posted by Lee@Tri*Inspired*Life on General

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My highlight lately was a milestone, but there was so much associated with it that made it so very special! The milestone is that I turned 40 on October 1!  I had so much fun celebrating this birthday, that I can truly say that I brought in 40 with bells on!

Honestly, I need to go back to July 27, when I completed Ironman. I did not register for an Ironman specifically because I was turning 40 in 2014, but after I realized it, I thought the timing was pretty neat. So, going back more than two moths before my birthday, I was basking in my glory after completing the race, being the fittest I have ever been in my life, while being 39 going on 40!

Then jump to September 27, the weekend before my birthday, when Tony and I were (supposedly) going to a friend’s’ house for dinner. Little did I know that there were lots of other friends also there waiting for my arrival to yell “SURPRISE”. They got me! I had a great night and felt so lucky that so many of my close friends were all together in one place to celebrate.

Tony was the original mastermind but had lots of help to pull off the surprise! They had planned some of my favorite foods, cocktails and dessert!

There was a photo slide show with tons of pictures through my 40 years. We even had a photo booth to act silly and have something to take as a memoir of the night.   All the little details were covered! I am a lucky girl!!

The original plan (the one that I actually knew about) to celebrate my 40th was for us to travel to Boston for a fun weekend. We planned to travel the day after my birthday, so I took Wednesday off (my actual birthday), because who really wants to work on their birthday?!?! (I have never taken a day off work because it was my birthday, but I decided this was the year to do it!) I enjoyed my day to do whatever I wanted to do:)

We had a great time in Boston. Neither one of us had ever been to Boston and we thought it would be a fun city to check out and explore. We were right. We did lots of eating, poking around town and we ran every day!

I always enjoy running when I am traveling because it lets you check out the city in a different way. Even though we pretty much walked everywhere, running the city, is still different to me. Plus, since we frequently saw people running around town, it gave me the extra motivation to do the same. One of our runs took us by the Boston Marathon finish line. Obviously, we had to stop and take a look. I think it is very cool how the finish is painted on the road. There may even be some motivation, by my partner in crime, to train for a race to try to qualify. We will see what he decides down the road!

I had originally scheduled something on my birthday that I have never done before, but it had to be rescheduled. So, this happened the week after my birthday…I got my M-dot tattoo! I am really pleased with how it came out. I had sent pictures to the artist that inspired the design in my mind and she really captured it perfectly. I now have a permanent reminder of a goal that I worked tremendously hard to accomplish and if I ever doubt my strength and determination, I will take a look at my tattoo and forever be reminded!

Amongst all this activity, I am still enjoying and focusing on the flexibility I have in my training routine. I have been successful at incorporating yoga on a more regular basis and as a result, I feel I am getting stronger in my yoga. I also have been doing a bit more strength training and core work. Running and biking (trainer) are still are in the regular rotation but there have been no recent trips to the pool.  There needs to be…soon…