2025 Photo Recap

January: When it snows in Central New York these days, you POUNCE on cross country skiing. In 2025, we made it out to Hammond Hill a handful of times. This is one of our favorite ways to spend a winter day.

February: Elizabeth went to Coach Shafer’s very last hockey game! Here she is with a towel they gave each fan to celebrate.

March: In what has become a family tradition, we wrapped up Xander’s spring break in March with the Syracuse Half Marathon. This year it was in the 20s again, thought you wouldn’t know it from Xander’s shorts! Right after the race, Xander grabbed a quick shower and we picked up Chipotle for his 9-hour train ride back to college in Boston.

April: So much happened this month! We went to Xander’s junior recital, Scott and I went to Amsterdam, we ran the Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon and Scott traveled to Manhattan on business. The highlight was when Xander ran the Cheap Marathon in New Hampshire and qualified for the Boston Marathon. We are so excited to watch him run this April. It will be our first time watching since my sister Sarah ran it in 2012!

May: This month brought another trip to Boston. This time we were there to run Boston’s Run to Remember 13.1 with Xander. Xander’s friend Jack joined in the fun with us doing the 5 mile event. It was so much fun to be part of Jack’s first race ever! Boston’s Run to Remember was Xander’s first half marathon when he was 13. We ran every step together. This year he came in 6th overall!

June: Scott, Elizabeth and I ran the Gorges Ithaca Half Marathon in June. It starts just down the road from our house and ends in Ithaca. I ran a sub 2 hour, Elizabeth had a PR and Scott had an excellent race AND got this great race photo starting front and center on the start line.

July: Every July we work the Library aid station for the Finger Lakes 50s. This year we stayed all day and manned the station ourselves. It was such great fun! We had music, library book covers that were named for running, Scott’s guitar music, and more. We even brought a battery to keep a fan going to keep the bugs at bay.

August: The last month of summer was filled with travel! We went to Portland to visit my sister Sarah where we nabbed a 20 mile hiking day that began and ended with this water crossing. We hit Boston twice and also took a quick getaway to Montreal. This trip marked the start of me trying to embrace more “growth opportunities” like stand up paddle boarding, signing up for adult cross country running, and more.

September: As we ushered in fall, we started the Pete Glavin Cross Country season with our Finger Lakes Runners Club. This photo was from our first race of the season in Buffalo, New York. We drove almost 3 hours each way for this 5K race! Signing up for XC helped both of us stay focused on running and connecting with our running friends during the fall season.

October: Elizabeth ran the Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY. It was an unseasonably warm day, hitting mid-80s by the time the race was over. We drove her down there and nabbed this photo before she hopped the bus to the start. Then, we ran a quick 3 miles before the race and then had a BLAST spectating. We had cowbells and great energy to encourage Elizabeth and all the other runners near her. It was great fun!

November: After taking 2024 off from The Turkey Trot for our trip to NYC to watch the Macy’s Parade from Scott’s office window, we were happy to be back for 2025. Scott and I are the Communication folks for this race. A couple years ago we added signage to the course and used some pictures from our family. Scott and Xander stopped to pose with a picture from their past!

December: The highlight for this month uses a photo from July (Elizabeth is in the pink shirt on top of the N). She GRADUATED with her Master’s in Music Education from Nazareth after 18 months of studying while teaching full time in Ithaca.

We’d love to hear from you by email! aedawson16@gmail.com and scott.patrick.dawson@gmail.com. If you’d like more updates throughout the year, Scott and I each have a Substack—subscribing is as easy as entering your email.