Looking Back at 2015
It’s the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it’s time to look back on the year that was!
2015 has really been quite a year.
Which is funny, since I don’t think I accomplished a single one of my resolutions/goals from last year.
Oh well.
Looking Back at 2015
The hardest part of this post is deciding where to start…
Looking Back at 2015: Coming Up Short
Few things in life ever go perfectly…
- The Daily Blog Post: Technically, this was a failure. The plan was to have a new post up every day on the blog this year, and I got off to a pretty damn good start. Through the first 6 months of the year, I only missed a day or two. The problem was, creating all of that content was sucking all of my time up and I knew I needed to make a change. I held on to the daily posting schedule through the end of August, and in September I switched to a Monday-Friday posting schedule. And that was, by far, the right decision. This is the 322nd blog post of the year, and there is no shame in that game. So while I technically failed in creating a post per day, I’m not at all upset that I came up short on this front. On the other hand…
- 1,200 Miles for the Year: I don’t even know if 1,200 miles was the original target or not (1,300 rings a bell for some reason), but whatever the target was I missed it. I don’t have a good excuse, I just didn’t make it enough of a priority to get in as many miles as I’d wanted to this year. I got off to a terribly slow start in January and February, and just never caught up. I’d hoped that I could hit the goal with a good November and December, but by the time November was finished there was no way. Well, there was a way, but it would have likely led to injury, and I wasn’t willing to push myself to the breaking point to hit some arbitrary goal I had set for myself. I’ve already got a better plan in place for success with next year’s goals, however, and I’m looking forward to flying past 1,200 miles well before the end of December.
- Bookworm Status Incomplete: I was looking forward to spending more time reading in 2015, and on that front I was successful. I’m pretty sure I read more books this year than I have in any year in awhile, but the goal of reading 30 books (2.5 per month) quickly proved to be too much. It’s not so much that I’m a slow reader, but I just didn’t make enough time to really dive into reading as much as I’d hoped. Between all the other aspects of the blog and the business and spending some time with the wife and the junior, I just wasn’t able to knock out 30 books this year. And once I knew there was no chance to get to 30 I stopped keeping track of how many books I had read, but I’d guess I got close to 20. And for me, that’s definitely an improvement. So again, technically I failed at this resolution, but even in failure it was a definite success.
- Begin Public Speaking: This is the one resolution that I had for 2015 that you could make a solid argument that I had success with. I did speak at a local event that was hosted by Nicole Welch from Episode 15 of the podcast. There were only a handful of people that were there, but I still presented for 25 minutes or so. So I can no longer say that I’ve never done a speaking gig. That said, the spirit of the resolution was to have multiple gigs that extended beyond my local area. And in that case, it was a failure. I did have one gig lined up, but due to logistical issues like my flight to California getting canceled, I missed it.
- Improved Webinars: I did some webinar during the first half of the year, and I guess I got better at hosting them, but I’m still calling this a failure because I didn’t stick with it and continue to consistently host webinars.
- Host Virtual Running Summit: Yeah… #FAIL
Looking Back at 2015: A Definite Success
Thankfully, I didn’t completely fail at everything I set out to accomplish at the start of the year.
- Help Runners: This is one of those vague resolutions/goals that is impossible to measure, but I can confidently say based on the feed back I’ve gotten from those of you that I’ve talked to via social media/email/comments on blog posts that I have been able to help many runners this year. And honestly, if I could only be successful with one resolution for the year, this is the best one! At the core of what I’ve done professionally for my entire life, the mission has always been to help people. I love working with runners as a coach, offering tips on the website/podcast, and just encouraging folks on social media. For as long as I’m around, helping others will always be a priority, and I’m proud to say that I helped at least a handful of runners improve/make progress in 2015.
Looking Back at 2015: Out of the Blue
It’s impossible to judge the success/failure of a year based solely on how you fared on your list of goals/resolutions that you create at the start of the year.
Life (and business) is too fluid to hold yourself to one standard for an entire year, and being able to call an audible and shift gears is vital to being successful.
- The Coterie: I’ve never been into the “group coaching” dynamic. All of us are unique, and I hate the idea of a one-size-fits-all training philosophy. Yet I had several people contact me looking for a coach, looking for guidance, wanting help, but unable to fit the cost of hiring a one-on-one coach into their budgets. I knew I wanted to help, so the Coterie was born. I’m still ironing out the wrinkles, but I think the Coterie does as good of a job bridging the gap of individual instruction/attention with the benefits of a group that I’ve seen.
- Two Big PRs: There’s never anything bad about PRs at races. I ran a big PR at the Echo Half in June. (And for the record, a June race in Central Florida is a hot race. Still can’t believe how many people complained about the heat/humidity. What the hell were they expecting!?!) And I also knocked off a pretty sizable PR in the Florida 10 race earlier this fall here in town. Definitely am loving the 10 mile race distance, and kind of wish more races of that distance were available.
- 80/20 Running: When I had Matt Fitzgerald on the podcast, we talked about his book 80/20 Running and it really challenged my way of thinking about training and coaching. What I was doing wasn’t terrible, but after reading the book, investigating some of the science, and implementing it into my own running, I have bought into the training hook, line, and sinker. If you haven’t checked out this book yet, I’d DEFINITELY encourage you to add it to your 2016 reading list.
Looking Back at 2015: An Overview
Overall, I definitely can’t complain about 2015.
Was it a perfect year? Far from it!
Were there more struggles than I would like professionally, personally, and in terms of my running?
Abso-fricking-lutely!
But I learned a lot this year, and that knowledge will pay huge dividends going forward.
And because of that, I can’t wait to turn the calendar over to 2016 and see what next year holds!
How was 2015 for You? Highlights? Biggest Lessons? Let Me Know Below!
