Now What...?

Been a while. Yeah, I know. But the dearth of updates to this blog in no way should be interpreted as a lack of progress or activity. To the contrary, in fact. Despite a busy two months and a whole lot of crap at work, after a brief running break post Two Cities Half (all of about three days), I once again found myself hitting the pavement in the 'hood.

Several friends declared "good riddance" to 2009 rather emphatically. I found myself puzzled by this. Sure, from an economic and global standpoint, 2009 was a tough one for many, but their laments seemed to be much more personal in nature. I lost my mom in April to the scourge of our existence known as cancer, but for me 2009 was actually pretty good when all was said and done.

When the year was about to begin, I targeted running 500 miles for the year. Notice I said "targeted." That seemed less daunting than than calling it a resolution or establishing an actual goal. Believe it or not, I wracked up 660.6 miles during the year! Absolutely frickin' amazing! And most of that came in the last six months or so. Also amazing was the miles I put on my butt on the bike. I started logging my bike cross training in July. Through the end of 2009, I had put on 277.4 miles on my Trek mountain bike. All told, I invested almost 140 hours in training during the year--and that's not counting all the yoga classes either. Even with a demanding job that takes me on the road several days a month, I still managed to squeeze in an average of 3+ hours of training each week.

Other accomplishments? Ran my first race--the Cross City 10k. Ran the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure 5k. I also committed to training and racing my first half marathon this past November--and I did better than I could have hoped for. During it all I managed to stay healthy and injury free. Oh, and did I mention that this was accomplished by a 47 year old introverted couch potato?

So now what? For 2010 I'm upping the ante. New year, new approach. The annual training plan! I've already looked at the entire year and identified my training goals and objectives. Notice I'm not using the word "target." I've identified several races that I definitely want to train for and participate in. I also plan to take my cycling from something I do to cross train, to something that I'm actually training to improve. And since I have some level of fitness already in running and cycling, why not go for the ultimate in endurance tests--triathlon?

OK-that triathlon thing has not risen to the level of a committed training goal yet--but certainly the components of it have. I've nailed down my run and bike training for the next several months. Once all the craziness of the new year subsides, my next mission is to track down a swim coach to give me some lessons on technique--and I'll take it from there. Who knows--I'm thinking a late summer/early fall tri competition might be just the ticket! We'll see.

The start of a new year is always a time when the topic of resolutions surface. I've never liked the idea of identifying resolutions. It always seems like such a zero sum game to me. Once you fall off the wagon, you're done. Instead, I prefer to establish intentions. One continually renews an intention. Even when there is a failure or backsliding, you can renew the intention. Wipe the slate clean and start fresh. For 2009, the intention I identified was to seek balance. In looking back over all that transpired in '09, I believe I found balance more often than not. Work, home, family, personal obsessions--all seemed to mesh just as they should with no one focus assuming dominance over the others.

My natural tendency is to go balls out on something to the detriment of something else. For 2010 then, I have renewed my intention to seek balance. To that intention however, I am adding the intention to seek connection with others. The older I get, I'm finding it increasingly important to shed the 'lone wolf' in me and to connect with others on a regular basis. Finally, I'm adding one more: 5 - 9, and lots of colors. That's five to nine servings of fruits and veggies per day, and in every color of the rainbow whenever possible.

2010 here I come!