2012 in summary

This has been quite a year. It's hard to know where to start to summarize it...

So here's a picture of some of my haul from events this year:

So what were my race highlights?
Obviously doing the toughest Ironman course in the world as my first is a highlight, especially having raised a good chunk of change for Olivia's Vision. Going under 5 hours at Boulder 70.3 is probably the result of the season. To be honest though, performing pretty consistently well through my packed season is marvellous. Not bad for a first season dedicated to triathlon, even though 2011 was my first tri season it was more about cycling until I decided I wanted to do a half-ironman...

So this season:
Atomic Man duathlon (10km run, 40km bike, 5km run): 8th overall, 7th male, 4th M35-39.
Run the Caldera, trail 1/2 marathon: 24th overall, 23rd male, 14th M30-39
 - in 7th place at 7 miles before injuring foot...
Tour de Los Alamos (27 mile road race, Citizens class): 2nd overall, 1st M30-39
Storrie Lake olympic triathlon: 23rd overall, 5th M35-39
Cochiti Lake olympic triathlon: 14th overall, 3rd M35-39
 - PODIUM!
Ironman 70.3 Boulder: 192nd overall, 33rd M35-39  TIME: 4:59:30
 - Swim: 35, Bike: 2:33, Run 1:43
Los Alamos triathlon (20km bike, 400m swim, 5km run): 6th overall, 4th elite
 - yup, got my first Elite wave start!
Ironman Wales: 453rd overall, 96th M35-39   TIME: 12:15:10
 - stuck on small chainring for last 50 miles of the bike
 - windy, hilly, cold and absolutely fantastic
 - Swim: 1:07, Bike: 6:55 (grrr), Run: 3:46

I also got two century tours in... the Santa Fe century and the Day of the Tread century. Sadly I had to miss my favourite tour - the Enchanted Circle century.

Also in 2012:
Continuing uveitis and cystoid macular edema
Right eye, lens replacement (cataract surgery #1)
Left eye, lens replacement (cataract surgery #2)
Several slow-release corticosteroid implants in each eye
Chondritis on left ear
Countless injections of immuno-suppressant methotrexate (now thankfully discontinued)
Giant horse-pills of CellCept (immunosuppressant)

Hopefully the new drugs will push my uveitis into remission, and with it the macular edema that causes most of my vision problems. With the new lenses, that'll mean clear, cataract-free vision. Okay, so I'll need some YAG-lasering of the eyes to clean up the new lenses sometime, and no medication is 100% side-effect free, but I'm hopeful. 2012 went well, despite two eye surgeries and copious performance-reducing drugs.


So now it's time for that christmas thing. So have a good one. Eat, drink, be merry and watch out for zombies...