Running
2012 was a tough year for me when it came to running. I started out with a knee issue that had me totally out for over a month and really not running my usual miles for about three months. I also ended the year with a tendon problem in my foot which had me totally out for a month and, again, mostly out for three months. This all meant that I really ran for about six months this year when it comes right down to it and only put in 675 miles which is about half of what I ran last year.
I went very minimalist this year while coming back from my knee injury and did the bulk of my training and racing in Luna Leadville sandals, including my first marathon in sandals. I even ran one very wet and one very muddy run in the sandals which was quite the adventure. I also stopped using my iPod while running and really tried to just tune into what was going on around me in the woods.
Given my limited time I did get in quite a few events this year with a lot of 5 miles runs, one 15k, one hard half marathon and one full marathon. Plus I did my first snowshoe run ever which was a blast. I also had my fastest times for several distances – the Bridle Trails 10-mile was my fastest 10 mile time at 1:28 and I did a 5-mile run at Soaring Eagle (in Lunas) in 46:03, almost 10 minutes faster than my next best time. I managed to get in my first out of state trail event too doing the Harding Hustle 15k in SoCal. I was disappointed not to finish an ultra this year but given the injuries I was dealing with I’m pretty happy with the way the season shaped up and I did get to complete the Dash Point Marathon I had set out to do as a goal from last year. I’m hoping the tendon is healing up in my foot and that I can get in a bit more distance next season.
Fishing
Fishing really wasn’t much better than running. A lot of tough weather conditions, no real trips and more than one ‘should have been here yesterday’ events led to a year with no bonefish, tarpon or steelhead landed. This was the first year in a decade where I did not take a tropical trip and catch a bonefish and tarpon. It was also the first year in a while I did not catch summer steelhead. I did, however, get out 74 days for the year and spent the bulk of that time fishing Puget Sound. By far my best fishing was in the North Cascades during our two trips to Mazama this year as well as a great day in Utah which is going to lead me to fish that state more next year when we are road tripping.
Road Trips
Speaking of road tripping – we had two fantastic road trips to the Southwest this year. Our April/May trip to Arches and Canyonlands was amazing with some of the best hiking we’ve ever had. We loved it so much we decided to go back in October to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce where we also had unbelievable hikes and got to celebrate our anniversary in luxury at the Sundance Resort on our way home. We did three trips to the Winthrop/Mazama this year – a spring trip to Sun Mountain, our annual family trip in August and another serious hiking trip in September. Each of these were great trips, we love the area around Mazama and just can’t get enough.
Work
Work was a bit spotty this year. I started out the year too busy, finishing up the Bundle 2.1 iPhone app and doing the e-commerce site for Amazing Flies in January then immediately rolled onto the beta PokitDok mobile app from February to April. After that life events took over and we took a break from work and when we finally got back in town after our fall travels I didn’t find a real job to take on for the rainy season. I did, however, finish up my first solo iOS app which was just submitted to the AppStore and spent more time painting again, working on a series from our Utah travels.
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2013
Now that the Mayan apocalypse didn’t occur it is time to look forward to 2013. What is in the plans for the year ahead?
Running – this all depends on my foot tendon. So far I have plans for:
- Bridle Trails Winter Running Festival
- At least one more Snowdog Events snowshoe run this winter
- Sun Mountain 25k or 50k in May
- Echo Valley in June
Fishing – I’m already on top of making up for this year.
- Miami trip in late February with Jeff to fish Biscayne and Flamingo
- More fishing in Utah during our spring road trip
- Fishing in Boulder/RMNP during our summer road trip
- Finally fishing Yellowstone during our fall road trip
Road Trips – as you can tell, we have a few road trips planned:
- Grand Staircase/Escalante, Capital Reef, Mesa Verde and Arches for three weeks in April/May
- Rocky Mountain National Park in July
- Yellowstone and Grand Teton in September
Work – I don’t know if I’ll find real contract work or not next year especially with our travel plans, so I will probably just keep working on some of the app ideas I’ve got.