Looking Ahead In The Rearview

     To me, the holiday season/New Year's shuffle is a really funny time.  It is often associated with unruly, stress-inducing shenanigans , copious amounts time in the car, social fatigue that is often attributed to too much family time, among other symptoms.  Yet I also find that it is also the time that I am most adequately composed to truly pause and reflect on the year past and not-so-distant future that is the year ahead.  If I was to try to do this on, say, August 12th, I would probably find myself reflecting on the summer and the kick-off of autumn but so caught up in the conveyor belt of calendar days that I can't truly recalibrate my mind to focus on all that lies ahead in the light of what has happened; looking ahead in the rearview, you might say.

     I can say comfortably and confidently that 2011 has been the best year of my life.  I've set and achieved goals: 1) running longer distances  2) running faster 3)running faster over longer distances 4) graduating from college 5) exploring the place that I live.  Meanwhile I came face to face with nearly unbearable difficulties and disappointments (namely an injury leading to months of not running followed by an grueling, unwaveringly demanding semester of school).  There is no doubt that every experience, positive and negative has shed a great deal of light on me and my character, something that will indudablemente aid me in plotting plans to achieve the moderately-rational, whimsical dreams I consistently conjure up.  Which brings me to the coming months:

     Guiding myself into a consistent training regime has me with high hopes leading into 2012.  I lay them out so forwardly as this with hopes of providing reinforcement in the coming months when the going gets tough.  Like they always say, "when the going gets tough, the tough run through it" or something like that...

•      In January I plan to tackle a couple of ultra-distance endeavors.  First, the Tanawha Marathon followed a couple of weeks later by the Sultan 50k+.
•      February will be headlined by the Rattle My Heart 50k.
•      March will be the culmination of several months of work with a goal of traversing the 77 mile Foothills Trail in under 20 hours.
•      In April I intend to join the WNC Trailrunners in another running of the Linville Gorge Madness Marathon
•      June will feature an adventure to upstate NY to visit the in-laws and run in the Finger Lakes 50 with intentions of topping my personal best.
•      July and August have no adventures to note, but lots of training...
•      September 14th I am going to embark on my first ever 100 mile run in Steamboat Springs, CO, the Run Rabbit Run 100
•      Confession:  Though the 100 seems monumental in my running "career", I think of it as more of a training run.  All of the above is simply preparation for the running of the Pitchell 100k++!!

     Though brief, bland, and trite, that was one of the more fun things I've ever written!  Every day is exciting!  My new year's resolution, I am deciding right now, is to try not to let my head and heart get too far ahead of my body.

    Like some wise man once said, "You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one."

     That being said, I go into the new year with a newfound diligence regarding my training which hits on but is not limited to, milage, minutes, mental and physical fatigue and ongoing issues.  Using this I will learn more about this body-machine thing I've been blessed with and how I can make it run most effectively.
  
      I have the utmost confidence that with the incessant love and support of my beautiful wife, Melissa, my family, friends, and others I meet, this will shape up to be an even better year than the last.  And I'm sure the running will continue to improve, too.  Especially as long as I have great running companions who are always going to be a few strides faster than me (i.e: Adam, Luna)!