I reached another year on WP. End of the fifth year and beginning of the 6th. See last year entry (here).
This time I don’t have much to write. I have been busy doing so many things. Last year I wrote about mission creep (plan2023), indeed, I was drinking from the fire hydrant in term of running. I run in any races I could get my hand on. Each year, it seems I say the same thing, but each year I add on more and more races.
I am a bit tired at the moment. I need to refocus of what I want to do.
The idea I don’t need to do this has not occurred in my mind. Indeed, I don’t need to do it.
I am happy though. 2023 brought me up on another level. At the start of the year, I did not know where I was headed. Somehow I managed. I can run some hard races and it was not a 1-off.
I wanted to meet some awesome people and I did. This was one of the goal. I partly succeeded. People such as Greg, Wayne, Tek, Lynn and Caroline have made my running much more multi-dimensional. It has been an interesting year.
I want to step out and be bold. I did. I traveled to Toronto and ran their marathon. I ran Blackbeard’s Revenge 100. I finished MMT 100 for the first time. I tried the UTMB Grindstone 100, which was one of the harder race. I did not finish but it was a leap of faith to try. Same for Burning River 100. Try something hard and even when I don’t succeed, I am still happy.
Something new I did was pacing a friend in her 100 mile race and the emotion of seeing her crossing the finish line was exceptional, probably something I will remember for a long time.
The question of what’s next is always on my mind.
I want to do more. I want to do something unique and memorable. I want the next year to be new and different from before.
Next year, I want to be radically different, yet still reaching my goals.
I am imagining myself playing chess and then sweep all the pieces off the board and still play. I want to approach like that with my planning. Things currently are too messy. Let sweep everything aside and start fresh.
End of a year and beginning of a new year is a good time to reimagine what and how I want to be.
Simple is good. I need to simplify things. I don’t need to run gazillion races. Maybe one or two races is good.
I think I got a bit race envy this year. I met some high power runners this year. Four or five people who are running (like me) every weekend in various places. It becomes like a friendly competition to see who can out do who. Not really, but our races were like our street creds.
There is also kind of pressure I put on myself to do races so I could write about them. It is kind of silly. I am sure my readers what me to be healthy and enjoy the runs I do. It does not matter though if I don’t have fun. It has been hard for the last several weeks as I tried to set my schedule for next year. I know what races I want to do, but I was reluctant to sign up any.
I am still looking for a race/run or an event that will define 2024.
Less is more. What’s next. Soon. I don’t really know yet. To be determined. Hello Year #6
In awe 