Year in Review

Ugh, I hate this. Especially since I know I haven't done particularly well against these goals I set for last year. Here we go (the first section is from last year's goal post:

Run two spring halves and a full. Not for time. Just for the base that it will give me going into the summer. I'm rehabbing my creaky knee and putting a lot of focus on getting my fundamentals right. Right now, the schedule calls for Austin in February and Heels n Hills in May. In between, I will travel to OKC for the marathon there the last week of April.
GRADE: B-
Well, I ended up running the equivalent distance, spread out over the halves that I did to complete the Love the Half challenge. Six half-marathons, none a PR, but they did well to build the base going into the summer running-wise. Stay tuned for info about Oklahoma City, too...

Finish five sprint tris throughout the summer and early fall. At least two of the races will be open water. Danskin is on the docket for sure, but the others will be small local races, with pool swims. The only goals will be to finish and improve performance and confidence from one race to the next.
GRADE: F
Um, yeah, I didn't even swim much this year (Fridays at the kid's pool don't really count), and I found it hard to get on the bike at all, except for a few Sunday morning rides with the Elder Child. Nowhere near ready for the next step in triathlon at all. Will have to carry this one over to 2009.

Run another fall marathon. NYC is on dock again, but if I don't get in, then I will find another the week after our birthdays. I may or may not do White Rock again. If I do, it will totally depend on what I feel like at the time. There will be no pressure to do White Rock.
GRADE: Incomplete
Didn't get into NYC. Had no pressure to get into White Rock at all. Really I felt like I couldn't justify being gone for 3-5 hours on weekend mornings when I was gone so much during the week. I just didn't want to take the time away from the family. It became less important to me as the year went on to do a fall race. Obviously, I've re-discovered my motivation, so it drove me to sign up for Cowtown, but for 2008, a full marathon wasn't in the cards for me.

Lose the weight, for once and for good. The bodybugg will help me get there, but in the end, it's all about the calorie balance. And moving my body. And eating the right amounts of the right things. I can get there. I will get there.
GRADE: D
Didn't gain weight (that would have been an F), and considering all that we had going on with the house that wasn't, I think it's alright. Am I happy about it? No, not at all. Did I keep up with the BodyBugg after April or so? No, not really. Hard to keep going with something when you're not seeing any results. I'm still not sure what the missing element is.

Do what it takes to stay healthy and uninjured. This means making the time for weights, stretching, yoga, icing, heat packs, rehab. massage, and regular chiro visits. My body will only perform as well as it can if I take care of it properly. I guess that goes for nutrition, too.
GRADE: B-
The legs have improved, and I'm doing more stretching, foam roller therapy, and taking rest days. I'm sporadically working on upper-body strength. I am up to a 13-mile long run without any aches and pains, so it's going so good so far. Still working on the nutrition, but I think I've got it working for the long runs and recovery afterward; it's just the day-to-day nutrition that I need to work on.

Never let the training get in the way of my life. This is the biggest one. I know what needs to be done to be ready to meet the goals 1-4 above. But at the end of the day, my family comes first and while they are more than ready to stand by me and help me meet my goals, they also are deserving of my time when I can make it available. So while I will be sure to meet the weekly goals and meet the schedule and training plans, they are all subject to re-evaluation when the family needs conflict.
GRADE: A
I do not feel that my family has ever come second to my training. Between the kids being older now and better able to hang out at the house by themselves for a few minutes while I run, to doing my weekday runs while traveling, and to coordinating the longer runs with their activities, I feel like i was finally able to make this work. Is it easy? Hell no. Is it fun to sometimes find creative ways to get all our activities covered at the same time (like running to pick up the boy from the gym, or doing laps around the tennis courts while they practice, or meeting the group at the ice rink after the group run for a family breakfast)? Yeah, sometimes, and it makes for an energetic, fun, family dynamic. So many people that interact with us in our daily lives comment all the time how active we are, and how big a part sports and athletics plays in our family. That is critical to me, not just for me, but for the boys and my husband as well. And, so when i hear that, I feel like this was one really successful goal this year that I will definitely continue into 2009.

What else can I say about 2008? Well, for one, I feel pretty good about raising $2000 for breast cancer research and walking nearly 40 miles through San Francisco with my best friend. Can't beat that with a stick, and wouldn't trade that experience. Not to mention the great chocolate we got at See's during that trip!

Another thing that has to be taken into account for the year that without a doubt affected all my goals was the whole house-that-wasn't situation. It was so physically draining to get the house ready for sale, and to have the constant showing and open houses interrupting our time at home. It was emotionally crushing to have gone through the let-down of not being able to move, and to realize that we were going to have to give up what really was a dream house for us. That certainly caused a big psychological blues period there for a while in mid-fall; it was a big blow, no matter how many times we tried to placate ourselves with the reality that we still had our home and are in a fortunate position to have a good home. It sent us all into a funk, and it affected my running for sure. Would I have completed the five tris without the house being on the market? Who knows for sure, but I know that with all the upheaval we went through with the house, it wasn't in the cards for this year. It just wasn't. And that has to be OK.

So, there you go. Some failures, some successes. Somehow, I think it all comes out in the wash, and what I'll remember from this year is not the training and the races and the runs I didn't go on. I'll remember the vacations and day trips, running with my sister-in-law in Phoenix, running on a gorgeous mountain path in Aspen in August, a last evening jog through Central Park before leaving NYC, discovering the footpaths in Boulder in October, having three months at home with the kids during the summer and early fall, and being with my family. And I don't feel like I've missed much at all!