Year in Review

If I had the time, I'd do a best/worst, Top 40 List, or Final Countdown of all the happenings over the year. Hell, even if I had the time I wouldn't do it as what I would put together wouldn't match anything on VH1. So I won't.

A lot has happened over the year and, as I'm sure everyone will say, the year flew by! I remember starting my resolution of trying a pull up and the workouts I did leading up to it. I also remember injuring my shoulders 8 months later playing rugby. I've been back in the gym and seeing great gains with Olympic style moves and attempt a pull up from time to time. I know I'll be able to do one eventually. I'm not going to put a timetable on it.

I'm realizing how much more I want to do. I want to try everything. In 1998 I had the 'rugby seed' planted in me, and this year I finally did something about it. I've been running marathons since 2000, doing triathlons since 2001, and doing ultra runs since 2003. This will have been the first time since 2000 I didn't run a marathon. Feels a little weird. I've thought of trying to do one on my own for the hell of it sometime in the next 10 days or so, but what sense of satisfatction would I get out of that? Most of the times, I'd do one or two a few weeks/months after finishing an Ironman just to say "I did it". This year, I was signed up for Marine Corps Marathon and sold my bib to someone who ran MCM as his first marathon. I got more satisfaction from emailing him and getting updates on his training than I did after my previous 3 MCM finishes.

Earlier this week, I finished up a graduate certificate program that I started last Fall. I'm not a student and I'll admit it was tough to stay focused. I still don't feel like it was enough. I felt like I was doing it to honor a promise I made to a professor who believed I had the potential to continue my education. I know I should go on for a Masters, but I don't know in what field to get it in.

I thought I found love again, but had that rug pulled out from under me. I'm still hurting from the fall and it's been a struggle to get back up.

In July/August, I made the trek up to Montreal to participate in the 1st World Outgames. I had a blast and met a bunch of great people. Recently, I've started to reconnect with two of them and hope to see them sometime next month or this summer. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I did it. Next Outgames are in 2009 or 2010 in Coopenhagen and I hope to be there and I hope to meet a whole slew of new people.

For the past 5 years, I've known what I wanted to do athletically. Maybe not 100%, but I've had a pretty good idea of what races I wanted to do and I'd do them. I've known since 2005 I wanted to do the 100 miler and I'm doing that in May. I've known since 2005 that I wanted to do IM Lake Placid and I'm doing it in July.

The thing is... after July, I don't know what to do.
For once, it's weird to look ahead and not know what I'm doing.


And I love that.

I love having the calendar wide open, and it gets me thinking about what I could be doing.

I'm looking forward to the new year. I'm looking forward to a new me.