Inspiration has hit, and here I am blogging again.

This past Saturday, I laced up my sneakers and went out for a run with David and Eleanor. I have the Run to Remember 5 Miler coming up at the end of May, and I have to get my butt in gear and back in shape. (The last time I ran was last November for the DAV 5K on Castle Island.) This time around it was slow going, and I have to regain my endurance. My legs felt fine but my lungs were on fire.

I’ve got a long way to go if I want to see the low to mid 9’s that I used to run years ago.

And just to go down memory lane, here are the past years that I’ve ran the R2R:

2011 | 2:16:35

This was the only year that I ran the half marathon. The weather was hot and sticky and barely made it a PR (by 4 seconds!).

2012 | 49:18

If you’ve been to the Seaport recently, can you imagine that just 7 years ago this is what the view was? It’s built up so much in the past few years!

2013 | 47:54

This was the race that followed the devastating attack at the Boston Marathon. My parents and I were very fortunate to have gotten a chance to run. They also had a memorial to officer Sean Collier who was supposed to run the race.

2014 | Year of 30 Races | 50:26

This was the year that I turned 30, so to challenge myself, I ran 30 races in the calendar year. (It was my version of the “30 Before 30” lists.)

Hmm, what else is going on in my life?

Well, we’re continuing to hire at the company that I work for! If you’re in the Boston area, I highly encourage you to join us at our career fair today!

And if you follow along on Instagram (alainablissphotos) you’ll see that I’ve been having a great time working on my photography and editing “skills” (I use that term loosely, ). Here are a few of my favorites:

My birthday just so happens to be today (), so this weekend we did what we do every year to celebrate: indulge in a Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s. I know that they’re not the healthiest but I enjoy it. It’s all about balance. I should also add that I’ve been using MyFitnessPal to log and manage my calorie intake and to make sure that my meals are (mostly) balanced. I’m happy to report that I’ve lost 9 pounds since starting it about 2 months ago and I’m almost to my pre-pregnancy weight. As much as I had wished that the weight came off easier (and quicker), I think going the slow and steady route will help me be successful overall.

And with that, I will sign off for today. I’ll see you around, to document my training for my next race. And hopefully pop in for more life updates.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and to have a wonderful week ahead!