Hello again, it’s been a while. Reentering the real world has proven more challenging than I was ready for. I’m finding it a little hard to find balance at the moment, but I’m hoping things will calm down in the new year. Working in e-commerce during Christmas is more hectic than anything I’ve ever experienced, and I started at my new job basically the week before Black Friday, so it’s been nonstop since. Running took a backseat the last couple weeks, and I wasn’t able to go to November Project. I got in this bad cycle where I couldn’t sleep because of stress so I’d be too tired to wake up early and run, but I had nothing to release the stress and energy, so I’d carry it all day and then into the night when I couldn’t sleep again. I know running and NP would have helped with that, but I was just too damn tired. And it was raining a lot and I was paranoid about getting a cold from the lack of sleep, stress, and the germs floating around the workplace. Excuses, excuses. BUT marathon training starts next week and I’m very excited about it. And I’ve been in Santa Barbara since Wednesday and already had some good workouts. I don’t usually make resolutions (except to become ambidextrous, which has been my goal every year since I was young for some reason), but in 2015 I’d like to: run my first marathon, break two hours in the half, celebrate my 30th birthday somewhere fun, and work on my French.
I like to do the year in review things, but this year is tough. I want to go back through each month in our travels, but I’m afraid I will just want to post every picture I took. I’ll try to pick a couple favorites.
January
Started the year out in Athens, Georgia. I was going to bootcamp and running, and was probably in the best shape of my life.
Really happy to see friends in Georgia 🙂
February
Ran the Mermaid Half while sick, but still managed to PR by a few seconds.
Moved out of our first apartment.
March
Ran the San Diego Half for the second year.
Started our trip by driving cross-country to New Orleans.
Second stop: Charleston, South Carolina.
Jeremy’s first time in NYC! We had to hang out in this park until our Airbnb was ready and it was really cold and we were regretting bringing so much luggage on our six-month trip.
Visiting my birthplace (NYC, not Washington Square Park).
Made it to Europe! Our first destination: magical Iceland.
Icelandic ponies!
Our little home in Iceland. Okay I could post a million pictures from there but I’ll stop.
April
Next stop: London!
Had our first housesitting assignment in the English countryside. Took care of four cats, three dogs, and some ducks and chickens.
Flew to Zurich after London, went on some really great runs around Lake Zurich.
Visited the charming town of Bern, Switzerland.
Housesat in Geneva – I could get used to running in Switzerland.
Spent a week in Avignon, our first destination in France.
May
Started May by housesitting this massive three-story, eight-bedroom house in Azille, France.
Learned to drive stick from watching YouTube videos.
I’ll never forget you, Lily the dog!
Ahhh, Paris. One of my favorite cities in the world.
Ran along the Seine.
Traveled to Honfleur in Normandy with my parents.
Visited the D-Day Beaches.
Drove alllll day and finally made it to Munich, Germany.
Celebrated Jeremy’s birthday at Hofbrauhaus in Munich.
My parents at Hofbrauhaus 🙂
June
Had a housesitting assignment in Bavaria, south of Munich.
Hiked a mountain for the best beer and pretzels I’ve ever had.
Took an alpine coaster and had the most fun ever.
Celebrated mine and Jeremy’s one-year anniversary at a restaurant overlooking a lake in our little Bavarian village.
Took a day trip to Austria. Drank delicious beer.
Running in Bavaria was awesome.
Drank more delicious beer.
Hello Italy! First stop was Verona.
Stayed in a cool house overlooking Turin, Italy with my parents.
Drove to Tuscany, took a ferry to the coastal town of Portovenere.
Toured the marble quarries of Carrara, Italy.
July
Stopped in Pisa for a night on our way to Rome.
Spent a week in Rome, ate a lot.
Headed to Bologna for a week, a haven for delicious food.
Took a day trip to Venice.
Had some super awesome runs in Bologna.
Back to Germany! Spent a week in Berlin, where we got to celebrate the World Cup win with the rest of the city.
Stepped foot in The Netherlands for the first time. Spent a week in Amsterdam.
August
Spent all of August housesitting in Paris.
Nicole came to visit and I turned 29!
The best cheese plate in the history of cheese plates (at Restaurant Astier in Paris).
More incredible runs in Paris. Joined a running group and did a 13-mile route one Saturday morning.
Took a train at the end of August to Bordeaux, to meet up with our friends Liz and Alain.
September
Alain drove us all around Bordeaux to visit the historic villages in the region, then eventually we drove to San Sebastian, Spain, with a stop in Biarritz, France along the way.
Mine and Jeremy’s first time in Spain.
Flew to Dublin, drove across the entirety of Ireland to get to the coastal town of Dingle.
Completed my first race abroad! The Dingle Half Marathon.
Drove to the Cliffs of Moher.
Spent a week in Dublin, tasting fresh Guinness and visiting the Jameson Distillery.
Said goodbye to Europe, headed back to America.
Drove back across country with stops in Georgia, New Orleans and El Paso, Texas, until we reached Santa Barbara.
October
Moved to LA!
Started November Project.
November
Signed a lease for a new apartment, got settled in Silver Lake.
Ran the Santa Barbara Half Marathon, got hit by a wave afterward.
Started a new job downtown LA.
December
Had a wonderful Christmas, put a picture of myself in pajamas on the internet. And finally got my Santa Barbara Half medal in the mail.
Phew, there you have it. The extremely abbreviated Cliff’s Notes version of the most adventurous year of my life.
Lily Runs the World 
Whow what a year! Good luck topping that 😉
haha thanks, it’s going to be tough!
What a year! Thanks for sharing your photos again–you’re quite talented.
Here’s to a wonderful 2015!
Thank you so much!
Wow, you had an incredible year! It’s so cool that you got to run in all of those different places.
Thanks 🙂 It was so much fun!
What a terrific year-end summary. It’s actually quite difficult to fathom that you did all that in one twelve-month period. Congratulations and of course, may you enjoy another Happy New Year!
I agree, we sure did a lot last year!
Wow…. what a year. Seriously, most amazing year ever!
It was pretty much the best year ever! It will be tough to beat.
What an incredible year! I’m very jealous of your travels 🙂
Thanks, I feel very lucky we were able to do it!
So proud of you guys for touring europe. super cool 🙂
Thank you, I’m proud of us too 🙂
You had a seriously epic year! Such amazing experiences and pictures to show for it. I am sure you will have an awesome 2015!
Thanks, it was really great! I wonder what 2015 will hold…
What an amazing post and reminder of your adventures with Jeremy! I’m so glad I got to share in a tiny tiny bit of it. Cheers to a magical 2015 with so many more adventures!!! Love you Lily bear! xo
Thanks Nicole!! So glad you were able to also 🙂
So I think this might be the best year that ever happened to anybody ever!
Hah, I think so too!
Even the shortened version of your year is super productive and impressive! It’s been fun following along with all of your adventures, I’m looking forward to reading about your marathon training! Happy New Year!
I got tired just trying to recap it! Happy New Years to you too!
What a great year! I’m officially registered for the Skyline to the Sea half and Jesse’s doing the full, so we should meet up! Your pictures are amazing!
Thanks!! Wait, do you mean the Mountains 2 Beach Marathon?
Whoops! I meant Mountains 2 Beach!
yesss!! So excited you guys will be there 🙂
I love your year. 🙂 I spent some of 2014 living vicariously through your beautiful travel photos! Congrats on all your success this year, Lily! I know 2015 has awesome things in store for you!
Thank you so much!!
Lily, I still think the Dingle Half Marathon is my favorite running part of your trip! 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recap; it’s like seeing all of those posts all over again! Happy New Year and I hope it’s off to a great start for you!
Thank you, Tara! I’m pretty sure it was my favorite too 🙂 Happy New Years!
I am in AWE OF THIS! How do you get into house-sitting in another country like this!?
My husband and I signed up with a housesitting network (we chose trustedhousesitters.com but there are a few to choose from) and got some references from people who we had housesat for before, or just people that knew us well, and that was it! There are new posts every day from people needing housesitters all over the world, and you just have to be fast and message them right away. We got lucky and got one pretty fast, but some of the other assignments took longer to get. It was great!