Andy's 2013 Resolutions.

Here I sit on the eve of the eve of another New Year, and I’ve decided to put down my Fat Ass goals for the year for the whole wide world to see. As a firmly entrenched Type B underachiever, my goals are neither lofty nor unattainable, yet I believe aiming for them over the course of the coming calendar year should serve me well.

I’ve never been much of a resolutionist, in fact last year I had only one thing on my list. I had resolved to be more social in my running life and meet some new people. I joined Club Fat Ass and in no time achieved my goal. I’ve had an awesome year running around on the trails of the North Shore and beyond and if next year is even half of what this one was, I’ll be a happy man. That said, here’s my list of resolutions for 2013...

I’m starting big here. In a quest to push myself more than I ever have before, I hereby resolve to complete the Vancouver 100 in 2013. There, I said it. Last year I paced Kyndra to her course record 32 hour, 28 minute finish and after witnessing her perseverance, commitment and pure guts, I knew I had to give this sucker a shot.

I loved my first year in the Bagger Challenge. I was able to bag 18 peaks last season, landing me in the top ten of Fat Ass Baggers. For the upcoming season of peak baggery, I may not end up being as ambitious, but I wanted to have a Bagger Challenge themed resolution. I hereby resolve to get up at least five new-to-me peaks in 2013. I also want to see more of the Howe Sound Crest Trail Area as well as delve more into the depths of the Fannin Range. And finally, I resolve to beat the canine. This year I was edged out, to the tune of a single star-bag, by Tundra the Ultra Dog, so next year my eyes are on the hound (this may prove to be my most difficult resolution of the lot...).

To my surprise, I ended up in the top ten for the 2012 point series. So I figure the same should be on the list for next year as well. If I’ve taken any lessons from this year’s point series, it’s that Garbage Points are to the CFA Point Series as two letter words are to the game of Scrabble. Small, easily achievable steps that can be the difference between winning and losing. I hereby resolve to snag a trash point at every event that I attend in 2013.

For more of a health related resolution, I hereby resolve to get down to my fightin’ weight in time for the Vancouver 100 and stay there until at least the Squamish 50 in August. This shouldn’t be too tough, it’s not like I’m talking “Biggest Loser” type weight loss, just getting rid of the off-season beer/pie gut.

Here’s one to purely pad the stats. I will cycle commute all year. If I don’t ride my bike, I will walk or run... my commute must be 100% human powered in 2013. This should be easy, I don’t remember the last time I took a car or bus to work.

A couple things that I’ve been meaning to do, but have never really gotten around to, are night running and snow activities. So in 2013 I hereby resolve to do more night running than I did in 2012 (should be easy, I got out for a total of one night run this year) and to get out snowshoeing or skiing or in some other way traipsing through the snow at least 7 times (kind of an arbitrary number, but 5 didn’t seem like it was enough and 10 felt like it might be setting my admittedly low bar a bit too high).

I have too many pairs of running shoes. In 2013, I hereby resolve to spend $0 on running shoes. That said, I reserve the right to spend my hard earned, formerly-allocated-for-shoes-cash on as many bottles, packs, bags, gadgets and other superfluous items as I see fit (just because I have acknowledged my shoe addiction, there’s no reason to leave all those fine CFA Business Members unsupported all year long).

I won’t be in the country at Kneeknacker time next year and therefore won’t have any mandatory volunteer obligations, but I still want to do my part and give something back to this community. Therefore I hereby resolve to do some form of race or trail maintenance volunteerism in 2013. I’ve already put my name out there a couple times, so this one should be easily resolvable.  

And finally, I would like to try something new so I will take at least one fitness related class. This can be yoga, swimming, line dancing, power lifting... whatever (maybe Marc will offer up his boot camp again?).

There you have it, let’s talk again in a year and see how I did.