Welcome, to the first in a two-part series of year-beginning posts. In years past, I’ve lumped my yearly review and look ahead into a single post. Not this time around. Why? I didn’t like the naming scheme I’d used in the past. Yeah, I’m that fickle.

We’ll start off with the goals I set for myself last year. I have yet to look at them, but I’m worried… very worried. The goals follow:

  • Get running again – I would say this was a success. I can run double-digit miles with relative ease, I’m no longer in daily pain, and the only thing holding me back from really getting back to it is longer-than-average recovery times and a lack of motivation.
  • Run a sub-3:10 marathon. This was a poorly set goal. Totally unrealistic. Probably not even realistic for this year. Bad Michael.
  • Visit another country – Fail. I didn’t settle into my “new life” until September or so… And I wasn’t going to travel alone.
  • Bike 100 miles in a day – Fail. No good reason. I regularly rolled out of bed on random weekends and did 50-70. I scheduled a few “centuries” with friends, but they were non-committal and I didn’t want to attend one solo.
  • Bike 1000 miles – Done. 1458 and that’s basically all in seven months. A relatively low number, but far and away a personal best. 403 in August alone.
  • Get the Civic back to fully-streetable. Came close, but lost motivation/means. Threw a new suspension on and made a good effort of selling “track” parts. Still needs a few bits, but it’s at least palatable now.
  • SCUBA. Fail. Didn’t go anywhere suitable.
  • Go on an epic bike ride or car trip. Fail. I did buy a new car, which might help me attain this next year.
  • Work remotely for an extended period of time. Kinda sorta got this one. Work kiboshed this grand plan [of becoming a Digital Nomad], but I did spend a couple weeks working in NC and will likely make that a regular occurrence each year.
  • Begin learning Spanish. Fail. I’m spread too thin. Too little time.
  • Bench press 225. Fail. Visiting the gym once or twice a week will not make any gains.
  • Cook more. Success. I didn’t cook A LOT more, but becoming single caused me to make little meals for myself/eat out less a bit more often. The is also a poorly set goal.

Now it’s time to list my most notable posts of the year… Here ya go:

  • Jan. 26 – Made a new website and proceeded to do nothing with it. I still feel with the right marketing and content, this could have made me some coin. Oh well.
  • Mar. 12 – Got an iPad, which has changed the way I compute and play games at home and on the road. I love it.
  • Mar. 22 – My family moved away. 
  • Apr. 14 – Was cheated out of some money. This never went anywhere other than me trashing his image all over the Internet. He’s been blacklisted at all the major car forums.
  • Apr. 24 – Scott and Claire got married.
  • May 03 – Went to Boston. Lovely place. Hope to visit/watch friends run/run myself often.
  • May 1-2 – Completed the Five Boro Bike Tour. 
  • May ?? – Moved in by myself.
  • Jun. 3-6 – Went to Vegas. A relatively tame trip. Running out of friends getting married!
  • Jun. 09 – Wrote a bit about being single. [Became single]
  • Jun. 25 – Bought a car and a new phone. Love both.
  • Jun. 26-27 – Drove the Colonial Parkway on the way back from Laura & Butter’s wedding.
  • Jul. 29 – Had a bicycle crash and visited NC. Still have some good scars from the spill.
  • Aug. 14 – Fixed a lamp. Then I decided I don’t like them.
  • Aug. 31 – Worked out a ridiculous amount in August.
  • Sep. 10-12 – Spent a weekend in Outer Banks with Greg and Geordie.
  • Sep. 16 – Went to Tahoe. Amazing place. I could vacation there regularly.
  • Sep. 22-26 – Visit family in NC.
  • Sep. ?? – Hit my goal weight after a few months of serious working out and eating well.
  • Oct. 28 – Went on a date with Heather.
  • Nov. 02 – Had a busy October.
  • Dec. 01 – Ran a sub-20 5k. No idea how I got into such shape, but I’m still really happy about it.
  • Dec. 19 – Hosted 1st Annual Grubmasfest and attended Nutcracker.
  • Dec. 23-26 – Spent Christmas in NC with family.
  • Dec. 30-31 – Spent the New Year in Chincoteague with friends.

Other notable items:

  • Trip tally: NC x 3, Outer Banks, Boston, NYC, Tahoe, Vegas, Tidewater.
  • Ran 279 miles (from 954), biked 1458 miles (from 670), swam 10 miles (from 3).
  • Replaced my old mountain bike.
  • Read Born to Run,  Surprisingly Simple, The Time Machine, The Art of Money Getting, Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Running, Getting Things Done, Medium Raw (my first eBook), Siddhartha, and Sh*t My Dad Says.
  • Bought a lot of new art including some original pieces.
  • Family still had a handful of surgeries, but everyone is in much better shape than they were at the start.
  • Emily spent the year with her Neuroblastoma. It is scheduled for removal on 01/05/11.
  • Jade is pretty much through treatment. Still a bald little head, but thinks are looking really good for her.
  • Closed the year very happily in a relationship with Heather, whom I’ve known since kindergarten.

Previous yearly posts:

Overall, a good year. I’m happy with where I am professionally and personally. I didn’t reach all of my goals, but did much better than last year. I need to come up with a new system because I forget about most of them through the year; maybe set a few less and keep them posted on my door or something? Regardless, I’d say I accomplished more than most in what turned out to be a relatively life-changing and wild 2010.