2013: Lessons Learned and What Lies Ahead

I love as the year ends and we all get a little down time to reflect on the the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past 365 days. For me, some of my favorite highlights include:

1. Traveling to Scottsdale to work for MLB and experience all of the awesomeness that Arizona had to offer.

2. A few days later, flying to Boulder to spend the weekend with my awesome Rev3 teammates :)

3. Moving to the sunshine state!

4. Snowboarding with the family in Utah and introducing Scott to real powder.

5. Trying out the dark-side and experimenting with CrossFit in addition to the old swim-bike run.  And seeing the benefits of pay off via short course racing!

6. Spending lots of beach time with my other half!

7. Getting a new orthopedic job.

8. Making new friends and still being able to catch up with old ones.

9. Winning my first local CrossFit competition (5k gone bad).

10. Crushing my olympic distance PR and placing top 3 OA in several races.

Despite so many blessings, 2013 ended on a rough note for me. Not to focus on the negative, but more importantly to learn from the past... some of the tougher times included:

1. Geo-bachelorette-ing it again for 3 months during the summer to move early for a job that in the end didn't pan out. Worst idea ever by the way :)  I had a tough time being away form this guy:

2. Moving again and of course the challenges that come with it...

3. Suffering through a nasty, nagging Grade II gastroc tear and missing 2 big A races.

4. Starting over once again at a new job.

5. Surviving the holidays alone without family and vacation. I won't lie many tears were shed :(

I will keep those to a minimum :) For me, the challenges painfully teach me far more than the good times. And as much as it sucks to go through the rough patches, they somehow always make you that much better of a person. Your perspective through these trials, will ultimately make or break you.... 

Some of the lessons that I ultimately learned the hard way were:

1. Family should always come first. Jobs will come and go. Family is constant.

2. Despite what we may all think, there is far more to life than triathlon. Scott has to remind me all to frequently, that I am not getting paid to be a triathlete. (despite all of my awesome sponsors). I continually ask myself, what would I do if this were taken away? Happiness should not correlate with one's success or failure at the sport. Instead, we should cherish and enjoy what our bodies are capable of. Training should never feel like a chore or job.

3. Cherish the awesome people in your life including family, friends, co-workers and never take them for granted. Positive people will make or break your day :)

4. Hard times will show you who your true friends are. I have to thank everyone that reached out to me over the holidays. There is no way I would have survived without you.

5. And I'll end with one of my favorites~This is something I continually remind myself when times get tough. There is somebody up there with a plan.... (Jeremiah 29:11)

With that said, I'm heading into 2014 with lots of faith, hope, and a refreshed perspective. I hope 2014 brings you many blessings!