Happy New Year's Eve!
I hope that everyone's 2009 was everything they hoped and more. Mine was and was not, for a variety of reasons. Thankfully there was much more good than bad, and that always leads to good things! I have been sitting here all day cleaning, watching football, playing the girlfriend's Wii, and thinking about 2009, and what 2010 might bring.
It's funny, I still get my weekly Site Meter updates, and I see that people do come by and visit, yet I have had nothing new to offer all of you. There was soo much that went on this year, that blogging (and at the end of the year triathlons) simply fell off the map. I put so much time, effort, money, etc, from June 22nd, 2008 - June 21st, 2009, that I got burned out. I did complete the Peachtree City Triathlon again... Kudos to Josh Nickell, he did great! I finished, which is all that really mattered. I planned to do one more race in Gainesville in September, but I injured my ankle about two days before the race. (Kudos to James!! Finished 2nd overall in Masters and 1st in his AG.)
I also miss all of you! Blogging, texting, chatting, participating in races with you, reading your blogs! There was a reason I got all of this started, and I hate to see all of it go to waste.
After that, I pretty much sat on my ass and gained weight (184lbs, about 20 above where I want my race weight to be and 14 from where I usually want to be), let the air slowly seep out of my bike tires, and I just checked the brake lines as of this post to make sure that they weren't rusted (my bike sits outside). Running shoes have been used a handful of times, thankfully all of those were runs. I did buy new speedos finally since my old ones were falling apart, however, the new ones have been used maybe three times. Not to mention that I just went from the 4th or 5th hardest age group to the 3rd, and it only gets worse until I am 50 yrs old!
So as I end this year and this decade, here are a few things that I would like to see (from a triathlon perspective) from 2010!
General Goals
1) Minimum of 5 Triathlons this year (1 half, 2 Olys, 2 Sprints)
2) Minimum of 1 Bike Race/Tour this year (at least a 50 miler)
3) Minimum of 6 Road Races this year (1 marathon, 1 half -mary, 2 10K's, and 2 5k's)
4) Get a team together formally in the Atlanta area, or bring everyone onto an existing team! (I have been talking about this for about 6 months now, and I know enough people to add a big chunk to an existing team, or completely start a new one with about 12 ppl minimum)
5)Blogging - More of it! I might even test some of these products that people are emailing me about, since they are going to send it to me for free, and I can test it for you guys! I will also figure out a way to UPGRADE my blog... I have fallen off the tech bandwagon in the past few years, but i think I can pick it back up!
6)Sign up for IMFL.... How will I do this??? You basically have to take vacation and volunteer! That and I don't want to have to go through the whole flying mess again.
7)Shoot for about 700 hours of actual training this year (does not include stretching/weights/cross training/yoga/etc) in primary activities.
More Specific Goals
1) Finish Marathon in sub 4 hrs (last marathon time was 4:20:18)
2) Finish Half Mary in sub 1 hrs 50 min (last half mary time was 1:53:18)
3) Finish Sprint Tri in sub 1 hr 15 min (PR: 1:16:49)
4) Finish Oly Tri in sub sub 2 hr 45 min (PR 2:56:05)
5) Finish Half Iron in sub 6 hrs (PR 7:25:55, did not train properly for race)
6) Finish 10K in sub 48 min (PR was around 48:46)
7) Finish 5K in sub 21 min (Dont remember what my best time ever was)
Races that I want to participate in/complete this year
Triathlons
1) Rev 3 Triathlon - Knoxville, TN (May 9, 2010) Oly
2) West Point Lake Triathlon - LaGrange, GA (June 13, 2010) Oly
3) Tri the Parks - Mistletoe State Park, Appling, GA (July 24th, 2010) Sprint
4) Peachtree City Sprint Triathlon (August 21st, 2010) Sprint
5) IM August 70.3 - Augusta, GA (September 26, 2010) Half - IM
Road Races
1) ING Georgia Half Marathon - Atlanta, GA (March 21, 2010) Half Mary
2) Sweetwater 420 Fest 5K - Atlanta, GA (April 17th, 2010) 5K
3) Peachtree Road Race - Atlanta, GA (July 4, 2010)
4) Atlanta's Finest 5K - Atlanta, GA (August 8, 2010) 5K
5) US 10K Classic - Smyrna, GA (September 6th, 2010) 10K
6) Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon - Chickamauga, GA (November 13, 2010) Marathon
Cycling Races/Tours
1) Jittery Joe's Fall Century Classic - Athens, GA (October, 2009) - Century Ride
I may have a few others that I slide in there (Christmas 5K race, a sprint tri in April, you know.... some extras), but I will let those be a suprise.
Well now I am off. Dinner calls, and then it is a party to ring in the New Year! I hope all of your are safe this evening! Happy New Year!
~Murtha...
