I like to get these things out before the new year, but I was holding out hope that I’d have more information on the biggest thing I did this year. Status of my bone marrow recipient was due, but didn’t arrive. I’m not waiting any longer. MUST POST! I hope she’s well. That’d be amazing.

Life

Travel

  • Seattle weekend for Chris’ b-day (January)
  • Anthony Lakes V-day and birthday weekend (February)
  • Snowboarding trip to Vail and Beaver Creek (February)
  • A bunch of trips back and forth to the east coast for the donation thing – got to spend a lot of time with friends so that was awesome (March)
  • Welches weekend for a wedding at Timberline (April)
  • DC extra long weekend for the annual Brain Cancer 5k and to play tourist (May)
  • Sisters weekend with Dad and Karen for a bike race I was too sick for (May)
  • Coast weekend following Reach the Beach (May)
  • Denver weekend to reunite with old VA coworkers over beer, burgers, and hiking (June)
  • McKenzie River camping weekend for all types of biking w/ the team (June)
  • Arkansas River (CO) Long weekend rafting for annual rafting trip / big because Chris’ 40th year (June)
  • Road trip to Tahoe and Crater Lake for my annual mountain bike race and sightseeing (July)
  • Denver and Leadville week acclimating for and racing Leadville (August)
  • Vermont long weekend for her father’s memorial (September)
  • Bend weekend for Rebecca to run a trail half marathon (September)
  • Bend weekend for her mom to compete in a Master’s swim meet (October)
  • Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand for three weeks (October and November)

Exercise

Exercised every day of the year (now two full years straight plus some time before that so we’re probably around 800 days in a row). It’s not always a full workout, but see Atomic Habits for why it works for me.

Burned 383,937 extra calories. Got down to a race weight of 162.

Rode 6545 miles. Down quite a bit from last year, but once I achieved the Leadville goal I turned it off and enjoyed other things. I also measured this year in hours because I’m doing so much dirty/slow riding these days. This came out to 454 hours. Noteworthy rides were Six Hours of Mount Hood, Reach the Beach (120mi ride from home to the coast), Tahoe 100 (kilometers), and a few laps around Mount Hood.

Ran 214 miles. 3x last year and the most in five years. Running is back! I was hugely motivated by getting 2nd overall at the 5k we run every May in DC. Incorporated a bunch of trail running – Hamilton Mountain, Elk Mountain (twice), Angels Rest, and littered regular hikes with jogging.

Hiked 32.8 hours not counting lots of trail running. Cape Horn for New Years, Staunton Ranch / Elk Falls, Mt. St Helens (took ~25 up this year!), Tahoe, Crater Lake, Red Rocks / Dakota Ridge, Mt. Ascutney, and Mae Wang.

Books

Read 28. Really got into reading about places I’ve been or am going – First They Killed My Father and Eruption led the way. Struggled with Walden for half the year. I want to read the classics, but damn, I really don’t like them.

Losses

Rebecca’s father passed away after a multi-year fight with cancer. I was lucky enough to meet him a handful of times and we got along quite well. What we really regret is we never seemed to get a picture together. We spoke (well, he did) enough that I’m able to do a pretty good impersonation of his voice, which Rebecca both loves and hates.

A high school friend, Ryan Cooper, passed away suddenly. He was a really good guy. Why was Billy Joel so right?

2018 Goal Review

I wanted to hike Mount Adams, but didn’t even get to the planning stage. Wanted to upgrade on the road, but focusing on Leadville precluded that from happening. Wanted to run more and did. Wanted to ride more, but stopped caring after getting that big belt buckle. Wanted to read the same amount and read more. Mildly successful.

2019 Goals

Ride 500 hours, get another belt buckle, go sub-18 in a 5k, conquer Mount Adams, get that Cat 3 road upgrade, become a badass programmer (work and HackerRank will help here), stay mindful of trying to do too much (I’m now on the board of my HOA and am taking over presidency of my cycling team), and get into the habit of sharing reading notes and thoughts.

Previous years in review

This year was lucky number 13! 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.