2013 was an exciting year of change for us!
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| Merry Christmas and a happy new year from the Porath's!! |
That big change came from Nichole, as she left her position
as Finance Manager for Red Wing Shoes early in the year. She had been looking
for an opportunity to focus on her training, racing, and coaching for a while, and
has really enjoyed the change of pace that this new adventure has brought. In the best possible way, our life is now more rewarding
and love-filled, simple, and filled with various adventures - especially
athletic adventures!
Rewarding and Love-Filled:
Nate’s dental practice is going strong. He has built a community
in his Faribault office, and 3 ½ years out of dental school he is still excited
to go to work each day with his great staff and patients. He is especially
great with children, and receives high-fives almost weekly from difficult young
patients :).
The challenge and reward makes his day (and week!).
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| Some of Nate's "difficult" patients at the office :) |
Nichole is now using her running experience and expertise in
her own coaching business. She is working with a great (and growing!) group of
athletes and has found working through others to be extremely fulfilling – plus
so far everyone has set new personal bests, which is incredible!
We became an aunt and uncle again! Simon Bloxham was born in February!
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| Simon Daniel Bloxham! |
Simple:
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| Nichole made her a Christmas stocking (all cross-stitch!) |
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| MOA visit! Sierra was a little scared until aunt Nichole reminded her that it was a lot of "fun" to go up and down! |
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| Nichole with Violet, ~8 months old |
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Athletic Adventures:
Nichole started the year with the incredible honor of being
offered a professional shoe contract from Brooks. She is a professional runner!
She took that momentum and ran 5 marathons this year. She started with a bang in
January at the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon where she set a new World Record
by 11 minutes, and won the race outright, beating all the men too!
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| Nichole and her coach, Jerry, before the indoor marathon. If you're looking for pictures of her feet after the race, visit her blog :) |
She followed this up with wins at the Whidbey
Island and Fargo Marathons, to cap off an amazing spring!
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| Getting interviewed after "The Win!" at Fargo |
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| Nate and Nichole post-marathon! |
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| Nichole's family came to cheer. Nichole's brother Ben also ran his first full marathon (with an impressive 3:45 finish!) |
Nichole continued to train through the summer for a fall
marathon, hoping to hit the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials standard. She raced in
both the Chicago Marathon and the NYC Marathon. Training and racing this fall
didn’t go as well as hoped – but that just means she can chase the standard
into 2014!
Both marathons were incredible experiences in their own ways:
Chicago Marathon resulted in a Chicago Tribune photo of her cow-costumed
cheer-crew “discussing” bike route options with a particularly “lovely” police
officer. Ha!
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| At the Chicago Marathon Expo | | | | | | | | | | |
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| The cheer squad that made it into Chicago Tribune! Famous! And yes, there is a story behind the cow costumes :) |
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| Nichole with her biggest cheerleader :) |
NYC Marathon was a huge honor just to participate in, as she was one of the
16
invited Americans to race in the nationally televised Professional Women’s
race. A dream, no doubt!
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| How cool to have a your NAME instead of a number on a bib for the NYC marathon?!? |
When Nate wasn’t busy chasing Nichole around the country
cheering at marathons he had his own success!
2013 was his 10
th year finishing
the Birkie 50k ski marathon, and he had an awesome 39
th place finish!!
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| Winters sure are nicer with snow! |
He put in lots of hours training with Vakava Racing to prepare for the many ski
races he did. He managed to fit in a couple canoe races and a bike race in
addition to the running races he did. He also trained for and finished his
first FULL marathon in Fargo in May, and followed that up with a trail marathon
in the fall. He continues to find new fun ways to burn all the delicious
calories he consumes.
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| Nate won the Musky Fest 10k! He should try to make it look less painful (says Nichole)... |
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Other Adventures:
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| Nichole was the featured speaker at the Whidbey Island Marathon Expo! |
Nichole has taken her passion on the road to a number of
speaking engagements. She was the featured speaker at the Whidbey Island
Marathon Expo in Washington State, she was the speaker at a number of Twin Cities Run Clubs, and she even did a presentation in front of an entire middle school.
She has loved it, and she already has a
corporate wellness presentation scheduled for 2014 and looks forward to
encouraging others on their own journeys.
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| Woman's winner at Whidbey Island Marathon! |
We spent a week in Colorado on vacation in July where we had the
chance to visit Nichole’s sister and her family in Denver. We hiked, ran, and
camped in Rocky Mountain National Park, and then spent a few days at a friend’s
cabin in Breckenridge.
It was beautiful!
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| Colorado! |
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| We've had a lot of fun with her! |
We are all looking forward to 2014 and the adventures it
will bring. We hope to share many of these with you!
Christmas blessings and best wishes for the New Year,
Nate and Nichole (& Mesa!)
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| Merry Christmas from the Porath's! :) |
