Time to review and look ahead...

Wow. This year has gone so fast and I can't stand that!

2009 has been a good year for us. There have been lots of changes, lots of challenges and lots of successes. I'll start by reviewing my goals for the year. The great thing about my blog is that I can look back and see what I said at this time last year. Here is what I said my goals were for 2009 and in bold, what I say about them now"

1. Continue to improve upon my swimming - get at least two pool workouts a week.
Work towards a 1/2 Iron man triathlon in August and be ready for it, complete it and be satisfied with my performance.
Done! My swimming really improved this year. I put a lot of time and effort into it. I completed the 1/2 Ironman in August and I felt great during the entire event. The swim was uneventful, I felt peaceful and calm and got out of the water ready to face the rest of the event. My half marathon time that day (after swimming and biking for over 4 hours) was the same as my previous free standing half marathon time. I loved this event. I loved training for it and completing it.

2. Live on a budget. Ugh. I think I say that every year...this year...I really mean it.
No comment.

3. Open our second store by the end of summer 2009.
We opened our second location on August 25th.

4. Fully embrace every change that is made at my job.
I no longer work at the job I was referring to here. This was one of those instances where my goal was ridiculous - my goal should have been to get the hell out of there before the year was over!

5. I also plan to work on not taking things so personal and letting at least some things roll off my back instead of jamming me up.
I used to make a goal every New Year's to be nicer. I stopped doing that because my heart wasn't in it, this goal will fall into that same category. I get jammed up. So be it.

So you can see, its been a good year! Our lives has changed a lot this year - we added two more pets - for a total now of 7. We made it through another year with all of the animals still with us. We have 4 of them over the age of 12, so that is an accomplishment. Everyone has been pretty healthy too - we had a few scares, but nothing too major.

This was the year of fitness for us - I would say that we were in the best shape of our lives this year. Between Trevor's MMA Fight in March, the triathlon in August and the marathon in October, we rocked it this year.

We have less than we have ever had - our income is much lower, we own less stuff, we took fewer trips and we are happier than we have ever been. Just goes to show that you don't need things to be happy. I am glad we learned that while we were still pretty young.

Time to look ahead. What do I want from 2010?
1. Continue to promote our businesses and a healthy lifestyle to our customers. We are promoting some events in 2010 - a half marathon, a 10k/5k, two triathlons. I want to do more of that. We are also getting our triathlon coaching certifications in January.

2. I want 2010 to surpass 2009 as the fittest year ever! August will bring the Ironman Canada. My goal is to spend all year training for this event and to complete it under the time limit, be safe, feel good and be happy with my performance.

3. We have two marathons before the Ironman, one in April, one in June. I want both to be better times than my Portland time in October (5 hours 14 minutes).

4. Spend time with our pets every single day.

5. I would like to make a trip back east this year. Its been too long since I've been back there and I miss it.

I may add to this list, but I find that 5 main goals are achieveable. Any more than that and I lose focus.

2010 is the beginning of another decade. The last 10 years have been awesome (I met Trevor in July of 2000), I want the next 10 years to be even better. I wish the same for you.