Turning the Page on 2011

With 2011 now in the books, I figured now was a better time than any to look back on a very amazing year.  Of course, looking back also gives me an opportunity to give another kick start to this here blog of mine.  I’m planning on 2012 being an absolutely epic year, and I plan on making Daybreakrun.com a part of this “epic-ness”. 

But, not so much looking forward quite yet.  There’s still that little bit of accountability to attend to that is reviewing my 2011 goalsand how close I came to accomplishing them.  One year ago, I tried a new direction in my life.  My past was paved with New Year’s resolutions that were meaningless, misguided, or both.  I decided that a better way to go was to give some deep thought to setting some goals for the year. 

Goals require planning.  Resolutions really don’t.  So, with each goal I set I needed to come up with at least a broad action plan of how I was going to go about hitting it.  It was a refreshing experience as for the first time, in a long time, I had to look beyond the present.  Looking forward just a few weeks or months was liberating.I feel that I grew as a person more in 2011 than in any other year of my life.  I feel setting some strong goals was a major reason for that.  It strengthened my resolve and developed my purpose.  It also strengthened my relationship with my wife.  We started the practice on New Year’s Eve 2011 of sitting down to a quiet dinner together instead of going out for New Year’s.  After dinner, we exchange our goals list with each other.  Not only does this provide us some accountability by having someone else aware of our goals, but it also makes us aware of what is going to be important to each other for the coming year.  It allows us to offer support to each other as we work on achieving our goals.

I set goals that are health/fitness related, as well as personal/financial and professional.  For the purpose of Daybreakrun.com, I shared my health/fitness goals last New Year’s.  Here’s how they panned out:

Goal #1: Complete a Marathon in 4:30

One of the things I felt was important was to make all of my goals measurable in some way.  In retrospect, my success “metric” was a bit too fine on this one.  In reality, putting a time goal to my first marathon wasn’t the brightest idea I ever came up with.  I’ll write that one off to naivety.  I honestly had no idea how difficult completing a marathon would be regardless of the time involved.  Knowing now what I didn’t know then, I would never have put any time goal on that race.  I would have considered the experience a success just by crossing the finish line.  As such, it is tough for me to consider this a “missed” goal.  Technically, it is.  But, I’m still staring at that medal on my wall with pride over seven months later.  

Result – Push

Goal #2: Learn How to Swim

Yes, another goal evaluation involving some technicalities.  How do you decide whether you have successfully “learned” to swim?  At the beginning of the year, I decided that doing two laps at the local YMCA pool would be evidence of a successful learning experience.  Going by that definition, I never learned how to swim this year.In truth, however, I did one lap successfully.  Seeing I was a glorified rock before taking swimming lessons, I think that I made pretty good progress.  True, I couldn’t swim the water portion of any triathlon if my life depended on it, but I was shooting low here.  I just wanted to be serviceable.  I learned the basics,  I can now tread water (somewhat), and I did swim that one lap.  

Result – Push

Goal #3 – Complete the P90X Program

Well, here’s one where there is no debate.  I don’t think I even came close to buying the P90X program, much less completing it.  This is one where life just got in the way and I never bothered giving it the attention it needed.  After nearly four months training for the Buffalo Marathon, I had absolutely no desire to enter another structured program.

All that said, I am disappointed I didn’t give it a shot.  My neglect of any sort of strength training in 2011 is one of my big failures, in my mind.  Attempting this program would have at least nudged me closer towards rectifying that.

Result – Fail

Goal #4 – Set a PR in the Buffalo Turkey Trot

The Buffalo Turkey Trot was the first race I ever ran that was longer than a 5K.  It became a staple of my schedule and was now at the point where it provided me a yardstick of my progress.  So, how did I do this year?  Um, well, I didn’t.  Procrastination is the cruelest of enemies.  Once again, life got in the way and I managed to put off registering for the race until it completely filled.  A week and a half before the race!  Seeing the race didn’t fill until a couple days before the race in 2010, I thought I still had a chance to get in.

Lesson learned for 2011.  Procrastination doesn’t pay.  Not that I will ever learn, as I have been fighting that one since middle school.  Ugh.

Result – Fail

When you look at this list, it is a bit difficult to see how I can consider 2011 such an amazing year, when based on my metrics, I didn’t really hit one of my goals.  When looking back on the year, though, I was able to see what one of my biggest lessons was.  I gained new perspective on what striving for goals really means to me.

Going into 2011, I felt that setting goals offered a means to measure failure or success.  Instead, I think goals are more of a guide.  A compass for my year.  They provided some much needed direction.  Instead of fumbling aimlessly through 2011, I did have specific things I wanted to accomplish.  While I technically didn’t hit them, I still did some amazing things by my standards.  I got into a swimming pool, finally, not thinking I was going to immediately plummet to the bottom.  I set a PR for the 5K on a chilly but beautiful fall morning while overlooking one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Of course, I will never forget the tears welling up in my eyes as I turned the corner in front of Buffalo City Hall with my wife, son, and friends willing me towards the finish line of my first marathon.

There’s no way I can call that year a failure.  It was a success by any way I can measure it.  What I learned this year by chasing my goals, more than anything else, is that you don’t pass or fail life.  You experience it, or you don’t.  This year, I experienced it.

Did you?