January:

This month brought me a new job.  I started my new position at my bank as a credit analyst.  January also brought my CrossFit.  Ry got me into the CrossFit bootcamp for Christmas last year.  It was the gift that kept on giving because now I consider all of those folks my family.

February:

Ry and I spent a lot of time during the month of February traveling with our alma mater’s basketball team, the Southwest Baptist Bearcats.

March:

Not much happened in March.  We had Ryan’s 29th birthday at the end of the month and this month also brought me the first of many medication changes.

April:

This month I ran a 50K relay with a group of 4 other girls.  It was the Frisco 50K and we won!  It’s the first race I’ve ever won.    The girls I ran with were so awesome; they saved us, but still.  I had a great time.

May:

God gave me Ashley this month.  We met at sprint class on the Kickapoo track.  It was the best thing to happen to me.  It was in this month that I started running off and on with her group in the mornings.  Later I was able to call me “my” group too.  Ashley was a long awaited gift.  She has become my exclusive running buddy and good friend.  I am thankful for May!

June:

Ry and I traveled to Nashville this month and went to a Coldplay concert.  It was so awesome!!!  By far it was the best concert I’ve ever been to in my life.  We stayed with our friends Todd and Laura and had a super time.

July:

Ry had shoulder surgery this month to repair a torn rotator cuff.  It was a tough and painful surgery but he came through it with flying colors.  He had several long months of therapy and is now on the flip side.

August:

This month brought me something precious.  August brought me Carson Bradley W, a beautiful sweet baby that I get the pleasure of loving.  He is adorable and growing like a weed.  I will always remember the moment of his birth (although probably not as much as his mom remembers) and how precious it was to me.  I will always love this baby like my own and I’m so blessed to have him and his parents in my life.

September:

Bad memory in September- a root canal.  Ugh, I don’t care for that one bit and definitely do not want another one.  Even though my dentist is amazing and caused me very little discomfort (during the procedure anyway) it is not something I want to do every day.  I now have a dead tooth on my bottom right side that will have to be crowned in 2010.  More joy to come!

October:

Birthday month!  I had another great year.  My 29th year.  I celebrated the day with Ashley by running 20-miles.  She sang happy birthday to me every 5-miles.  It was hysterical and lovely.  One time even in Spanish!  This month was also hard because it brought me lots of heart problems.  It was a year for me in passing out and dizziness (who knows how much time I lost being dizzy) but we spent lots of time changing medications this month.

November:

This was a big month.  In running events I ran the Bass Pro Half Marathon and got a new PR of 1:56.  I also ran the Tulsa Marathon and did not PR.  I ran it in 5 hours and it was a struggle.  It was memorable to me because I got past all the tough heart issues and finished.  I persevered.  That is key to me.  November had some bad things too.  Ryan lost his Grandpa at the beginning of the month.  That was hard.

December:

I ran another marathon in December, the St. Jude Memphis Marathon to celebrate my friend Melinda’s birthday.  This was run 12 days after I ran Tulsa.  This race qualified me to be a Marathon Maniac!  We had a great time over the holidays.

Ry and I bought tickets to a KU game for our brother and sister-in-law for Christmas.  The game was on the 29th and we went with them.  It was so much fun!

As you can see, 2009 was quite the year.  I have really high hopes for 2010 being even better.  Tomorrow I will enlighten you on my plans for the next year.

Thank you all for being so, so important in my life.  I hope we can all look forward to a new year of new friends, new experiences, better and faster races, better health, and lots of love.

So, that being said, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love,
Sarah