As I sit here looking out my home office window, listening to the patter of rain on the wood shed roof, it’s easy to reflect on the events of the past year. With the overcast skies shedding little light on the day, thoughts stay inward, retrospective, as I look back on the year and forward towards the new year. With the new year just around the corner it’s become familiar to reassess our accomplishments and reset our compass and course.
This past year has seen a lot of change for me, leaving the school I’ve spent most of my professional life with and branching out in a new position which has me interacting with all kinds of schools all over the state. I was lucky to preside over one last state championship in cross country before cutting my ties with a program I’ve led for twenty five years. And while there’s a chance I could help out in a volunteer capacity, I’ve likely coached my last cross season at the high school level. And with my youngest a senior, the focus which has been dominant over the past quarter century will fade day by day. While I don’t miss the classroom, there will be aspects of this former life that will be missed.
And as I settle into my new career, I’ve found a couple extra pounds settling around my waistline. It used to be I knew exactly when to get my miles in. It turns out my five minute walk to work burned more calories than my 75 minute commute to Concord. Who knew? Between some illness, some injury and some poor planning, my running has gone down while the numbers on the scale have gone up. Getting older hasn’t helped on any of those accounts. Not the prospect I am looking forward to for the future.
On a grander scale, the forces outside my window, warmer temperatures and wetter winters have made these most recent months and weeks fraught with difficulty and destruction. The winter storm that dropped upwards of 6 inches on certain parts of the state, flooding rivers and roadways, creating chaos when we are often looking at a winter Christmas seemingly becoming the norm. Last week we were very lucky to get the second round of indoor meets in up at Plymouth State, as the road, parking lot and playing fields around the AllWell center was under two feet of water. Thanks to John Ostler and the Plymouth crew for getting things up to snuff so we could compete.
Looking ahead, I’m trying to see bluer skies. In the new year I’m committing to taking a bit more control of particular pieces of my life. I’ve got a gear bag ready for the car so I can get in a quick couple miles at a moment’s notice. I have envisioned exploring new surroundings as I make my way across the state. I’ve also looked into some running routes around the office or on the way home I can run to get rid of darkness as an excuse once I’ve reached home. There are some diet ideas in there as well.
I also will use the new year to jumpstart not just my health through running, but also use running as the vehicle for some adventure. While not resurrecting the 24 mile in 24 hour challenge, I look to running to give me my basic purpose through the pursuit of exploration. With parachuting and big world mountaineering off the table, I’m looking for my own two feet to get me off the couch and out onto the trail in places I’ve never been. On adventures in my own backyard. I have a 16 mile Wilderness Trail/Pemi Wilderness run on the docket with my eldest slated for April.
I’ve also got a vacation in the works with my younger daughter at the end of the school year which will take us and a couple companions out west. While not exactly a running trip, much of the adventure includes some epic run/hikes in the Olympics as well as a stint in the Goat Rocks area (Heart Lake via Lily Basin) and along the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier. One of our companions is a big time mountain runner, so we will also live vicariously through her adventures.
And while I won’t be intrinsically tied to a particular team going forward, I will still have my affiliation with NHCC and NHTF and look to advance my participation without the yoke of coaching. I hope to lend more commentary and travel to more meets than I was able to before. And for the present, I will still hold a position with the Spring Track committee and remain an official with a greater ability to help meet the demand for officiating meets as our fellow officials continue their upward gain of years. So while I’m stepping away from coaching (or at least head coaching) in the year ahead I still intend to be involved with the sport. And possibly more so, just differently, with similar but different goals.
Good luck to everyone with their new goals in the coming year. I hope your year is fruitful and that every setback (and there will be some) can be the new inspiration for you to reinvent yourself. I certainly intend to.
I’ll see you out there.
