2012 and '13: The Obligatory Looking Back and Moving Forward

My 2012 in Review and My 2013 Crystal Ball

Yes, A self-indulgent review of the last Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes, Five hundred twenty-five thousand Moments so dear.

With a preview into what the next 525,600 minutes of 2013 may hold.  All with backlinks to the original blog posts.

 

2012 Running in Review

The Martian half marathon as a training run – A pretty unmemorable course, but I remember it by running backwards for a 1/2 mile on the course. Yes, I took a step to the side of the course, and ran opposite the course traffic to meet up with a blogger buddy (who I had planned to meet prerace but never did since I was late.)

The Ann Arbor marathon – remember it by hills, and by the visions I had of yesteryear, when I stumbled drunk through the city, night after miserable night, and here I was running a marathon through the same streets, the only stumbles coming from the blissful haze of utter fatigue dragging at my legs.

The  Chicago RnR half marathon – remember it by the crazy hot weather, and pushing out a 1:38 but wondering why a pretty slow time for me historically would seem so hard (it was just a month after the full marathon).  Age is wasted on the old.

The New York City Marathon – I remember it by:

1. Not running it

2. where I was when I heard it was canceled. One of those memory burns

3. The 'run-anyway' marathon in Central Park on Sunday.

4. A marathon where societal values and politics and running collided in a way like none other that I know of.  When Roberta Gibb was the first woman who ran Boston Marathon as a bandit and then later when Kathrine Switzer  was pulled from the course was the last time marathoning smashed into such real world questions.

My 2013 Running Plans:

Bayshore Marathon – May 25^th

After some deliberation, I chose a marathon I ‘ve always wanted to run rather than just a place to run a convenient marathon.

New York City Marathon, take 2

November 6^th (or something like that)

Where I finally heal that wound that got gauged into my heart the day I landed back in Detroit, mission unaccomplished. I told my youngest daughter I was going to New York to win her a medal, and don’t think she has forgotten. And I think I left my toothbrush at the hotel I stayed at, so see, I have to go back..

Add a couple half marathons. CF in April, The Hungry Duck in July, or the Brooksie.

I also plan to do more speedwork, and may tinker with a 4 week taper. After every marathon I run, I take much time off and rest days, and then there’s this spark that hits me, about a month after the marathon, where I think “damn, I feel like I could run a better marathon today”?  So, isn’t that basically a one month taper?

2012 Writing in Review

 The Jade Rabbit and STRAY both did well on Amazon. Both novels are being read, downloaded, applauded and laughed at, lauded and ridiculed, poked and prodded.

In February of 2012, STRAY made it to the second round of Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest- I remember it by where I was when I found out: I was literally walking from my hotel at the Howard Johnson’s crossing the street to go to Disney Land in California.  The Jade Rabbit has been reviewed on a dozen or more running and adoption blogs.
 

Zombie Dash – Yes, I also have a short story available on Amazon for 99 cents, but pssttt ~ you can read the first draft of the story free on this blog post here: But, .. don’t’ tell anybody, since Amazon doesn't allow the works to be both priced on Amazon but presented as free elsewhere,

2013: Works In Progress:

I started writing “Placebo”, a story about a new painkiller similar to an upcoming drug called “Zohydro ER’ which is going to make a big pharmaceutical company millions, and tear up many families with new addicts losing their lives.

  

This story got interrupted when I took a run in San Diego. I was on vacation and took a predawn run in the darkness along a semi-hidden trail that was littered with the sleeping bodies of homeless men when I had a vision for a  story which has since took over, and it is cruising along. This novel is known as: “I don’t have a title just yet”

That’s right. Almost finished the first draft, but no name just yet. In the hospital, when your baby isn’t named, they just call it ‘babyboy or babygirl’ and then add your last name. So, we’ll call this ‘babyfreak matthews’

If you read the excerpt that was up on this blog for a few days entitled “In The Tunnels” then you caught a glimpse.  Of course there’s a runner, but it's not about running, but it is about endurance and the things we do for love.

Most memorable 2012 Reads: (since reading and writing are intertwined in my book)

Life of Pi, (I still love you, even if your movie version was just so so).  I'm dividing the world into those who loved LIfe of PI and those who did not, and there seems to be no in between.

Running Ransom Road: Confronting The Past, One Marathon At A Time, poetic non-fiction about running and addiction that struck some very personal notes.

Game of Thrones GOT #2. I don’t bother to remember their names, just the book number. GOT #3 is being read soon.

And finally, "Out And Back" one of the most surreal book reading moments of my life, I chose to start reading the novel on the plane flying to my brother who was in the hospital, on life support which was to soon be ended, and the novel was about a woman dealing with the death of her mother, who was also taken off of life support. I did not know this at a time. Certainly an example of coincidence just being God's way of remaining anonymous. Yes, this was the most significat event of 2012.

And still Chasing The Dragon:

In June of 2012 I celebrated 20 years of being sober.  Who would have known that staying sober was going to be such a strange buzz.