2010 in Review

At work we are at the point in the year where we are required to write a yearly review in which we list some of our top accomplishments for the year. It's kind of a pain to do, however when we're done, it is nice to look back and hopefully feel good about what we accomplish the previous 12 months. I thought I would do the same for my personal life so here are three accomplishments I'm proud of that I did in the year 2010.
Reach the Beach
Earlier this year I participated in a century bike ride from Beaverton Oregon to the coast named appropriately "Reach the Beach". A friend in the ward talked me into doing it and I was able to barrow a bike from my boss at work. Training was hard, but I really started getting into it. I unfortunately was only able to train for a couple months before the ride so it was pretty difficult, but I did it … I reached the beach. The scenery was amazing, and I actually enjoyed most of it. Well up until about mile 60. Then it seemed like the wind was blowing directly against the direction I was trying to go and I wore out very quickly. So for 40 miles I was not enjoying it. Several times I came very close to quitting by choice. There were another several times I nearly quit, not by choice, but by actual physical failure. At the end I remember curled up into a ball in the passenger side of the car while Annie drove us home. I knew that my body needed food to replenish all the energy I had exerted, but the idea of eating made me sick. It wasn't until we got home I was able to down a fruit smoothie and then slowing my body began to recover.
Even though it was extremely difficult and I was hating life for much of it, I am glad I reached the beach and plan to do it again (with a little more training). 

Mt Elbert (first 14er)
In late August I went to Colorado for a weekend to visit Annie and the kids who were staying with Annie's parents for a few weeks. While I was there Mark (Annie's dad) and I climbed Mt Elbert, a 14433ft peak in the Rockies. It is ranked 2nd Highest Peak in the Contiguous United States. The hike is 8.75 miles round trip with about 4700 ft. elevation climb. Yes … another one that nearly knocked me out.
Living at about 200 ft. above sea level, being at 10,000 was a bit of a shock to the system. And that's where we started climbing. Thankfully Mark was very patient with me. As we reached the top I was only able to take a few steps before needing to rest just so I could take a few more. It was slow and only sheer determination to reach the top kept me going. But when we got there it was worth it. The view was amazing. I curled up into the fetal position against a rock to block the wind while I tried to recover some strength because I knew we still had to go down, which turned out to not be much easier than going up.
Again very difficult, but I hope to do it again … maybe with a little more time to acclimate to the elevation

The deck
The final accomplishment I want to list for 2010 is the deck I built on the house we are renting. Yes, renting. The property doesn't really have any backyard because of a steep decline and protected wetland area directly behind it. It has a small (6'x8') deck that Tanner has been playing on with a small sand box. Annie communicated with the home owner that we really like the house, but need more space for the kids to play and convinced him to pay for deck materials and we would build it. (By the way husbands, when wives say "we", they mean you).
I had never built a deck before. In fact I hadn't built much of anything. I remember building a bird house in cub scouts. I had helped my dad build some fences and do some sheetrock work around the house, but I am far from being a Bob the Builder, so I was a little overwhelmed by the idea and still not sure how I got signed up for it. Annie got me a book from Home Depot on how to build decks which was actually really helpful, but it a took a couple readings before I was really even ready to start.
It took me a good couple months to just get the design done. Never done that before either. I used a program I Googled called SketchUp (actually Google developed it). It's a free program that's easy to use yet very powerful. An architect friend said that he actually uses a paid version of SketchUp for his designs.
After the design was done, it took a good 4 months more to build the deck. Spencer helped a bit and so did Annie's brother-in-law Kevin. But I was out there every day after work, and some times before work. All day Saturday and any holidays that came along. I took my birthday off as a vacation day to work on it … fun. But I finished it, and am relatively pleased with the outcome. Unfortunately it took so long we haven't really been able to use it much yet, but are looking forward to it this spring and summer.