New year. New Goals

As in every other year since around 1987, I made up my list of goals and objectives for the coming year and revisited the list I made last year around New Years Eve.  I’ve made it a personal habit not to share the list but wanted to reflect on some areas.

I am generally pleased with the aspirational aspects of what I set out to do in 2009 and some of the goals accomplished which included completed a 50-mile race in April and three additional marathons during the year (Napa, Windemere and Bizz Johnson).  Though I had hoped to qualify for Boston Marathon during this past year, my realistic training schedule around work commitments would not permit that – but it is definitely on my list for 2010.  I just need to shave about 15 minutes off my PR at CIM in December 2008 and I believe that I have a realistic chance with some serious speed work.

While I had hoped to start fund-raising for Everest and Vinson in the second half of 2009, I will hopefully have an updated site up in the next couple of months with a target of being fully paid by September of 2010 for the Everest attempt in May 2011.  I’ve had some additional conversations around sponsorships and cause affiliations in the past week or two that could help get to the goal, but this will require some time and focus in the next few months.

As always, I approach the coming year with excitement and enthusiasm and wonderment on what the next twelve months will bring to the world that we live in.  Given that our lives are a mix of personal determination combined with destiny, it is a great gift that we get to start each year as if it was a new day dawning with potential only limited by our own self-will.

Living now in the great NorthWest, it is also comforting that every day from December 21st is longer and brighter and that spring is just a few months away.  Even now, in the dead of winter, the weather can be mild enough for long runs like yesterday alongside the lake, with some sun shining down, the mountains beyond topped with snow, and the feeling that anything is possible by running faster and harder – and smiling and laughing more!