1. I led Otto's Route up Independence Monument with some excellent encouragement from Brent. The encouragement is important because it is a 400 foot route with several sections that were difficult to protect (read: scary). That trip to Colorado National Monument made me especially happy to be dating Brent because he's the one who initiated this crazy tower climbing vacation strategy in the first place and taught me how to trad climb. He's great.
2. Completed the Hurt in the Dirt and other excellent mountain biking adventures. More props to Brent, he was willing to get up at 6:00 in the morning for mountain biking rides, let me borrow his bike for four months, followed down trails at crawling Becka-speed, and came to take pictures like the one below. This was the year I figured out mountain biking is definitely awesome (yet I have no blog posts about mountain biking, I will fix this soon), it was a major revelation for me.
3. Ran 105 miles in organized races, most of which were excellent. Top four running moments this year (because I can't pick just one) were 1) training trail run in September through Logan Canyon; 2) last six miles of the Ogden Marathon, lots of rain and downhill running and my family was just a few miles away; 3) last half of the Top of Utah Marathon, who knew a marathon could feel so good?; 4) even numbered miles of the Desert RATS trail half marathon, the views and emotions were usually at their highest points then. More props to Brent for always being at the finish line, even when they were 400 miles from home. And for the awesome running tights.
4. Becka's Thursday Ski Day. I bought my first season ski pass this last winter and used it primarily to ski by myself on Thursday mornings. Why Thursday mornings? Because the mountain was generally empty and I had put enough work in during the week to deserve a slacker break. I could feel stress just melt away as soon as I jumped off at the top of the lift. I had many moments of zen there by myself and I think I became a better skier for it. This relaxing break in the week, which I've just reinstated for the coming year reinforces my idea that vacations, even if they only last for 4 hours, are good for my health.
5. My Howling Great Salt Lake Spectacular. After a few years off I decided in August to bring back the solitary adventure and spent three days hiking to various high points with views of the Great Salt Lake by myself. I howled in the rain on Box Elder Peak, under the sun at Frary Peak, and fleeing from thunderstorms on Deseret Peak. I also spent quieter times waiting for the sunset at the Spiral Jetty and Antelope Island. It was a nice reset point on the year.
6. Phyllis the Forester and I celebrated her 150,000 mile anniversary together and spent an entire year out of the shop. I love my little car now more than I did in January. Since the beginning of the year we've traveled thousands of miles in the car and even camped inside it one trip. There were some troubles with the tires and getting those bike racks up there, but on the whole she performed well.
7. Several new wildlife encounters. Kayaking with a flock of phalaropes was the most blissed out part of the year and running past a rattling rattlesnake was the most frightening moment. Even cooler, when I told my friends on the Facebook about the rattlesnake encounter the overwhelming response was "Cool!" because my friends are cool. I also spotted a cactus in a wetland, while not quite wildlife, it was wild.
8. I grew a successful salsa garden. Not every salsa making encounter was successful and I still ended up with a lot of wasted food (but nearly as much as all the zucchini I grew to hate last year). I love pulling weeds and tending my little garden empire and I love salsa, so it was a winning situation all around.
9. 2,875 vertical feet climbed with Brent (at least, probably 3,000 feet). We met rock climbing and got to know each other rock climbing and our best vacations are rock climbing. This wasn't our most prolific climbing year, but I think it's great I still learn new things about him when we go on our trips.
10. I was conquered by the Wellsville Mountains. Those mountains have been staring me in the face everyday since I moved to Cache Valley and I found three opportunities to interact with them this year, first my hike to Box Elder Peak in August, then an intense ride all the way around the mountains in October and follow up hike across the ridge. The Wellsvilles are a narrow, very steep range and any Wellsville-centered activity requires a lot of climbing (by foot or bike), which provides an excellent opportunity to look inside for sources of strength. Two of three times I had my great friend Karina to help out.
11. Completed another successful field season. There was an airboat ride and I got to drive a boat with a mud motor. I didn't break the rtk GPS I had to cart around for the month and the only thing I lost was a knife (but I loved that knife). I also continued to cultivate my love for pickelweed, the best plant in the world. I love the part of the year I can spend my days outside looking at plants, the data I get is a bonus.
12. Took 4,875 pictures, posted 48 blog entries, and was an author on three peer-reviewed papers. I put a lot of stuff out into the world. While it feels a little self-indulgent, it also feels great to have some measurement of my productivity this year. And you, thanks for reading this, all your views totally make me feel good.
13. Got to spend time with the people I love the most. Including this trip to City of Rocks where my family displayed bravery and skill in a trial-by-fire first climbing experience. It's nice that the year ends with a series of family moments (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Liz's Birthday Shopping Spectacular) because it reminds of just how much I love those people and how excellent it is to hang out with them.
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