2012 In Review

Well this should be short and simple. Being away from the keyboard for so long it’s scary how time flies. It was only a couple of posts ago that I wrote a 2011 annual review!!

Where have I been!?

More importantly, where am I now?!

Most importantly, where am I going?!

2012 Executive Summary: The year of taking chances and getting fat.

Yes I am fat again. The year started off great! I trained long and hard for an Ultra 50 Mile Trail race in May. I put in quite a bit of ugly cold wet snowy trail runs starting as far back as November. By February I was very injured – a tear in my achilles. It took quite a while for that to heal up, and to this day it’s still not right. I can feel scar tissue.

That didn’t stop me though. I got very few runs in after that yet I towed the line of a 50mile ultra anyways. Technically it was a 100 Mile race as the 50 Mile registration sold out so I had to register for the looong distance. Long story short – I felt like a million bucks at the 60km mark, I even had my wife run home and grab my headlamp because I planned to run all night and attempt to at least get a few extra laps in and maybe the whole 100 miles. The wheels feel off on that last lap – it’s amazing how quick things go downhill when nutrition goes awry. Not enough electrolytes. The last 10km was a death march. That’s what I was there for, to find my limits. I found them and was very happy to stop at 50 Miles. I met my goal but have no medal to show for it as I was in the 100 Mile category, just a series of injuries and perpetual feeling of burnout ever since. Glad to have Ultra running off the bucket list.

This leads into a new job. I’ll describe this position as ‘an old car’. You know the one where you invest more time and money and then it takes more time and money again and again and again. When will it ever end? At what point in time do you just cut your loses and scrap the car? Don’t get me wrong, I have no regrets and things are just finally looking on the bright side. Priceless experience.

So those pretty much sum up my experiences of the year and more importantly MY EXCUSES. Yes, the burnout from training all winter combined with the perpetual crisis at a new job and it’s not hard to imagine how I gained so much weight and failed to meet my remaining 2012 goals. Goals downgraded back down to dreams as I had no sustainable plan to get me to the starting line of my main events.

I am fat now.

 

So what’s next?

I’m like that 40year old highschool football jock that talks about the good old glory days as if they were yesterday. As if I could do an Ironman or ride 200 Miles no problem. Meanwhile I’m a far cry away from what I once was. A HAS-BEEN.

I have been here before. I know I can get back to a healthy lifestyle I just need to have a goal. Like many of my old readers MattyO, Training Payne – I am an all or nothing kind of guy. I give 110% or not at all. I can’t just come back and do a 5km fun run. I need to do something stupid.

I have alot of stupid ideas. I just haven’t committed to any of them. Being in limbo gives me pause to train for real. It’s too easy to skip a workout or make excuses. I need to register. I need a plan. The peices of the puzzle are in front of me. I’ve got a rough idea but no actual official commitment.

That’s for another post….

One of many distractions this year.