TRI'ing to be FIT: 2009: A Year in Review

Way back in July, in one of my first posts, I listed out some personal goals I had for the year. So how did I do?

1) Go to Italy - great time; biked alot, met fabulous people, ate wonderful food, and got to see Lance Armstrong race live in the Giro D'Italia. I still keep in touch with many of the people I met on the trip and am looking forward to hopefully meeting up with them again sometime!

2) My second goal was to see Lance Armstrong race live in his comeback year. This was done while in Italy, see above link for pics!

3) My 3rd and 4th goals had to do with athletic accomplishments. Looking back at the year, I have completed: 5 - 5k's, a 4 miler, a 10 miler, 3 - 1/2 marathons, and a triathlon in each distance (sprint, olympic, 1/2 IM, and full IM). I also did 5 century rides, including, Pelotonia where I got to see Lance Armstrong for the 2nd time in a year. Of the races that I participated in, I had a PR in every distance except for the 1/2 marathon. So, all in all, I think it was an excellent year and I far exceeded anything I thought I could do in a given year!

4) Stay healthy: overall this was also accomplished, I made it to the start of all of my main races injury free and I didn't get the H1N1 virus (thus far) so I will call this a success!

5) Spend more time with family and friends. Despite all of the training that I did, I still feel that I accomplished this goal! I spent plenty of time with my family, we traveled to South Dakota for the first ever Kurtenbach Family Reunion;

Went on a family adventure to Hocking Hills for a zipline course;

Had no fewer than 5 meals together as a family (this is tough since my sister moved to LA) and took an updated family shot;

Met up in Phoenix for IMAZ and Thanksgiving:

I got to spend alot of time with CT's family, in fact we started the year in Boston;

Met up in the middle of the year for a 1/2 IM in Michigan and a family sprint tri in Lima, Ohio;

Phoenix for IMAZ;

and fnished off the year in Lima, for Christmas!

As far as friends go, I was able to spend quite a bit of time running, riding, and eating with friends. In fact, I couldn't have met the majority of my goals above without them!