2017 Year in Review

Our year was quite busy with a lot of travel and races. 

Much of January and February were spent running long miles preparing for my first Marathon in Little Rock. With the cold weather, I spent hours running double digits on the treadmill watching the Minions movie along with others on Netflix. All the training was successful as I finished the Little Rock Marathon on March 5th and received the gigantic finisher medal. It is 8” in diameter and weighs 3 pounds!

We went on our big trip of the year to France and Belgium with Juliette and Michael in late May. We started in Lyon visiting Eric’s “French” sister, Cathy. Cathy was an exchange student that lived with the Williams when Eric was 5. Cathy and her daughters were amazing hosts. We toured Lyon and the Burgundy region. We did some wine tasting, visited her parents and climbed up to Mont-Saint Vincent for some amazing views. After Lyon, we spent 3 days in Paris taking in all the sights. Finally, we went to Brussels to visit Eric’s cousin Elizabeth and Jim. We toured around the country side of Belgium, visiting Waterloo, Chateau Veves, Dinant (the birthplace of the saxophone) and the site of the Battle of the Bulge. While there, we ran the Brussels 20KM race in 90 degree heat and high humidity which is rare that time of year. We finished the trip eating waffles and stocking up on Belgian chocolates.

In June, we met Phil in Seattle for the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon/Half Marathon. We also travelled out to Rapid City for a quick weekend to surprise Eric’s mom for her 75th birthday. July included a quick weekend trip to Chicago to run the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and enjoy Chicago style pizza.

We travelled to NYC in September for another destination half marathon. We ran the Newport Liberty Half Marathon across the river in Jersey City, NJ. The highlights of the course were running past the backside of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the amazing views of the Manhattan skyline. After the race, we spent the rest of our time in NYC. We went on the Circle Line Cruise to get the best views of the city. We attended the Twins vs Yankees game at Yankee Stadium. We visited the new National September 11th Memorial & Museum. We finished up our vacation with a trip to the Top of the Rock at night. It is a great place to take in the city lights.

October was another busy month. It started off with a bang with the Twin Cities Marathon Weekend. Phil, Byron, Paula’s sisters, DJ and Eric ran the marathon. I stuck with the 10 mile course. Paula, my mom and Eric’s brother, Tim, were our spectators. It was a miserable day as it was rainy, cold and windy but I had a lot of fun. The best part was Phil finished his 50 marathons by his 50th birthday goal!

A few days later we were made “great” by my niece Danielle as she had a baby boy, our first great nephew, Blake. He is a very cute and active boy, rolling over at 20 days old! We have been down many times to visit including his Baptism in late October. Most of my family was there, including Nancy, who came up from Texas, as well as Dylan and his fiancée Melissa, they were Godparents.

We saw Dylan and Melissa again in November when we travelled down to Madison to run the half marathon. Melissa was a diehard spectator, braving the elements to see us at a couple points along the course. After lunch to celebrate Dylan’s birthday, Mom and I started our drive to Nashville. We spent a week listening to music in honkytonks, touring the city on a trolley and attending some special shows. The highlight of the trip was attending the CMA Country Christmas hosted by Reba taping at the Grand Ole Opry. It was fantastic!

We went to Danielle and Bradley’s house for Thanksgiving. It was a nice crowd including my mom, DJ and Bradley’s family. 

The first weekend in December we flew down to Austin, Texas to see Nancy and Greg. We ran the Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Half Marathon. It was hot, humid to start and then it rained so we were wet for 10 miles. Fun times! 

My goal of running a marathon before my 40th birthday came 10 months early so I decided I need a new goal – 40 races before my 40th birthday. Eric was annoyed that I decided this 2 months into the year (as we could have done more races in January and February). I’m happy to report that I succeed as race #40 was this past weekend, two weeks before my 40th birthday!

We hope you had a great 2017 and that your 2018 will be even better. 

Love, Eric, Kim and Swirl