Looking Back - 2011

Back in January I posted some Resolutions for the New Year.  Now is as good a time as any to take a look back on how the year turned out:

1. Finish a 50 mile AERC ride on Diego. This can be considered a success, we not only finished a 50 at Rides of March but also a second one at Cooley Ranch in July.  Honestly, I was hoping for a bit more this season, but factor in the pull at NASTR in June and our successful second-day LD at Cooley, things didn't turn out too bad.  Mainly it was time and money that prevented me from attending more rides this season.


2. Eat "better", make smarter food choices. Buy and consume more fresh produce, especially veggies, and watch my portions better.  I'd probably rate this a success as well.  I was thinner this year than I have been in a while, mainly due to watching what and how much I was eating.  We still eat a lot of pasta, and occassionally rice, as the basis for our dinners, but I have cut down on the amount of potatoes and other simple carbs I was consuming.  Fast food pretty much makes me sick now so I consume very, very little of that.


3. Track my training miles better. I started an Excel worksheet with the date, distance, and duration of nearly all of my rides.  While I've been trying to update it after every ride, or at least weekly/monthly, I know that I've forgotten a few in there somewhere.  Overall though, it's a big improvement over not having anything formally recorded.  Diego is finishing 2011 with a little over 500 total miles for the year, not bad, but I hope to at least double that number, if not more, in 2012.


4. Blog more. Um.... okay, maybe not such a success here.  My issue is I only want to post interesting articles and/or stories, and not just document what I've been doing.  But then I realize that some of my favorite posts to read from my Blog Buddies are just that, small quick updates on what they've been doing.  I have some wonderfully humerous stories about my horse-shopping for a friend adventures from this summer that I need to write down and get posted.

Other big accomplishments this year include:

• Overcoming my fear of riding Diego, and finally learning to LOVE riding again
• First successful solo trail ride
• Getting Diego out on my one-and-only training trail from home, including finding a way to skirt the dicer first section by going down the quiet residential street
• Riding on the Tahoe Rim Trail with my mom
• Managing Diego's hooves and trimming on my own, and being mostly successful in that venture (NASTR was certainly a case of learning what not to do)