Goals in 2009

I have many goals this year.

Running: In the right bar of this blog you can see my race calendar. From this it is obvious my goal is to run numerous marathons, and ultra marathons. I hope to break 28 hours in one of my three hundred milers (Umstead 100, VT100 and a yet unnamed/undecided 100 miler in the fall). It would also be nice to break 11 hours in a 50 miler (either Rocky Raccoon or JFK 50). Maybe I will try to break 4:10 for a marathon as well (I think this is doable if I just focus on running, not taking pictures), or perhaps I will even try to break 4 hours (this would be ALOT harder). And of course I want to finish every event healthy and happy excited to start my next event.

Family: I love my pets and my family. I will spend lots of quality time with all of them throughout the year. In particular I know all my pets may not live forever. I will make sure every day counts. The same is true for my family.

Travel: Already this year I will be going to Orlando (for the Disney Goofy Marathon- Jan), Phoenix (for the Rock n Roll Marathon-Jan), New Orleans (for the Mardi Gras Marathon- Feb), North Carolina (Umstead 100-Apr), Denver (ACRP Conference-Apr), Vermont (for both the Vermont City Marathon-May and VT100 miler-July), Niagara Falls (for the Niagara Ultra-June), San Diego (DIA Annual Meeting-June), and in the Fall, I hope to return to the New Hampshire Marathon, Death Valley Marathon and Las Vegas Marathon.

Fitness: I have signed up for two triathlons including the IronGirl in August and a Half Ironman Triathlon in Delaware in Sept. I will need to improve my swimming, biking and core strength for these events. And of course Tristan and I will do lots of hiking!

Volunteerism: I plan to donate blood more regularly (I'm tough, right?)--in fact Friday Jan 2nd I am so committed to this goal I have already set up an appointment (and am drinking lots of water today in preparation:-). I want to volunteer at more events. I really enjoy volunteering because of all the great people I meet and help and because it makes me feel good! (I think a 1: 3 ratio has been suggested for volunteering in some running magazines...I so far have volunteered for Disney Marathon weekend-at a water station for the 5 km race, Rocky Raccoon-for the 100 mile runners, Umstead 100-at registration, and Bull Run Run 50 miler-at the Marina Aid Station). Throughout the rest of the year I will try to keep this trend going.

Professionally: I will be running a large (750+ statisticians) FDA/Industry Statistics Meeting this fall. I want it to be the best conference yet. This will entail lots of work between now and September, but I think I am up for it. Also to help prepare I hope attending and presenting at two conferences (Association for Clinical Research Professionals ACRP in Denver in April and Drug Information Association DIA in San Diego in June) will help provide me insight into how best to do this. I hope I will be able to take a distance learning class about coaching (professionals) this will enable me to pursue one of my life goals of becoming a coach. Finally, I hope I invited back to the DIA Clinical Forum which will be held in Nice France in 2008. I had such a great time at Slovenia and really enjoyed both the experience of seeing a new country as well as meeting so many interesting professionals.

Friends: I am so incredible fortunate to have such great friends. I will make sure to set aside time to call, write or hang out with my friends. Friends are the most precious resource and I am so lucky to have so many friends. Thank you!

Happy New Year!