As I write this, it is 4:15 on New Year’s morning. That’s 2016 in case you lost track. I just got up and am drinking coffee in preparation for a morning run. I was in bed at 8:00 last night. Not surprisingly, it is still the New Year this morning. 
The New Year holiday seems to be a big thing for a lot of folks. For whatever reason, I’ve never quite gotten it. Not being a fan of winter, to me it marks the start of the coldest time of the year. It is also the last day off I get from work for the next 5 months unless I take some of my all-too-precious PTO. I can’t get all excited about a holiday generated by an arbitrary calendar date. The earth would continue on it’s path around the sun regardless of whether we had numbers on a puppy calendar page to track it.
Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I began some end-of-year fitness and training data housekeeping. In so doing, a couple things leaped out at me. First, after my 5 mile lunch run on December 30th, I was 9 miles short of 1000 miles for the year. GASP! Naturally I had to extend yesterday’s planned 5 miler to make up the difference.
Now, you serious runners out there are going “Pfffft. 1000 miles. I had that by the second week in February”. And once upon a time, I’d have been there with you. The difference this year, is it is January 1st and I’m healthy! I’ve missed the opportunity to run many miles early in the year the last couple years due to various over-use injuries. It feels good to not be in pain in January.
The next thing that leaped out at me was the major reduction in mileage and time for all three disciplines vs. 2014. I’ve been kind of annoyed with my spouse who usually lets me do what I want without complaint but has really put her foot down about me not doing another Ironman. “I never saw you when you were training for Ironman”. I thought this was a bunch of nonsense . . until I looked at 2015 vs 2014. Wow. I really did spend a lot of time training in 2014. Not only that but I seem to remember hating some of those really long days in the saddle by myself. I had a lot more fun in 2015 not worrying about getting in those 100 mile rides to be ready for Ironman. 
New Year’s resolution? Hmmm. I don’t know. Isn’t a resolution those things the UN puts in harshly worded letters to evil dictators they don’t like? 
Or is it those things that make people go to the gym every day for a week in January and then never set foot in the place again for the rest of the year? I don’t know that I necessarily feel like a New Year’s resolution is a useful endeavor. I mean, I’ve resolved every year for years now to start doing Yoga. It hasn’t happened. I really should but I haven’t. Maybe I’ll resolve to not put the wrong year on the first check I write. Or perhaps I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and, as I enter a new decade of life later this year, keep a closer eye on the day that I can exit the workaday grind and be happier.
Bring it On 