After my last post, I was all set to return to writing about the usual outdoorsy stuff. Afterall, my much-reduced blogging of late means that I’m left with a lot of things to write about lurking behind me. I will never be current. However, as the end of the year started approaching more quickly than my will to write about it, I knew I was avoiding re-visiting my goals for 2022. I honestly hadn’t thought about them since the spiral of running 50k, getting COVID, and discovering my vitamin D deficiency. At first, it was intentional avoidance. I didn’t really want to face disappointment for things I wasn’t going to get to do. But it’s time to take a look back before I start looking ahead. So let’s do this:
Run a 50k on trails
A-, good effort, didn’t follow instructions
See The Training Is the Hardest Part. I didn’t give myself a perfect score because I didn’t do it completely on trails but mostly on fire roads. Still, a good achievement.
Run a multiday route
Incomplete, cannot be evaluated
I called out sick for this one, so it’s impossible to provide a rating that reflects my level of effort. I had intended to leverage my training and fitness from the 50k, taking a brief break before launching into a short cycle of training for this. Unfortunately, some combination of my slow recovery from COVID and the vitamin D deficiency meant that I could barely train.
Climb the gullies of Sierra de Guadarrama
C, lack of motivation for primary task
I honestly had my doubts about being able to do this one even from the beginning. It’s so dependent on the snow. However, I feel like I got in more than enough climbing between the winter in the Pyrenees, the trip to the Atlas, skiing in Andorra, and climbing Moncayo. Even though the snow lasted in the Sierra and I had the opportunity, I chose training for the 50k on those weekends in March. Also, I was just kind of done with the snow at one point. Definite lack of motivation.
Build consistency
B-, inconsistent effort
While I’ve assigned myself an overall grade, I had several areas to work on building consistency, so I’ve also evaluated them individually:
- Strength and mobility: A, good effort, even if done out of desperation. I’ve managed to keep this pretty consistent. In the earlier part of the year, I stretched at least after every run and incorporated running-specific strength sessions throughout my 50k training. Even over the summer, when I could barely run, I was able to take refuge in strength and mobility training because that was what I could do without as much fatigue.
- Writing: B-, good outcome, painful effort. This year, for the first time ever, I was able to publish a couple of pieces of my personal writing on sites other than my own. See Why the Rabbits Run on The Bluebird Word and Out and to the Left on Humans of the World. However, writing took a steep dive in consistency about midway through the year.
- Blog posting: C, good start, lacked follow-through. I really struggled with blog writing at the beginning of the summer. I just really didn’t feel like it, especially since I wasn’t really doing anything at first. Then, when I wanted to write, I just sort of didn’t let myself. Interestingly, including this post, I’ve posted as many times this year as I did last year. The difference, however, is in the consistency, because I posted more in the first half of the year than in the latter half.
All that other stuff
I also started the year with a whole bunch of other stuff I wanted to do or continue to do this past year.
- Skiing in Andorra: A-, got sick and sometimes had a bad attitude. Read more in Bring Your Skis and Earplugs: A Week in Andorra, Part 1 and Should I Bring My Ice Axe? A Week in Andorra, Part 2.
- Caving in Cantabria: A+, best effort, minor complaints about dinner times. Read more in Caving in Cantabria.
- Climbing mountains in Morocco: A, excellent effort, team player, only mild complaining. Read more in To Marrakech and Beyond, Where All the Mules Are Named “Mule,” Ras N’Ouanoukrim and Timesguida, Climbing Toubkal Is More Fun in a Blizzard, Back to Marrakech Through Snow and Rain, and A Few Days in Marrakech.
- Spending time with my partner: C-, antisocial tendencies, illness, and conflicting training priorities interfered with group dynamics. (Side note: My partner feels I should get a B, but I think his memory is only focused on the latter half of the year.)
- Reading in the mornings with my lap cat: A+, too easy, set harder goals
- Spending time outdoors unrelated to goals: A+, excellent effort even though it was a stretch at times and Netflix, Disney+, and HBO exist
- Waking up early: A+, good follow-through and consistency
- Running to work: B-, consistently inconsistent
- Not drinking alcohol: A, easy effort, being antisocial comes naturally. (Side note: I did have a half a glass of sherry on a special occasion when a friend was in town. I didn’t die.)
- Caving: B-, good effort despite scheduling challenges and cultural differences around mealtimes and bedtimes
- All the other things I’ve completely forgotten about in the moment but continue to enrich my daily life: N/A, not specific enough to evaluate
Overall Score for 2022: A+
Now, you might think that something doesn’t add up. How can it be possible to achieve less than top scores and still come away with an A+? It’s simple math really: 1) I’m both the evaluator and the evaluee (does this word exist?) and 2) I grade myself on the ultimate curve because I’m just a normal human who can’t predict what the year will bring. I set goals to give myself some direction and live with a little intention. It segments my life so every day doesn’t just blur into the next, an endless cycle of sleep, eat, work, eat, work, eat, TV. Therefore, to me, just showing up and working toward something, even bit by bit with whatever energy I have, gets top scores.
As for 2023, it’s going to take me a minute to figure out what I want to accomplish. I do already have a couple of ideas. For now though, I’m reminding myself that there are times to strive and there are times to recover, and I’m definitely firmly in the middle of “recover” right now.
