Hello, friends. I hope you had a great Christmas celebration with family and friends (if you do celebrate that holiday, that is). Mine was a little more low-key due to the entire family being under the weather, and I’m still trying to nurse myself back to full health. Hence, no Christmas runs, swims, or rides. I think I’ll save all that for the new year — something to look forward to!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6fgvPDnA7L/
What a wild ride 2019 has been. When midnight ticked over on December 31, 2018 into January 1, 2019 I had no idea that this year held so much for me. With it I had to face what my motivations were for training and racing and blogging and what would be healthy for me physically, mentally — and even for my soul.
I scored some very neat personal victories in the course of the year and have documented them both here on the blog and also on social media. But sometimes I do get the feeling that I don’t matter, that none of this matters and if I shut down my entire online presence no one would miss it. After all, does this drive the economy? What is my place in the grand scheme of things?
I’m no one of exceptional ability; personally I think many of the good things that have happened to me in my lifetime were a combination of just being in the right place at the right time with the right skill set to make something work. And that’s why I’m so amazed still — yes, even after 10 years of doing this blogging thing — that the things I put out there into the world have some sort of impact, has some ability to “move the needle.” (Love me or hate me, but you still have to deal with me. Hehehe.)
But I see the real impact (however small) of what I do whenever real people come up to me at races or even while I’m just walking on the street to tell me that they follow this blog and find it useful and/or inspirational. It leaves me speechless and super grateful. And it reminds me why I set out to document this process at all: if I could inspire just one person to get up off their couch and take control of their health and fitness, it would be worth it.
Thank you for following me on this journey; we’ve come so far! My goal in 2019 was to be healthy enough to race again, and I was able to do that and really savor it all. Hopefully my experiences this year have shown that even short races are rewarding and are achievements in their own right and not just because they’re leading to a big race. There’s a happy, healthy balance to be found between work and life and sport, and it’s a dynamic balance that always needs to be negotiated as your circumstances in life change.
As we look towards 2020, may your vision be clear about your goal for the year as well as the path you need to take to get there.
