The new year always comes with new year resolutions. Many roll their eyes at the thought. I'll admit I've thought it was stupid at one point. Now I see it's a change, a fresh start. Sometimes people need that. Sure it's easy to create your own fresh start, you don't need a new year to change, fix or do something better. I guess the new year gives me more of a reason to make these changes. It gives me a chance to look back at the last year; Things I liked about, things I didn't and how I can change things. It's almost like an evaluation period. We all need that once in a while.
I realize should be trying to change things I don't like all year round; and honestly I think 2011 I've been pretty dang good at making my life the way I want. Sure I got stuck in a rut in the middle of it, but I got a fresh start that I really needed.
The first weekend of August changed my life. I'm not sure if it was for the best just yet or not. Something happened that changed the way my life would have been, I was pushed down a completely different path. I guess God saw that things needed to be different. In a way I'm thankful for that but there are still moments when it hurts. I sit and think about what things would have been like had it all worked out. "I would be doing..... if this would have worked out" often crosses my mind. I wouldn't say it's a regret, more like a what if. It's easy to sit and imagine, but it hurts more in the end.
I ran my first 5k, met some awesome people (thanks to facebook), and became vegan in that one month. It was like a complete 180 degree change. I've always thought change was gradual but this change was almost like a complete turn. I didn't really ease into anything.
Running has exploded for me. Between August and November I ran 7 Races. I won first in my age and gender for a couple races. Ran my first 10k. Ran my first mud run. It's been a great journey so far. I can't wait to see how far it takes me.
Like I said before, 2011 has been good to me. I got my first post college photography job in April. I worked as a high school senior portrait photographer. I worked sooooo many hours, had a lot of fun working, and got to hang out with one awesome lead photographer who also became one of my best friends.
In the end of June into early July I took a chance buying one of my dream cars. Flew out to South Carolina, and drove it all the way back to Wisconsin. It felt good to buy my car with cash and not have to worry about a car payment. Everything worked out perfectly, I was very lucky. Lucky that the car wasn't falling apart on the way home and even more lucky that the man selling to me was honest and flexible. Not to mention lucky that our flight wasn't extremely delayed and we made our connecting flight. Had one thing not worked out on that trip I would have been stuck in South Carolina over the 4th of July weekend. My car hunt wasn't as seamless as it turned out. I test drove 8 cars before finding the perfect one. I also took a road trip to Ohio only a few days before my birthday to look at another srt-4. Glad I waited for the perfect one.
Camping used to be a big thing for me when I was younger in girl scouts. I hadn't gone for years since I've been done with girl scouts. I took a chance again, and went off on a 2 day camping trip with an amazing man. A runner. Someone who has been inspiring me since I met him. He makes me want to be a better person. Even though I ended up injured and sick everything was perfect! We got rained out on the last night but I wouldn't have changed anything. I look back on that camping trip a lot. On this trip I went on my first trail run, ehm, first 9.19 mile trail run ever! I'd say I jumped off into the deep end there. I had been treadmil running for the previous 5 months with a couple outdoor runs here and there. What a rude awakening I got. But I loved it and had an awesome time. It was the best I'd ever been on. Here's to hoping for another one in 2012.
My bucket list for 2012
Volunteer for Ironman 2012
Run 3 half marathons
Camp
Complete a tri
Learn to speak another language
I guess this list is ongoing, because really, I can't even think of more to add right now. I'm more concerned with changing the way I'm living; how I do things from day to do, how I treat people, etc. Stay tuned for more.
