Dear 2012 Me

Last year at this time, the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans asked us to write a letter to ourselves from the future, January 2011, which would be now, for our January Monthly Project.  Right? Confused?  Anyhoo.  So, back in January 2010, I wrote a letter to the "me" of January 2011.  When I reflected back on the year, I had already pulled out this letter and checked to see how close my "predictions" were.  You can read about it here.  Clearly I underestimated myself in a few areas, but I'm not going to rehash it again today.  This was Part 1 of this week's Monthly Project!

Now on to Part 2: write a letter to the "me" of January 2012.  What is life going to look like for me a year from now?  Will I reflect back like I did this year?  I'm sure I will (and if I don't, I'm sure it will become my homework at some point)!  So, here goes....

Dear Bari,

Wassup, girl?  Have you recovered from Christmas break?  Ready to get back to work for the New Year?  I hope so, cuz school starts again SOON.  But, before we look forward, I want to look back.  Take a nice, long but not too long look at how 2011 treated you.  Ready?  Too bad, we're going to do this anyway.

2011 started out with a bang for you!  Only 6 days in, you signed up for your longest race EVER.  A 25k that you would go on to SMOKE in May.  You set your mind to run the whole race (after using intervals for your 1/2 marathon in 2010), only walking through the aide stations because, lets face it, you are a klutz and running over slippery cups while trying to drink and stay hydrated is a recipe for disaster.  Before that 15.5 mile race even started though, you were planning your training and you ran a couple other races for fun.  You convinced Mike to run a 10k with you in February (his longest race ever!) and then you ran a 5k for St. Paddy's day.  Fun races with fun people.  After the St. Pat's run, you got down to business and trained your heart out for Riverbank.

The Riverbank 25k was awesome, but know what was even better?  The next weekend, meeting all those amazing hookers you'd been chatting with on twitter and through blogging at Fitbloggin!  It was so incredible that you won that ticket from your friends at Shrinkingjeans.  You really could not thank them enough for the opportunity to go to Baltimore.  You got to room with Lisa, Melissa and Christy and had an absolute blast!  Seeing Kirsten again ROCKED.  So did meeting all those other fab ladies and then running a 5k with them.  You didn't PR that one (you had just run 15.5 miles 5 days before!) but it was the company that counted.  You even learned a little more about how to be a better blogger :)

You kept running and in the summer, you tackled your first triathlon.  Yah, you swam in open water, did a little biking, and then went out for a run.  All on the same day.  Amazing, huh?  If it weren't for those skanks pressuring you encouraging you, I'm sure you would never have had the guts to "tri" (ha-ha, get it? ohnevermind).  You got through the heat of the summer, got a couple more 5 and 10k's under your belt, and then you ran the SH*T out of the Grand Rapids Half Marathon.  Your time from last year?  Blew it out of the water!  I was so proud of you.  You felt strong and really enjoyed the moment.  You finished your racing year by running the Turkey Trot with Mike again.  You even convinced him to pay for a shirt this time :)  Did you realize when the year started you would log over 500 miles running?  That's pretty amazing, if you ask me (which I am you, so I do)!

As for the weight you lost in 2010 - it all stayed away thanks to the running and healthy eating you did.  You will always need to stay on top of your eating, cuz let's face it, you like food!  But you have learned what works for you.  Great job!

I'm also very proud of you for not completely flipping out when your babies started High School in September.  Well, at least you didn't flip out TOO badly.  I'm sure they will recover.  Eventually.

So anyway, it was fun to reflect back on all you did this year.  No way a couple years ago would you have even CONSIDERED running a block, much less an average of 10 miles a week!  Keep it up, my dear!  You are a runner!