th wedding anniversary! I told you guys the back story of how an Aussie girl ended up living in NYC with an American boy from Vermont: On Our 11th Wedding Anniversary.

I also was part of an awesome G+ hangout panel of Healthy Moms! Check out the You Tube link to the live panel here:

Grete’s Great Gallop is an annual half marathon, which I ran as part of training for the marathon. AND I PR’ed!!! Marathon Training Week 12 – Grete’s Great Gallop.

And I was a TINY bit excited about running the marathon – but I still needed your help to pick which shoes I should wear! I’m Running a Marathon on Sunday (and I need your help picking shoes).

We had lots of fun with my parents, who visited in October and November, from Australia. One of the fun things we did was take them to a NY Rangers hockey game! 🙂

Roman was Max from “Where The Wild Things Are” for Halloween. 🙂

November

I DID IT!! 🙂  ING NYC Marathon 2013 Recap.

So it was only fitting that I write about race recovery in my Running Tips series: Running Tips – Recovering from a Race.

With the end of the year approaching, I started reflecting on life before Roman. In this post I shared the most important parenting lessons  I’d learned: 10 Things I’ve Learned from Becoming a Parent.

As well as “The Big One” I also ran a (much) shorter race this month, the 4 mile ‘Race to Deliver’ on a FREEZING cold day (I thought I might have frostbite on my toes): Scenes from a weekend #3.

We got all dressed up for Thanksgiving. 🙂

December

December started strong, with a massive PR in a holiday 4 mile race – the fastest I’ve ever run: Scenes from a weekend #5 (warning: some bragging involved).

In December, I was part of Elf for Health 2013, four weeks of daily challenges, which was a lot of fun and actually ended up being a really eye-opening, cathartic experience for me. As part of the ‘Pay it Forward’ challenge, I opened up about my experience in December 2010, when my husband Fran became gravely ill and ended up in a coma, with doctors telling me he was going to die: Pay it Forward: A tiny gesture for the ICU staff at the hospital where my husband’s life was saved.

You can read my full recap of the amazing experience of Elf for Health here: How Nearly One Thousand Elves Changed My Life (Elf for Health recap).

I had a couple of wonderful guest posts this month, from Scott Fishman, an NYC-based running coach: The Secret to Achieving New Year’s Resolutions (and running Personal Bests) and another post on goal setting from Australian personal trainer Eli King: 5 Best Tips for Setting Goals You Will Actually Achieve!

And I had some fun wrapping up Fit Mama Friday for the year, first with a kitschy beautifully written poem thanking my featured mamas: Fit Mama Friday: A special poem to wrap up the year and then another post compiling the best advice from my fit mamas – 40 awesome healthy lifestyle tips for you! Fit Mama Friday: The best advice for getting your fitness on track.

Christmas was a lot of fun, with my family in town from Australia!

Thanks to all of you for reading, commenting, sharing and connecting in 2013. I’m looking forward to sharing more about running, training, living and loving this coming year. Stay safe and have fun celebrating tonight!!