To say this past week has been nothing short of a whirlwind rollercoaster of emotion, stress, sadness, anger and just shear confusion would be an understatement. Even still as I work through my emotions of this week I remember today is the three month anniversary of the day I lost one of my very close college friends in a horrific accident. If I’ve learned anything from this week, I’ve learned life is short and it is meant to be lived and celebrated as if it could end at any moment. So, I’ve decided to share some of the good things that happened this past week.

Awkward pre-5K photo.

• On Sunday, April 14 I set a two-minute 5K PR at the B.A.A. Boston Marathon 5K, finishing the race in 25:23. As superficial as this sounds, especially in light of the events that transpired the next day, I’m genuinely proud of my 5K finish. I hadn’t been training for shorter distances so I just decided to go into it with little expectations. I just wanted to enjoy it because the course ends with the infamous, “right on Hereford, left on Boylston,” and leads runners across the finish line of the Boston Marathon. It was a really incredible moment made even better by the fact that my parents came to watch me race and then took me out to a really nice breakfast afterwards- an altogether wonderful morning.
• After a very long day on Monday, followed by a longer day on Tuesday, I needed to get out for a run and when I was about to head out my dad said he would join me. My dad used to be a really amazing runner but he doesn’t do much more than a mile or so on the treadmill at the gym. He ran with me for about a mile and then I continued on but it was such a nice gift to be able to share that time with him.
• On Wednesday, I found out that I was accepted onto the Nuun Hydration Hood to Coast relay team! This was a gem of news in a very dreary and quite awful week. I’ve never run a relay but I’m really excited to join Nuun and the other girls picked to be on the team on a 200 mile journey through Oregon!

• Because of the bombings at the Marathon on Monday and the way our coverage unfolded in the following days, I was able to work from home in Massachusetts for the remainder of the week which was a great treat since I was able to spend time with my family. We were all having a difficult time dealing with the Boston bombings and everything that followed so it was a blessing to be able to work through our emotions together and just be supportive of each other.
• I got to see the strength of Boston firsthand and I’ll never forget the resilience, courage and absolute bravery the entire city exhibited this past week.
• And finally, ONE WEEK UNTIL BIG SUR!