2021: Goals

Similar to previous years, here are my goals for 2021.

There is no update for 2020. Between buying our house last year in January and February and then covid I’m calling it a total loss in terms of goal achivement.

Maybe a total loss is a bit harsh, but very little was achieved: very little reading, too much eating, muscle atrophy…. it goes on.

 

  1. Write 6 posts on this blog
  2. Read 20 books, 10 fiction, 10 nonfiction
  3. Weigh less than 182 pounds on 7/1/21 and 12/31/21
  4. Run all routes in The South Bay and Santa Cruz to Big Sur categories on Trailstompers.com
  5. Pay for the cost of the recently purchased CNC machine by selling projects
  6. Learn to play 5 songs on an instrument
  7. Spend 12 nights camping in The Van
  8. Go on 1 trip per month
  9. Strength training
    • Barbell Squat: body weight x 1.5
    • Barbell Bench Press: body weight x 1.1
    • Barbell Deadlift: body weight x 1.75
    • Pull-up / Chin-up: body weight x 1.1
    • Seated Military Press: body weight x 0.75
  10. Don’t get covid, get a vaccine, eat in a restaurant, drink a coffee inside a cafe

Some context for the goals:

  • I haven’t been updating this blog much and want to get back into the habit of doing so.
  • My kindle is currently broken but a new battery is in the mail so I should be able to get on track for the reading goal.
  • I weighed 201 pounds today after lunch, I need to lose some weight.
  • Today I ran 4 miles in Sanborn County Park. It was beautiful and I had a great time, as I have had every time I’ve been on a route recommened on Trailstompers. I think this is going to be a difficult goal to complete partially due to the travel required for the Santa Cruz to Big Sur category, compounded by the fact that today’s run was my first in many months. Its also going to be tought since quite a few are greater than half maraton distances and all are trail runs and most include significant elevation. Route details are below in the event there are additions or deletions to Trailstompers. (This goal shall be defined as the categories exist today 1/4/2021.
  • I plan to open an etsy store to try to sell some parts to pay for the CNC machine, and maybe buy some more tools if it goes well.
  • I’ve been playing the guitar some and almost have one song already – Burn one down by Ben Harper, but I might get a piano so this goal will just be for a general instrument.
  • The Van! Its awesome but needs some work to build a bed.
  • Megan and I decided last summer that we should aim for a trip a month. We haven’t been hitting that, partly or mostly due to covid and shutdowns but it should be achiveable despite these with The Van.
  • In the spirit of losing weight I also need to generally get in shape. I was lifting regularly prior to March 2020 but this has dropped to zero for the past 9 months. Early last year I was close to the squat and could do the pull up, but I have a lot of work ahead on the presses and deadlift.

2022-01-03 Update

2021 is complete. Summary:

  1. Write 6 posts on this blog [COMPLETED]
  2. Read 20 books, 10 fiction, 10 nonfiction [COMPLETED]
  3. Weigh less than 182 pounds on 7/1/21 and 12/31/21 [FAIL]
  4. Run all routes in The South Bay and Santa Cruz to Big Sur categories on Trailstompers.com [FAIL]
  5. Pay for the cost of the recently purchased CNC machine by selling projects [FAIL]
  6. Learn to play 5 songs on an instrument [FAIL]
  7. Spend 12 nights camping in The Van [FAIL]
  8. Go on 1 trip per month [COMPLETED]**
  9. Strength training [FAIL]
    • Barbell Squat: body weight x 1.5 [COMPLETED]
    • Barbell Bench Press: body weight x 1.1
    • Barbell Deadlift: body weight x 1.75
    • Pull-up / Chin-up: body weight x 1.1
    • Seated Military Press: body weight x 0.75
  10. Don’t get covid, get a vaccine, eat in a restaurant, drink a coffee inside a cafe [COMPLETED]

Well, it has been another dismal year with regard to achieving all my goals, only 3.5/10 completed. At least it was better than the 2/10 in 2019. Also, I neglected to add one important one that influenced all others:

11. Have a healthy baby boy. [COMPLETED] – Most of this goal was done by Megan but I did help.

With the late addition, my score rises to 4.5/11 which is kind of close to 50%. Not too bad I guess.

Here is more of a breakdown with some brief commentary:

  1. Write 6 posts on this blog [COMPLETED]

Posts

Pages

While technically I did write 6 posts, one was the goals post which doesn’t totally count. I did however publish 2 additional pages which I’ve been wanting to start for a long time. I have a ton of project files and write ups but I don’t typically put them anywhere. Over the summer I did 2 small woodworking projects and put some summary information up. The garden boxes doesn’t include much but I did a writeup for my CAD approach for the trellis which was fun to document.

2. Read 20 books, 10 fiction, 10 nonfiction [COMPLETED]

Nonfiction

    1. Strong Towns, Charles L Marohn Jr
    2. The Life You Can Save, Peter Singer
    3. Algorithms to Live By, Brian Christian, Tom Griffiths
    4. Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor E. Frankl, Harold S. Kushner, William J. Winslade
    5. Freedom, Sebastian Junger
    6. Your Money or Your Life, Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez
    7. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
    8. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood
    9. The World Beyond Your Head, Matthew B. Crawford
    10. Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport

Fiction

    1. The Plague, Albert Camus
    2. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
    3. Anthem, Ayn Rand
    4. We the Living, Ayn Rand
    5. The Invisible Heart, Russell Roberts
    6. The Gone World, Tom Sweterlitsch
    7. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse, Susan Bernofsky
    8. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
    9. The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
    10. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
    11. The Power, Naomi Alderman
    12. Foundation and Empire, Isaac Asimov

3. Weigh less than 182 pounds on 7/1/21 and 12/31/21 [FAIL]

Still above 200 pounds. I’ve been eating WAY better though for the last 5 weeks and plan to continue. I bought a new refrigerator specifically because it has a pull out drawer which I dedicated to make a salad bar and its working great. Looking back through my health data in my phone shows that its been since 2017 that I weighed less than 185. In 2019 I was a bit under 195. In 2020, I don’t have a lot of data recorded but I do have these:

2020-03-03 — 190.6

(lockdown started 2 weeks after this)

2020-10-15 — 203.0

(pandemic lock downs, San Jose BLM riots, and horrendous CA wild fires just ended)

Here is some non covid health impacts from the pandemic. I’m not blaming it entirely on the pandemic but its hard to argue with the dates

4. Run all routes in The South Bay and Santa Cruz to Big Sur categories on Trailstompers.com [FAIL]

I was running pretty consistently up until early April. At this point I realized that the majority of these runs are in the area of 500 vertical feet per mile for the entire distance of the run which is just too much for me. My calf muscles and achilles tendons have issues at anything consistently over 350 or 400. I logged 13 before more or less giving up on this one, but some of them were really nice and a good challenge.

Another major factor in this is the driving involved. It felt like A LOT of driving and I was mostly doing the routes closer to our house.

In lieu of running I bought a gravel bike (Surly Midnight Special) and have been riding a lot. I’ve never been much of a road rider but our (now previous) neighbor kind of sparked the interest for me and the fact that I can ride from our house is super nice.

I rode 1068 miles with 66,039 ft of elevation gain on my gravel bike between late June and December. Not huge numbers but not bad. I did one month long training plan and felt strong after that. I also continued commuting and riding around town on my other bike which is not included in the above numbers, probably an additional 200-300 miles on flat ground.

5. Pay for the cost of the recently purchased CNC machine by selling projects [FAIL]

Didn’t use it.

6. Learn to play 5 songs on an instrument [FAIL]

I can kind of play Burn One Down by Ben Harper on the guitar now, but not really.

7. Spend 12 nights camping in The Van [FAIL]

The Van didn’t get much use in the latter half of the year. Max hasn’t been camping yet and he’s already more than 4 months old. Hopefully next year. I have two trips on the calendar for January and one or two later in the year already booked.

8. Go on 1 trip per month [COMPLETED]** not strictly but I’m pretty happy with our travel overall so calling it a pass

I don’t think we did this but I don’t have great records here. We definitely didn’t go anywhere in December, but this was intentional. I was pretty traveled out after our Colorado trip. In general, I’m pretty happy with travel for the year, especially considering Max was born, Megan had the pregnancy, and we were still worried about covid for much of the year. I should do a blog about this last point…

9. Strength training [FAIL]

I was super focused on this for about 6 months but fell off the wagon shortly before Max was born and haven’t gotten back to it.

10. Don’t get covid, get a vaccine, eat in a restaurant, drink a coffee inside a cafe [COMPLETED]

I general this year was a lot better. We decided to have Megan wait until pretty late in the pregnancy to get the vaccine so although I got it in April, we were still very careful until Max was a few weeks old. I have to say, its really nice to not worry too much about covid anymore. (I actually got my booster today 1/3/2022, been eligible for a while but, eh…)

Run details

Also see Trailstompers.com

http://www.trailstompers.com/south-bay-trail-runs.html

http://www.trailstompers.com/santa-cruz-to-big-sur-trail-runs.html

Distance [miles] Elevation gain [feet] Description City Travel Required Rating Complete Date Completed Average Pace Post run comment
2.1 500 Long Bunny Loop in Hidden Villa Los Altos Hills No Easy FALSE      
2.9 300 Intro Loop in Rancho San Antonio County Park & Open Space Preserve Cupertino No Easy FALSE      
3.7 750 Hostel & Creek Loop in Hidden Villa Los Altos Hills No Easy FALSE      
3.8 700 Coyote Peak Loop in Santa Teresa County Park San Jose No Easy FALSE      
4.0 1600 Knibbs Knob Climb in Uvas Canyon County Park San Jose No Moderate FALSE      
4.0 900 Tie Camp Loop in Mount Madonna County Park Gilroy Yes Easy FALSE      
4.1 1300 San Andreas/Sanborn Loop in Sanborn County Park Saratoga No Easy TRUE 01/04/2021 16’06” This trail was pretty brutal for a first run, but I had a great time. Light rain, cool air, great views.
4.8 1000 Gap/Ridge Small Loop in Castle Rock State Park Saratoga No Easy FALSE      
4.8 1100 Limekiln/Priest Rock Loop in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve Los Gatos No Easy FALSE      
4.8 400 Twin gates at the University of California, Santa Cruz Santa Cruz Yes Easy FALSE      
5.7 1000 Ocean View Summit Loop in Big Basin Redwoods State Park Boulder Creek Yes Moderate FALSE      
5.8 1900 Doud Peak Loop in Garrapata State Park Carmel Yes Moderate FALSE      
6.0 1200 “Bull Run” Climb in Almaden Quicksilver County Park San Jose No Moderate FALSE      
6.1 1500 White Deer Loop in Mount Madonna County Park Gilroy Yes Moderate FALSE      
6.2 1000 “Bat Box” Figure-8 in Calero County Park San Jose No Moderate FALSE      
6.5 1000 Parker/Toyon Figure-8 in Parker Ranch Trails Saratoga No Moderate FALSE      
6.6 1600 Grand Tour Loop in Uvas Canyon County Park San Jose No Moderate FALSE      
6.7 1000 Tony Look / Ridge Loop in Fremont Older OSP Cupertino/Saratoga No Moderate FALSE      
7.1 1000 Mineral Springs Loop in Alum Rock Park & Sierra Vista OSP San Jose No Moderate FALSE      
7.6 1000 “Morning” Loop in Rancho San Antonio County Park & Open Space Preserve Cupertino No Moderate FALSE      
7.8 1200 Mt Umunhum Summit (short version) in Sierra Azul OSP Los Gatos No Moderate FALSE      
8.0 800 Wilder Ridge Loop in Wilder Ranch State Park Santa Cruz Yes Easy FALSE      
8.1 2000 Sunnyvale Mountain Climb in Sanborn County Park Saratoga No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
8.2 1300 Molera Big Loop in Andrew Molera State Park Big Sur Yes Moderate FALSE      
8.4 1700 Power Poles in Rancho San Antonio County Park & OSP Cupertino No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
8.6 1800 John Nicholas Loop in Sanborn County Park Saratoga No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
8.8 1200 Coyote/Toyon/7-Springs Loop in Fremont Older OSP Cupertino/Saratoga No Moderate FALSE      
8.9 1700 El Sereno Climb in El Sereno Open Space Preserve Los Gatos No Moderate FALSE      
9.0 3400 Post Summit in Andrew Molera State Park Big Sur Yes Hard FALSE      
9.9 1600 Table Mtn/Grizzly Flat Loop in South Skyline Region Cupertino/Saratoga No Moderate FALSE      
10.0 1900 Berry Creek Falls Loop in Big Basin Redwoods State Park Boulder Creek Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
10.2 1700 Big Loop in Santa Teresa County Park San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
10.2 2400 Double-Loop in Mount Madonna County Park Gilroy Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
10.6 3200 The Combination Run in Uvas Canyon County Park San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
10.8 1900 Randol/Mine Hill Loop in Almaden Quicksilver County Park San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
11.1 2200 Middle Ridge/Poverty Flat Loop in Henry W. Coe State Park Morgan Hill Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
12.0 2800 Mt. El Sombroso Figure-8 in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve Los Gatos No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
12.0 3800 Junipero Serra Peak in Los Padres National Forest Big Sur Yes Hard FALSE      
12.4 2200 Grizzly Gulch Loop in Henry W. Coe State Park Morgan Hill Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
12.7 2100 Big New Almaden Loop in Almaden Quicksilver County Park San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
12.9 2600 Wilson Camp Loop in Henry W. Coe State Park Morgan Hill Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
13.0 2300 Gap/Ridge Large Loop in Castle Rock State Park Saratoga No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
13.0 2000 Sand Point Big Loop in Forest of Nisene Marks State Park Aptos Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
13.3 2200 Quarry Trail Figure-8 in Rancho San Antonio County Park & OSP Cupertino No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
13.3 2700 Pinnacles Super Loop in Pinnacles National Park Soledad Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
13.9 2600 Bull Dozier Loop in Alum Rock Park & Sierra Vista OSP San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
14.1 1100 Big Wilder/Coast Loop in Wilder Ranch State Park Santa Cruz Yes Moderate FALSE      
14.4 3500 Pico Blanco Summit in Los Padres National Forest Big Sur Yes Hard FALSE      
14.5 2100 Sand Point Bigger Loop in Forest of Nisene Marks State Park Aptos Yes Moderate-Hard FALSE      
14.6 2800 Long Ridge to Portola Redwoods and back Saratoga No Hard FALSE      
15.1 2900 Bald Peaks Big Loop in Calero County Park San Jose No Moderate-Hard FALSE      
16.2 3200 Chalk Mountain in Big Basin Redwoods State Park Davenport Yes Hard FALSE      
16.4 3000 Mt Umunhum Summit (long version) in Sierra Azul OSP Los Gatos No Hard FALSE      
16.6 3700 Quicksilver to Lexington Reservoir in Almaden Quicksilver and Sierra Azul San Jose No Hard FALSE      
16.6 5800 Cone Peak Summit in Los Padres National Forest Big Sur Yes Inhumane FALSE      
18.1 3500 China Hole Huge Loop in Henry W. Coe State Park Morgan Hill Yes Hard FALSE      
18.7 2800 Skyline Big Loop in South Skyline Region Cupertino/Saratoga No Hard FALSE      
19.2 3100 Watermap Gap Super Loop in Castle Rock State Park Saratoga No Hard FALSE      
21.5 3800 Coast to HQ Big Loop in Big Basin Redwoods State Park Davenport Yes Hard FALSE      
24.0 3000 Skyline-to-the-Sea (Almost) via Butano Ridge Saratoga No Hard FALSE      
24.7 2600 Skyline-to-the-Sea in Castle Rock and Big Basin Redwoods State Parks Saratoga No Hard FALSE