I always write a recap of the year because I like revisiting the highlights of each month. One difference this year is that I’ll be including some events that aren’t necessarily highlights, but I didn’t have a chance to record them in my blog for posterity (joking, I like rereading posts to remember fun things that I did with Ben), so I’m putting them here.
January
- Went on a crazy multi-state trip with Ben (Miami, FL; Boulder, CO; San Antonio & Austin, TX)
- Ran the 3M Half
- Participated in Women’s March in Austin.
February
- Ran a 2.67-mile race (automatic PR & came in 3rd overall for women)
- Ben and I broke up a couple for Valentine’s Day
- PR at NYRR Al Gordon 4-Miler (my first real PR in this amazing racing year 31:50 -> 30:15)
- Marched at the Pro-Immigration March in support of NYC’s status as a sanctuary city
March
- Went on an 8-day trip to Morocco with my mother and sister (highlight of this trip: seeing goats in trees and holding a baby goat)
- Ben started his new job. I became a single parent to Bandit. Professionally, this was a wonderful career opportunity for him and we were incredibly happy when he got the job. It did mean some changes for us in terms of our day-to-day lives and plans for traveling because while I would still be free, Ben was not.
April
- Stopover in London & had a lovely dinner with old friends
- Finally broke the 23-min barrier and set a new 5K PR at the Camba 5K race (22:48)
- Got a running coach at the end of the month
- Participated in political protests
May
- Being coached begins
- Went to Toronto for a week for work. Got to catch up with several of my Torontonian friends.
- Two-year wedding anniversary!
June
- Went on a solo long weekend trip to Moab, Utah (ran the Thelma & Louise Half, canyoneering, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, & Dead Horse State Park)
- New Mile PR (6:37 -> 6:26) at the Northport Nautical Mile
- Get some wedding photos taken! (long story, but we ran out of time at our wedding and our photographer kindly offered to get more photos taken at a later date. In typical Elle style, I procrastinated and took him up on his offer two years later. I love Ryan Brenizer and if you need a wedding photographer, I highly recommend him.)
July
- Got to meet Leah, my coach, in person at the Tracktown Summer Series (which she won btw)
- Did a weekend trip to Westchester County with Ben
- Ben did the New Jersey State Triathlon
- Made cocktails in a trailer in a Breaking Bad-themed bar
August
- Went on a 16-day trip to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, & the Czech Republic with my parents
- Ate two prosecco donuts (amazing)
September
- Ben did the Atlantic City 70.3 Ironman
- Killed it at the 18.12 Challenge (2:37:42 -> 2:31:12)
- Visited the 1000 Islands (yes, where the salad dressing came from)
- Began marathon training
- Took a free “cooking” lesson with a Turkish grandma at Enoteca Maria in Staten Island. A marvelous free program where you get to be a sous chef for a nonna (grandmother in Italian, the program first started with Italian grandmas, but has since expanded to all around the world) for that day. The nonna cooks her food for the restaurant’s evening service and you get to help.
- Got kidnapped & killed in a Brooklyn warehouse in This is Real NYC, a horror escape game. I spent a good portion of my time hiding in a refrigerator with a male stranger in order to hide from our deranged kidnapper. While I did not escape from the warehouse with my life, of course, Ben did.
October
- 40th birthday!!!! #mastersrunner
- Broke the 1:45 barrier at Wineglass Half after 3 years (HUGE PR 1:46:36 -> 1:43:27)
- Attended Ben’s nephew’s wedding
- Spectated Ironman World Championships in Kona in support of the always amazing Kelly Phuah
November
- Weekend girls trip to Syracuse
- New 5K PR at Lee Bong Ju Day 5K (22:48 ->22:31) – set a new PR 7 months after breaking the 23-min barrier for the first time
- 5-Mile PR at PPTC Turkey Trot (39:11 -> 37:37) – the old PR was 4 years old
- Finally got our bluestone delivery for our big spring home renovation project (our backyard will finally get done)
- Did a lot more calling my representatives for various political issues (not that I wasn’t calling in the other months)
December
- BQ & PR at CIM!!!!!! (3:54:03 ->3:40:36)
- Met bloggers Charlotte of I Run Like a Girl & Annie of The Little GSP
- Ben’s 36th birthday!!!! He turned 108 years old in Ben years.
I know for many people 2017 was a difficult year because of the current administration and personal hardships. May 2018 be a better year.
Personally, 2017 was an incredible year. It was one of the best years of my life. I had so much fun with traveling, experiencing cool things, and setting ALL THE PRs. I won’t stop fighting for the causes and issues I believe in. I’m ready to take on 2018.
A Fast Paced Life 
Congrats on an awesome year!
Thanks! Wishing you the very best for 2018!
And to you:)
Reading this made me SO happy. Love all those PRs (and the thought of prosecco donuts as a top highlight)..
How can prosecco doughnuts *not* be a highlight?
You live such an exciting life! What a great year for PR’s and travel! May 2018 be just as awesome!!
Thanks, Angie! It was a fabulous year, much needed after a lot of 2016 stress. Wishing you and Kobi an incredible 2018 as well!!!!
I’m so envious of all your travel! I’m in the process of selling one house and building another, so major travel will be on hold for a bit.
I’m so glad we saw each other at the Lake George Half and hope we can catch up in person again soon!
I’m really glad 2017 is nearly done. I had a stellar running year (thank you Leah!) but a lot of personal challenges with getting divorced after 20 years of marriage after discovering my ex had this whole other secret life and girlfriends going on. But now I know how strong I am. So there’s the plus.
I hope you have a fantastic 2018. The pressure is on to requalify for Boston at Boston so maybe we can run together!
Building a house is a lot of work!!! Good luck!
Sorry to hear about what has been happening in your llife. May 2018 bring a huge turnaround. It would be amazing to run Boston with you in 2019. You can definitely bet that I will be tracking you for Boston 2018.
Wow! I missed a couple of those things (like the kidnapping escape game, but maybe you didn’t blog about it). What an incredible year you had!
Yeah, I didn’t write about it. I meant to, but never got around to it. It was fun and I was really scared during the game, to the point where had it been any scarier, I would have cried. It took me just to the brink of what I could handle, so it was great fun (in retrospect – while hiding, my heart was pounding).
It sounds pretty intense. Reminds me of the movie “The Game.”
Ben loves that movie.
Love your last paragraph. Congrats on all of the PRs (BQ!!!) and good on you for all of the political action. 🙂
Thank you! Happy New Year to you!
Woohoo! You had an amazing 2017! 🙂 Congrats! That horror escape room does not sound fun. After a scarring escape room experience a few months back, I refuse to do any escape room that’s remotely scary. I did one a few days ago that was Willy Wonka themed and I panicked when they dimmed the lights. I felt like a wuss. Haha
What an amazing 2017 for you and I already know 2018 is going to be equally if not more amazing 😉 ❤ I seriously wish we lived closer. I would do a lot of the things you do with you.
I wished we lived closer too! Ben and I have serious plans to move to Colorado one day (this is more like a 10-20 year plan), so while we won’t be neighbors, it certainly will make visiting easier.