Year in Review & Looking Ahead

I am sort of late on this, well, it is only the 3rd, so maybe not too late?  I just feel really behind on my tech stuff.  This also includes bill paying, and will resort to some old fashioned checks since our cable co has changed their website AGAIN, and I can't figure out how to log in, and have successfully locked myself out.  I love having a house, but we have more accounts now to keep track of.  I have it mostly under control, but with Christmas spending out of control (everyone's fault this time, not just mine), it is a little trickier. 

Enough of my excuses.  I listened to a great talk at church this past Sunday about time.  Everyone is given the same amount of time, and it is up to them to decide how best to use it wisely.  One of my goals for 2012 is to be more effective in the use of my time, and to do better at keeping the house clean and getting the rest I need.  It is hard because a lot of time we have lots of good choices.  The talk discussed how Satan isn't even trying to get us to make bad choices (as in doing bad deeds), but not choosing the best choices.  Like, it is good to journal personal and family history (blogging), as well as it is good to have a home that is neat and orderly (cleaning the house).  It is also good to make sure I get in my workouts, and best that my family is well taken care of and I spend time with them.  So, it is a balancing act between many good things.  I am hoping to cut down on the time I spend on facebook/internet as my first item for 2012, and work on trying to clean or tidy at least an hour a day.  I haven't really measured how much time I spend cleaning per day, so I actually might be doing this already, so I might need to adjust that.  I am working on laundry as I write, so that counts as my cleaning for today.  I packed up the Christmas decor with Ryan last night.  That took HOURS, and it was quite entertaining watching him try to squish our new more lifelike tree into its box.  I know I am not good at that, so I didn't bother to try, but I did help as needed.  I was surprised how hard it was for him.  It didn't really flatten like our old tree.  He is always the person that can pack up the tent just right, or pack down a sleeping back, thermarest, ect, to get it to go back.  Anyway, now that we have food in the house, decor down, bills paid, and laundry started, I can try to squeeze in a post. 

2011 was an amazing year.  It followed 2010, which was the start of what I will call my PR streak.  I had this period from the end of 2009 until this past year where EVERY RACE was a PR.  It didn't matter what distance.  I was doing lots of different distances, so I had lots of opportunities to PR.  I didn't do that many new distances either, so I didn't have any "default" PRs.  This year, however, was the end of my PR streak in both triathlon and running.  Not to say that I didn't still have PRs, but every race was no longer one. 

I started off 2011 with my Marathon PR of 3:33:18, which was good enough for a 2nd AG and Boston Qualifier.  Whoo Hoo!  It felt awesome to have my #1 goal of the year acheived 4 months in.  The first goal of 2012 is to have a fun race at Boston.  Marathon and Fun in the same sentence?  We shall see.

My very next race broke my PR streak for running.  It was the Bunny Hop 5K, and we were told that the course was shortened for reasons that may or may not have been true.  I think my time was a PR, but since the distance was short, I couldn't really count it (basically, it would be insanely hard for me to beat it by time alone if I did an actual 5K race, and the pace was NOT faster than my real 5K, though).  I did get my first ever OA win, so that was fabulous.  I ran as fast as I needed to, I guess!

Then, I had the Derby Half, which was a freakishly fast PR in the half marathon of 1:38:39.  I didn't run under my own bib, so there isn't even real record of it.  Sometimes (especially this fall), I felt like it didn't really happen, since the time is associated with my name.  I felt so awesome this whole race, and I just could not get there this fall with my half marathon.  I want to PR in the half marathon this year for REAL.

I had a 10 miler, the Live Like Andi, which was also a PR, mostly because it had been a really long time since I raced the 10 mile distance.  I ran at a slower pace than the Derby, so that was a bit of a bummer, but it was still a good race.  I recall I felt tired.

Next up, I had my first Half Ironman in June for Racing for Recovery.  This was a PR by default, but since I did another one, I have a NEW PR.

I did a sprint tri, the Triceratops, and got to be in the elite start.  That was super fun, and I had a great PR.  My triathlon PR streak was still alive!

Then I did IRONMAN Muncie 70.3, and got a huge PR there in the half iron distance.  It felt great!  PR streak still alive, but I didn't quite break the 6 hour mark that I would like.   6:06:50. I hope to beat that in 2012 too.

Then I had my disastrous race at Island Lake, the Pterodactyl Tri.  The whole tire mess really rattled me, and made my nutrition problems even worse.  I almost had a personal worst, but it was a tough day for a lot of people due to the heat, and I faired rather well in the AG standings (which I thought was a complete mistake, not just the slight mistake they did make, I was 6th not 5th as the records STILL show).  However, I am very happy that I was able to go out there and get it done.  It was not pretty, but it took a lot of determination to do it.  I was almost a "Did Not Start"  Also, I just learned that Tri Juice ranked this race's medals in their top of 2011.  That made me feel a bit better about this race.  That finisher's medal meant a lot about perserverence to me, and now it is even COOLER because it is apparently stylish too!

I finished up that WEEK with a fun mountain bike race.  I didn't PR here either, but considering it was the first time on my mountain bike since LAST YEAR'S mountain bike race in August, I would say I did quite respectable, finishing just behind Cristina on my team, AND since I was the lead leg, I had the crazy start shenanigans of running down the start hill in socks and putting on my shoes before hoping onto my bike.  Yeah for being a triathlete and knowing how to put on bike shoes fast!  My team finished 2nd in the female sport open division.  I hope to do this race again in 2012 and just have another fun day of racing.

I did squeeze in one more tri, the Oldham County Mini Tri, which was shorter than the sprints at Island Lake.  I got my first EVER AG win for a tri.  It was also a default PR since it was a new distance.  I would like to come back in 2012 and win the OA for this.  This is a bad goal, as it is not dependent on me, BUT, if I can get a PR, I would be very happy.  I was only a minute or so out of the OA win.


Then, it was running time. I has set a third goal of qualifying to NYC late in the game last year by running a sub 1:37 half marathon.  I made 3 attempts over the course of a month, and was not able to do it.  I had 2 serious attempts, plus a third race where I was already signed up and race "for fun".  I ran in Detroit, Indianapolis, and Louisville, for 3 states too!  I qualified for Half Fanatics, but I did not pay the money to officially become one.  It was the same amount as the entry to my turket trot, and I would rather get to do a race for the money.  I also don't plan on ever doing this again, so joining a club that endorses this sort of activity isn't really my bag.  I was just so exhausted afterwards.  That last half had me really worried about my overall health, as I felt like garbage for a while when running afterwards.  Thankfully, I can say I am over it, and happily training again.  I am glad I gave it my all.  One of my goals for 2012 is to beat the 1:37 time goal.  It won't get me to NYC since they have changed their standard, but I can still work towards that time.

So, were you keeping track?  Did you get all my goals?

1. Have a fun race at Boston.  I am not looking to PR, but it would be nice
2.  Run a fast half marathon, break 1:37
3.  Break Half Ironman PR of 6:06:50.  This might be hard, since the course I am currently looking at may be more difficult than Muncie, it shares some of the Louisville IM course.  The details for this race are not yet available, but I have several ladies from MI who are tentative for doing it.  If they bail, I will just do Muncie and shoot for a PR.  If they come, I will race with them and still try for a PR, but it just might hurt more :)
4. Race on my mountain bike in 2012.  One time.  Please.. Also, ride it more than 1 time like I did in all of 2011.
5.  Improve my swim time.  Basically, I got slower as a whole in 2011 on the swim.  I want to get back to pushing myself in the pool instead of just using swimming as my recovery exercise.  So far so good here, but my races will tell.
6.  Lose the 5-10lbs I gained this Thanksgiving-NYE.  I did this last year (gained weight), and lost the weight, so I know what to do.  Now I just have to do it.  I am hoping to not have to shell out the big bucks and call up Rick Smith Jr from Advocare.  I am going to give it two weeks on my own before I do an extreme diet again.  I also need to wait until my credit card turns over too, ha ha, before I can buy the cleanse products.  It is super hard right now since we still have so much junk in the house.  Ryan asked if I wanted to eat some of this leftover potato casserole from Christmas Eve.  I said "no way", and he thought I was just "afraid" to eat them due to their age (I have a fear of left overs that are more than a couple days old), and I said, "no, I am just not going to eat all the white carbs".  He laughed, and didn't believe that either. 

I really should go and link back to all the fun posts.  Might, if I get time, but in the business of saving time, I am not right now.  I hope you have some great goals.  Let me know what they are.  Also, what is your time limit on leftovers?  Mine is different for take home food vs food we cooked here and didn't eat directly out of.  Ryan will eat some stuff that is pretty old, and I just want to know if I am paranoid or not.  He ate some chocolate mousse LAST NIGHT that was left over from Christmas Eve.  Um, no thank you.  We should have brought it with us out of town.  As much as I dislike throwing away excellent chocolate, I was afraid since that has raw egg in it to start.  He is still alive today, though, and not sick, as far as I could tell :)

Happy 2012

Oh, and I had 100 posts in 2011!  I can't believe I glossed over my 100th post!  With me trying to spend less time on the computer and more time being effective as a homemaker (for those of you that know me well, please don't fall down laughing and hurt yourselves), I don't know if I will try to do 100 this year, but will play it by ear.  We will see.  I am going to go clean the kitchen now, though :)  That is the truth!