2020 was a year that felt like a decade, yet was over in the blink of an eye. While I’m grateful that I’ve stayed healthy throughout the past year, as I write this I haven’t been farther than an hour and a half from our home in Seattle for more than twelve months. That picture above taken from the Salesforce Tower is from a work trip last February! I did not end up visiting any family last year, so once I’ve been vaccinated a visit to Pennsylvania will be one of my first post-vaccinated travels.

That being said, I have much to be thankful for. I excelled as a new lead developer on my team even with us living in a pandemic for most of the year. We launched a new product in nine months! It certainly wasn’t easy, but I’m so proud of the team I work on and can’t wait to watch our success continue. I’ll have more professional growth and learning this year as well, as my role at work is changing again.

Outside of work, I biked a lot more in 2020 and kept up my running routine throughout the pandemic. I also enjoyed virtual boxing/HIIT classes through my boxing gym, but I was not able to achieve my goal of taking swimming lessons and completing a triathlon. While I’d say I would love for this to be a goal for this year, realistically I’m excited to just get back into staggered-start trail racing — running with friends and others again would be ideal. There’s my main fitness goal for 2021: social running. Seattle will soon have a few new ice rinks thanks to our new hockey team, so perhaps I’ll even consider skating lessons!

As I’m currently writing this recap during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard to think of 2019 as anything but sunshine and roses. Wasn’t life so much better back then?! But unfortunately for me, it had its down moments too.

The good:
Over the summer of 2019, Tym and I had the opportunity to upgrade to a bigger house in the Central District neighborhood of Seattle! We’d been casually looking for a few months but weren’t quite certain it was something we’d commit to in 2019. I’m happy to be back close to the Capitol Hill and downtown areas, which is where we lived for our first two and a half years in Seattle.

As far as fitness goals, I continued my fitness regimen of running and boxing. This resulted in a PR in the 10k for the first time in almost 10 years! I also completed another trail marathon, DNF’d a 50k, and started biking to work more often (even during our rainy winter!)

My husband and I’s big adventure last year took us to Italy, which had been on my bucket list for several years. We spent almost two full weeks exploring the beautiful cities of Venice, Rome, and Florence. I enjoyed each city for different reasons, but I certainly wouldn’t mind going back to Venice and spending more time there one day.

I am certainly well overdue to talk about my goals from last year and what I’m aiming to achieve in 2019 now that we’re already more than halfway through the year! Here’s a quick recap…

2018 Review

I accomplished a lot in 2018! The busiest months of the year were in February and March when Tym & I decided to go through a bathroom remodel immediately after returning from a week-long trip in Hawaii.

At the top of Haleakalā on Maui Island

Hawaii had been on our bucket list for quite a while, and it definitely did not disappoint. We had just enough time to drive the road to Hana, drive up Haleakalā, go snorkeling, and relax at our resort. We spent our entire time on Maui island, so if we ever go back I’d want to explore one of the other islands.

The Painted Ladies in San Francisco

The rest of the year was a whirlwind with many smaller trips (including my 10-year high school reunion!). I traveled to San Francisco fairly often for work and finally spent a long weekend there in the late summer. Tym & I also took a short trip to Victoria, Canada on the Victoria Clipper ferry and explored some of the islands around Seattle as well. Continue reading →

2017 certainly flew by, didn’t it? It seems as though just last month I was publishing my goals for the year, yet it’s already time to reflect and think about goals for 2018.

Year of “Firsts”

This year was definitely the year to accomplish new things and push my body to its limit. In August, I completed my first trail marathon in preparation for my first 50k ultra marathon the following month. Not only did I exceed my primary goal of just finishing the damn race, I ran my 50k just slightly under six hours (5:54!) to beat my secondary goal as well. And I actually had fun while competing in both races!

The view at the halfway point of the Middle Fork 50k, September 2017

I also had the opportunity to enjoy the Pacific Northwest nature in other ways besides running. In June, I went with a few friends on a backpacking trip to Annette Lake and slept out under the stars. It was an amazing first-time experience, even if there was still snow!

Annette Lake, June 2017

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Contrary to what you might have been reading in the news lately, 2016 wasn’t all that bad. At least, not for me! (I got married!)

Photography by Cheryl Amati Martin

This post is coming quite late this year, but nevertheless, I’m going to take a few minutes to analyze last year’s goals and make new ones for 2017.

What Went Well:

• I continued averaging around 7 hours of sleep per night. I’m so good at this now that I no longer need to use the Microsoft Band to track my sleep.
• I ran 4 half marathons and also biked a heck of a lot more than last year. A lot of my biking came from my work commute to SODO in the summer.
• I read 12 books for an average of a book a month.
• My volunteering increased. I started volunteering at the University District Food Bank and have been going almost once per month since June fairly consistently.

What Didn’t Go Well:

• I didn’t really do well with the “continue learning” goal besides continuing to learn at my job. I will try to do better here in 2017.

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