HI EVERYONE!
It has been over 3 years since I last bogged. The Olympics got busy- then I took some time off, and decided to retire from playing internationally. This blog was originally about my journey to the Olympics and playing with the National Team, but now I want to shift gears a little bit. Here is a quick recap on what has been going on with my life since Rio 2016....
After the Olympics in Rio, I moved onto a farm with my, then boyfriend, Eli in Efland, North Carolina. It is about 15-20 minutes from my family, and less than 10 from his. We had been dating for about 3.5 years, but never really were in the same place for longer than a few months. About a year and a half later (Feb 2018), we got engaged! By the end of last year, we were married! We are almost to our one year anniversary!
For the months after the Olympics, I was happy to take time away, not work out, and not have the responsibilities of the grind. I started doing field hockey lessons locally (which I still do and love doing!) and just trying to figure out whether I missed field hockey enough to go back and play again. Part way into 2017, I realized I was satisfied with my hockey career and I was ready to hang up my stick from international play. I missed it in a lot of ways, but I was ready for the next challenges of life. I officially retired in July, 2017.
I was getting antsy to have a 'reason' to work out. I've never been motivated by just staying fit. I have such a competitive drive that I needed something to keep me pushing myself. Eli's aunt and uncle suggested we check out Spartan Races (an Obstacle Course race). That sounded fun to me, so we picked a local race in November 2017 and started training. Long story short, we fell in love with it and have been doing them now for 2 years! Last year (2018), I consistently finished in the top 10 (mostly 7th place) and felt like I was doing pretty well. I knew that I wasn't fully committed to it, like I had been the National Team. I knew my workouts did not compare to what I was capable of. I decided for this year (2019) that I was going to really push myself and leave it all out there to see where it landed me. It landed me on the podium (top 3) of over half my races and top 25 at the World Championships! It has been an amazing year- and I've learned a lot about running (wow, I did not know how to long distance run before this journey haha). I'm excited what 2020 has in store for this new athletic 'career' I've found myself immersed in.
My next post will be a recap of the World Championships- so you can get an idea of what that crazy race looked like and a little of what the sport is about. Feel free to leave comments, questions or messages for me!
Best,
Michelle
