2011 in review and 2012 in preview

short and sweet: 2011 was awesome. It brought me through some tough times, strengthened my relationships with friends and family, and helped me reset my expectations about life. I graduated from college (after only 10 years. whoo hoo!!), signed up to do my first Ironman, lost my friend and roommate to Breast Cancer, and celebrated another friend's victory over cancer... only to later find out that she will be battling it again. I broke my foot, healed my heart and managed to not gain any weight.
Life is never all good, but, fortunately, it's never all bad, either! I always say that life is a crazy mix of blessings and downfalls. This definitely rang true in 2011.
2012 will be even better. Last year I made a resolution to not make resolutions (ha!) So instead I set some goals that I wanted to work to achieve over the year. last year I said I wanted to:
1) do one unassisted pull-up (check!)
2) graduate from college (check!)
3) complete the whole 30 challenge (not check. I made it 25 days. but I called it good.)
4) sign up for Ironman Wisconsin (check)

So, I guess I have to pick some new goals for 2012 since I have a clean slate, huh? These are subject to change, or to be expanded. But here's the first draft, anyway:
Goals for 2012:
1) train for and complete that damn Ironman I signed up for last year (September 9, 2012)
2) No alcohol for the entire year (if you know me, you know this isn't going to be too tough...)
3) A special volunteer project that I will begin in September (more to follow about this later. I am so freaking excited to do this thing...)
4) Read at least one non-ironman related book per month.

Nothing too outlandish this year. Training for Ironman is going to take up a lot of time and mental power, so I don't want to set myself up for failure in other areas. I have some tentative plans about furthering my education/career movement goals, but those are sort of on a semi-hold until September.
So there you have it. I am so excited for 2012. It's going to be an amazing year, full of ups, downs triumphs and heartbreaks. It will be epic, for sure! Here's to a healthy, safe and epic 2012 for you and your families, too.