1. Shellac manicures – For the first time in my life, my nails don’t look ragged and jagged and gross with chipped polish that lasts for months as tiny little dots because I am still too lazy to take it off. These manicures last forever (but I go every three weeks) and I get compliments all the time. I feel like a person who is put together and cares about her appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I am not that person; I just feel like her.
2. Refine Method – You all probably hate me because I talk about this all the time and it is only in NYC and you don’t care. I just love it more each class (except during the first two circuits where I wonder why I am there and if it is even worth it), and I’m very excited for the new location opening in Union Square because I think it might prove to be more convenient for me in a few months.
3. Being at work – I mean, I’d still much rather not be there. And I still feel dread on Sunday nights and depression upon waking on Monday mornings, but once I am at work, I actually like being there.
5. Scentsy – A wickless alternative to scented candles, I was skeptical at first because I hate candles and also I’m cheap when it comes to random things that people at work sell and then try to convince me I need. But I made a resolution in February 2010 to be less of an asshole and then I failed, but sometimes I try to make good on that. And now, like everyone else who has one, I love mine very much and ended up buying multiple scents. My favorite is Oats & Honey.
6. Andy – After I finally figured out how to get my really gross runner’s toenail off — using dog nail clippers, thanks to my friend Cassie who had both the idea and the clippers — I told my boyfriend and he said: “Gonna miss that sexy thing.”
7. Kindle – I held off on this for a long time because I used to work at a book company and still have an apartment full of books, even after walking my old lady shopping cart back and forth to the library multiple times (a mile each way) to donate hundreds of books. But then I bought myself one. Is it strange that I think about how grateful I feel for this every single day? Like, even more than I think that about my family?
8. Dylan McKay – I did not remember him having a heroin addiction when he came back to the show after being gone for a few years. What the hell! And why is his sponsor meeting him at the After Dark, a BAR? Whatever. Dylan can do no wrong.
9. Watching places on TV and then going to them – Andy and I watched an episode of Bar Rescue and thought it was so cool that we went up to Framingham, MA and visited The Chicken Bone, where we giggled about being famous, practically asked the manager for his autograph when we spotted him behind the bar and drank The Real Blue — just like on the tee-vee!
10. Billy on the Street – This show is hysterical. Billy Eichner is hilarious. I love the way he thinks, his expressions, his reactions and his inflection. Someone loves envelopes!
Next week:ellasport review and giveaway. If I write it here, it means I actually have to put the running skirt on and get myself on a treadmill to try it out so I can actually review it.
Happy new year! Last year I posted my 2010 DSB Year in Review a little earlier — as in, before the new year — but I also had a lot less going on in my life (read: I had no access to a couch in which to sit and do nothing for hours on end). I ended that post with “I am excited to see where 2011 takes us!” I sometimes lament on how I don’t understand time, and when I wrote that post I did not think for a second about writing this 2011 version, knowing exactly where 2011 took me. I’m glad to be able to say that this year was even better, which I wasn’t sure was even possible at the time.
I never could have known when I wrote last year’s recap that by the same time next year, I would have run one and two-thirds marathons, filmed an online webisode for a huge search engine, fall in love for the first time, find a great job and get quoted in the biggest newspaper in the world, to name just a few. And as always, this blog was instrumental in most of my year.
And if you are one of the 37,000 people who found my blog this past weekend from Texgate lol, I want to say welcome and also that I was advised once to work on not getting frustrated with people who are dumb, but instead to feel fortunate that I (and all of you non-idiots) have a gift that they don’t. It is a very lovely way to think about the world. That said, please send me comments or emails about stupid people you might like to see ridiculed here.
I don’t see the world in such a lovely way.
Anyway, here we go with my 2011 DSB Year in Review . . .
January
On January 1, I rang in the 2011 new year with blogger friends old and new and proclaimed that my goal for 2011 was to find a career where I am writing and doing social media related to health & fitness. I actually achieved that goal (SeeJuly) and even though my job isn’t 100% health & fitness, I am thrilled with what I am doing and there is some fitness-related stuff going on there.
On January 26, I felt legitimized as a blogger who happens to love fitness when I was quoted on page 2 in the New York Times article “Full-Service Gyms Feel A Bit Flabby about getting the most out of my workouts with dedicated, boutique fitness classes.
February
On February 1, I shared my response to that NY Times article — namely that the reason people pay so much for boutique fitness classes and even join on top of already-expensive gym memberships is because these classes produce results.
After alluding to my hip injury that was preventing me from running and taking some of my favorite exercise classes, I finally explained it to everyone in a two part series: My Hip Injury – Part 1 and My Hip Injury – Part 2
Also in February, the amazing exhale spa (home of Core Fusion classes) offered me the chance to try acupuncture to help with my hip. Naturally, I accepted.
March
In early March, a doctor told me I was too pale to run a marathon. This “sports doctor” orthopedist seemed very sure of himself as he chuckled at me for even wanting to do such a thing while my hue was so fair.
The best part of March — of every March — is my favorite time of year, my birthday, at which everyone pays attention to Dori. Everyone has to be nice to me and buy me drinks and I get to be a self-absorbed asshole on this blog and post tons of pictures of myself.
Case in point:
The other best part of March? Meeting the boy who likes sitting on the couch and doing nothing as much as I do. And he actually owns a couch so really that’s why I love him.
I promise I own more than one dress.
April
I fulfilled my dream of attending a Wendy Williams show taping, and appeared on the show on April 12 with my blogging friend Heather (formerly of Hangry Pants fame). Here we are beside Rudy Huxtable’s real life mom:
I also published two freelance articles for the incredible Blisstree.com:
And on April 26, it was time to write a blog post but I didn’t have anything to write about. Then my friend forwarded me an email and I just had to make fun of it. Publicly. It epitomized my friend’s and my saying: What is wrong with EVERYONE?! And so the most popular post in my entire blogging career — by far — was created:
In non-texgate news, I started running again after taking six months off from my hip injury and felt like my November NYC Marathon dream might actually be possible after all.
June
On June 11, Missy and I hosted a free IntenSati class as part of the Be Fit NYC initiative on how to make NYC your gym, and even though we had to change the location (it was too rainy for Central Park), lots of people came and it was a huge success as evidenced by this photo of my ass:
I explained why July is my favorite month of the year (it is REAL SUMMER!) and in unrelated news my roommate moved out of our 320 square goot apartment. I still do not have a place to put things. I also fulfilled my dream of being recognized for taking the best race photographs of all time and appeared on the NYRR.org homepage!
I also accepted a job offer, accomplishing the goal I mentioned earlier of finding a career that involved writing and social media in the wellness world. Really, I am the social media manager for a number of beauty brands (such as Hydroxatone and Sarah McNamara Beauty) but I love it and I’ve got some wellness-related items in the works there too.
I finished the month with a surprise PR in the Queens Half Marathon — my first half marathon post-injury and one I did not train or plan to run my fastest half marathon at 2:06:27 in. Because I learned I can run a sub-10 minute mile half marathon without great training, this race inspired me to do train correctly and do even better in the half marathon distance next year. I have an ambitious goal for 2012.
August
I revealed the secret video shoot I had been alluding to on my blog for almost two months with my Bing: Friends Matter webisode filmed at Refine Method (founder Brynn Jinnett appears in the video), The Gym at Chelsea Piers and Central Park. This was all about how our friends influence our decision, and exists because of Bing’s partnership with Facebook.
While I was in the best shape of my life during that shoot (which happened in June), in August I started feeling run down and — for the first time since I fell in love with exercise in January 2010 — burnt out.  Goes to show that everyone, no matter who they are or how strong — goes through periods where motivating to work out is hard.
Luckily before that happened, I ran a strong 14 miles — the longest run of my life to date, and the first time I ran farther than the half marathon distance. And it was just a week after my half marathon PR!
I ran 15 miles for the first time in my life, and I ran it by myself, which is highly unusual for me with crazy long distances. Â I also decided to stop writing for NBC New York’s GO Healthy NY blog because I had less time with my new job.
I ran the 18 Mile Marathon Tune-Up — a race I ran past the year before and knew it would one day be me — where it would appear I outran death:
And then I ran my planned 20 miler!  With no route planned, Z and I ended up at LaGuardia Airport and Riker’s Island. Those two 20-mile runs both went so great, and I felt so strong both during and after, that I knew I could run 26.2. All doubt about the distance vanished and I felt confident.
November
After a year of qualifying through the NYRR 9+1 program, four months of training, lots of anticipation, excitement and anxiety, and thinking/talking about nothing else for months, it was finally time for the ING NYC Marathon on November 6. Like many things we plan, the race didn’t go as I expected. After suffering indescribable, freak upper-GI pain for a good nine miles, I made the extremely heartbreaking, difficult decision to leave the race at mile 18.
A week later, I surprised most people when I announced that I finished the SunTrust Richmond Marathon in 4:33:29! I completed my first marathon on November 11, 2011 –Â a good 20 minutes faster than I thought I’d finish. I was so happy and thankful that everything worked out the way it did.
Running that race was the greatest four hours of my life and I still wish I was back inside of it.
  Â
On November 22, I announced I was axing Tuesday Blags and instead going to blog when I felt like it. So far, I’ve failed miserably. Happy Tuesday!
December
On December 6, I reflected on what my two years of loving exercise has taught me about myself, which may all have canceled  each other out by points such as “I am lazy” and “I am an underachiever” juxtaposed with “I like pushing myself” and “I am tough on myself.”
I went to my new(ish) job’s holiday party on December 8 which validated my decision to accept said job when I saw they brought in both a caricature artist and a photo booth.
My last post of 2011 was a long-winded explanation of my workout goals for 2012. The short-winded version? I’m only going to take classes I know are excellent or actually want to take, and I am not going to try new classes (either out of curiosity or for review) unless I really, really want to.
And lastly, in December, I received the most thoughtful, meaningful, best present of my life when my brother and sister-in-law sent me this word cloud from my own blog to commemorate my marathon finish. It looks like a sneaker and is fascinating:
So, yeah. I’d say 2011 was pretty great. I ran 585 miles, took more Refine Method and Core Fusion Cardio classes than I can count, ran a marathon, fell in love with a sweet boy with a couch and got an amazing job. I’m in worse shape physically than I was at this time last year, but now that I’m back into taking classes I think things will turn around. And throughout this past year — especially after I was a wreck from my DNF in the NYC Marathon and after I was elated from completing the Richmond Marathon — the support from your comments and emails helped me get through everything. When you’re happy for me, I feel happier for myself. When you commiserate with me, I feel better knowing I’m not alone.
I could not have achieved many of my 2011 accomplishments without this blog and without your support.
I still don’t know what will happen with DSB and my posting frequency, but I can’t imagine not having this record of every month of my life so I’m sure I’ll figure something out. I’ve got great things coming up in 2012 and as always, I’m excited to share it as it happens here.
   
   
