2021 Goals

It's early April but these are intended to be from the beginning of 2021.

The topics are similar to previous years as I haven't thought of anything else. I might revisit this half way through the year.

• Blog
• 25 posts - won't be many holidays again this year
• Fitness
• Bike
• 10 bike rides - a modest goal
• Run
• 5km - under 18:00
• 10km - under 37:00
• 21km - under 1:22:00
• Total Distance - over 4000km
• Parkrun - 15 new events
• Races
• 5 new events
• 3 interstate events
• 0 international events
• Weight
• 70kg - again
• Holiday
• A big achievement will be to travel interstate without getting trapped
• House
• Hoping to buy this year - prices have already begun increasing significantly
• Money
• Shares
• Depends on house deposit requirements
• Hopefully reach a milestone number - roughly gain 10% from the end of 2020
• Super
• Seems to be a linear increase at the moment
• Music
• 2 events - another modest goal
• Reading
• 5 books - been a while since the last one
• Sport
• AFL - should be able to attend games again this year
• NBL - if Sydney make the finals
• Study
• 1 exam - depends on work projects
• To Do List
• House improvements / repairs is the only major item
• Video Games
• 5 games completed
• Work
• Hoping to finish current project and get another good opportunity
• Won't be in consideration for another promotion for some time

2020 Review

The middle of February seems like a good time for a goals and yearly review.

These were the goals I put down before ten months of quarantine happened, so this will be interesting.

• Blog (25%)
• 16 out of 50 - there wasn't much to write about...
• Car (100%)
• The old Mitsubishi Lancer engine died before I got to offload it
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• For much of the year we had a 5 km and 1-2 hour outdoors limit, so not ideal to start bike riding
• Run (25%)
• A good year in running given the circumstances
• I have a daily running streak still going from March 3 to February 14
• 5 km - around 18:00, not sure I can claim sub 18 minutes though
• 10 km - around 37:30 in a race, best time with an accurate course distance
• 21 km - no races
• 4300+ km - well ahead of 3000 km
• 5 of 10 new parkrun events - got halfway there before March
• 1 of 5 new race events
• 0 of 2 new interstate events
• 0 of 1 new international events
• Weight (20%)
• 74 kg all year instead of 75 kg, not getting much closer to 70 kg
• Food (0%)
• Haven't really made any changes
• Too many lockdown donuts - actual donuts
• Holiday (5%)
• This will be on hold for a while now
• 0 of 1 interstate holiday
• 0 of 1 international holiday
• Managed to reach South Australia just before the end of the year
• House (1%)
• You'd think this year's business and job impacts would slow down house prices, but no
• I have some preferred locations, not much of an achievement
• Should be able to manage a deposit and home loan with the current ultra-low interest rates
• Money (100%)
• Shares
• A rollercoaster ride
• Lost 40% in 4 weeks
• Back where it started in another 12 weeks
• Somehow finished with a 50% gain
• Investment loan would be negative overall, was forced to sell some
• Super
• Up about 10% including new contributions, a bit less than the previous year
• Hard to really make sense of that given the extra amount invested
• Music (20%)
• 1 of 5 events
• February - The New Pornographers
• Reading (0%)
• None
• Sport (0%)
• AFL - none in Victoria
• NBL - Sydney made the NBL finals
• But coincided with restrictions so it wasn't an option to attend a match in Sydney
• Study (0%)
• 0 of 1 exam certification
• To Do List (0%)
• Nothing of major significance besides this list
• Video Games (40%)
• Nintendo Switch
• Setup and finished some games
• New Super Mario U Deluxe
• New Super Mario U Deluxe - Luigi U
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Zelda - Breath Of The Wild
• Zelda - Link's Awakening
• Xbox One
• Finished some games very slowly
• Fallout 4
• Forza Horizon 3
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Work (75%)
• Got a promotion finally
• Spent the whole year on one project, but generally enjoyable
• Not being expected to travel to work 5 days a week was a good side effect
• Currently undecided about long term goals, with the same company or elsewhere

A few favourites from the year:

• Movies
• Knives Out - the only movie I got to watch at a cinema
• TV
• All Or Nothing - both Philadelphia Eagles and Tottenham
• Better Call Saul
• Fear The Walking Dead
• Rosehaven
• Ted Lasso
• The Last Dance - great NBA footage
• The Last Man On Earth - sometimes great, sometimes not
• Utopia

That's it for last year...

2020 Running Review

A unique year in running, 2021 is similar for now but with a bit more hope.

All events and parkruns were cancelled from March, and daily exercise was limited to one hour for some time also - not a problem except for the weekly long run. Being forced to work from home was much more convenient for daily running, definitely not looking forward to having to transition back to running from the office during lunch breaks.

The totals were well above previous years, and will be hard to match ever again.

• 4366.96 kilometres
• 3065.56 kilometres in 2018
• 333 hours
• ~230 hours in 2015, 2018, 2019

The few major events for the year were:

• January
• Rosebud Australia Day Run - 10km - 37:48 @ 3:49/km
• February
• Warburton - 10km - 37:46 @ 3:51/km
• March
• River Run Geelong - 10km - 37:40 @ 3:47/km

The Geelong race was roughly my best 10 kilometre result.

I just managed to reach 200 parkruns before that was suspended for the year - in Victoria.

• 13 events
• 52 in 2019
• 5 new events
• 13 in 2019
• 18:07 Birdsland Reserve
• 18:03 - Lilydale Lake
• 18:04 - Frog Hollow

The new parkrun events were:

• January
• Newborough
• Churchill
• February
• Berwick Waters
• Grand Ridge Rail Trail
• Warringal Parklands

The same goals from 2020 will roll over to 2021:

• 5km 18:00
• 10km 37:00 - 37:30
• 21km PB
• 4000+ kilometres
• Parkrun
• 10-15 new events
• 250 total
• Races
• 5 new events
• 2 interstate events
• 0 international events - probably

SA 2020-21

A short four day trip to eastern parts of South Australia - mostly spent inside a car.

• December 30, 2020
• December 31, 2020
• January 01, 2021
• January 02, 2021

SA 2021, January 02

Such a relief to only drive 2 minutes to the Naracoorte Lake parkrun this time. The course was quite a lot tougher than I was hoping for, a few steep hills on a solid clay surface, but a good area for the event and the big lake / pool next to it would be convenient for a recovery swim. One guy exploded off the start and soon was out of sight, but I noticed at a turnaround point he was slowing down, caught him at half way and finished a minute ahead - a very strange strategy.

Naracoorte Lake parkrun - the 'lake' is on the right

I packed up and left the hotel at about 10am, this timing losing a half hour due to the time zones. I stopped in Horsham after a couple of hours for fuel and something for lunch, but kept going further to Ararat before stopping to eat.

It wasn't five minutes out of Ararat and we were being flagged off the main road by three guys in vests that didn't look like actual police. No indication where we were supposed to be going, but I had the GPS on so I figured I'd get back on track eventually. The first part of the detour was some crappy road with loose stones going about 40 km/h, before finally getting on to some proper back roads, the speed limit was 100 km/h but the cars ahead decided to drive under 80 km/h instead. 

After making the most obvious turns north, east, and south we were back on the highway further along. I did check later and it appeared as though the highway was closed for an extended period of time.

The unexpected additional driving time without a break was a bit of an annoyance, as I was desperate to get out and move around by the end. Sounds like a good reason for a short detour around the Western Ring Road and a visit to the Nike factory ! An exhausting day of driving, finally finished at about 5pm.

SA 2021, January 01

Had to set a 6:00am alarm for my watch to allow enough time to drive 1 hour and 15 minutes to Victor Harbor for an 8:00am parkrun. There was no accomodation available close to Victor Harbor otherwise I might have booked somewhere nearby, but I was coming back to Murray Bridge anyway.

The Victor Harbor parkrun was one of the few running on new years day east of South Australia, the other option at Strathalbyn was about 30 minutes closer, but the course didn't look as good, and as a bonus this is one of the few "V" parkruns. I was planning to spend a bit more time in Victor Harbor, maybe go across to Granite Island, but it just didn't look there would be enough time when hotel check-out (11:00am) and early check-in deadline (6:00pm which I didn't realise at the time) were considered.

Having not run a parkrun, or any kind of running event, since March 2020 this was a bit of a unusual experience, but I managed to run a bit better than expected in 3rd place about 18:25. My only goal was to finish in the top 10.

Victor Harbor parkrun

The bridge across to Granite Island

I drove back to the hotel soon after, then packed up and drove to Monarto Safari Park, at least that was only 10 minutes away. Had another encounter with wildlife when some bird that looked like a parrot crashed into the side of the car on the way there, made a big thump but no dent.

The main feature of the safari park is a bus tour, not ideal during these coronavirus times and on a very warm day. There was about three stops along the way where you could get out and walk around, but I didn't want to line up for the bus each time so decided to do a full loop to start with.

Giraffes don't like the sun either

Zebras were too far away

Lions all sleeping

There was a good selection of animals in each of the fields, but you don't get particularly close to most of them, although there was a few lions right outside the bus at one point. After getting back to the start and having some lunch I walked over to the two closest locations with the chimpanzees and wallabies.

There is some kind of walking track that seems to follow the bus route, but the problem is if you walked to the first spot and then decided to get the bus, you'd have to go back around the entire loop again and see everything a second time - they don't run in both directions. It's a pretty substantial distance between each stop, like 1-2 kilometres, so I decided that was enough for the day. In summary, it was good, but would be better if the walking option was a bit more practical.

So back in the car for the afternoon drive, stopped at Tailem Bend and then a long session until about half way between Keith and my destination Naracoorte, started to get a sore back again. Made it to Naracoorte before the hotel deadline, got some drinks, then walked over to the nearby Subway. Incredibly they were out of bread, the one thing you wouldn't want to run out of, so had to go the Hungry Jack's beside it instead. While there was another BBL game on TV it wasn't being broadcast, disappointing.

SA 2020, December 31

I was a bit worried about a very sore hamstring from yesterday's driving, so did a slightly shorter 11 kilometre run in the morning. I went from the hotel up to Blue Lake and around, but didn't realise it was going to be quite so steep during the lake loop, not really what I was hoping for.

Got packed up and departed the hotel for a quick tour around Mt Gambier before heading on to the next destination. Started with the Umpherston Sinkhole which is a big hole in the ground, lots of plants at the bottom and hanging off the walls - not something you see every day.

Umpherston Sinkhole

A short drive up the hill to Blue Lake for a better view, it has quite an impressive bright blue colour, not sure if there is a story behind it. Another drive across to Valley Lake which is more of a blue-green color. There was a small enclosed conservation area that was claiming to have lots of animals to see, all I got was one kangaroo. I hadn't noticed before how loud they smash into the ground when they hop away.

The Blue Lake

Above the lake is a trail up to the Centenary Tower, it's just a small tower building and it wasn't open, so it's just a viewpoint above the town. That was it for Mt Gambier as I had a lot of driving to do again today, and everyday - I wasn't too excited about the amount of driving involved in my plan, but there was a bit of a reason for it, and I wanted to split up the driving as evenly as possible. 

Valley Lake

Time to settle in for a long drive to Kingston SE, a couple of hours and a good spot for a lunch break. Nothing much memorable along the way, a couple of cars driving ridiculously slow like 20+ kilometres under the speed limit. Another dingo encounter, this one didn't even react to the car coming, but it was far enough away to not be a problem.

The strangely named Kingston SE is a standard small beach town, I wasted a bit too much time driving around looking for somewhere to get lunch, then found a good bakery right across the road from The Big Lobster, so I should have just started there. Somehow I forgot to check if there was any magnets for sale at The Big Lobster place before leaving.

The Big Lobster

Back in the car for afternoon driving, getting really warm after being parked in the sun for a while. This time I was a bit more sensible with not driving too long, and had another break in Meningie and then finishing the day in Murray Bridge, after a minor detour past The Big Olive in Tailem Bend.

The Big Olive, should it be The Big Olives ?

The injuries from yesterday all seemed ok, instead a new pain under my left knee which is a common issue, probably from sitting with my leg extended all day. Pretty tired again, but had enough energy to walk up to the top of the main street to find a Mexican restaurant and a supermarket. Back to the hotel again for another BBL match on TV, not sure if any of these games were memorable but it's something to watch at least.

I thought Murray Bridge would be a unlikely place for fireworks, but I heard some going off during the evening, although couldn't see anything from the hotel windows.

SA 2020, December 30

I waited until the last minute due to possible travel restrictions, before eventually deciding on a quick four day trip to the eastern region of South Australia. Leaving after lunch at about 1pm, I was expecting to arrive in Mt Gambier somewhere around 6pm, then I remembered the 30 minutes due to the time zone differences which was a nice bonus.

After the usual slow traffic getting across the city it was good driving the rest of the way to Ballarat. The main traffic signs suggested going through Ballarat to reach Hamilton, while the GPS was saying to go all the way to Ararat first. This GPS often gives weird suggestions which are quite different to common sense and Google Maps, but I decided to go with it.

Just before getting to Ararat I was about to reach a convoy stuck behind a truck carrying a boat, so that was a good time to stop for a break, fuel, and pineapple donut. My lower back was feeling quite sore, but legs weren't so bad thanks to cruise control.

The route from Ararat to Hamilton was quite deserted, just a few cars coming the other way. I should have stopped for another break in Hamilton but decided to go a bit further. The GPS again appeared to give some alternative route through Dartmoor, I was hanging out for a good rest stop that never came. Had my first encounter with a dingo (maybe) that just froze in the middle of the road, lucky no traffic so I was able to quickly drive around it.

Finally got to stop about 25 kilometres before Mt Gambier, feeling really beat up from close to 3 hours of driving. Found the hotel, then got the news I'd missed while driving all afternoon that Victoria's 60+ days with no coronavirus was over. The opposite situation would have been much worse, if some cases had appeared in SA and there was a risk of being stuck or having to do some period of isolation.

I went out for a quick walk around the town centre, past the small Cave Garden sinkhole, and got some food for dinner. Then back to the hotel to watch some BBL and rest for another big day tomorrow.

Cave Garden

2020 Goals

This is long overdue but I drafted them out probably in early February. A lot of these will be impossible now, which would not have been imaginable at the time.

• Blog
• 50 posts - try to add a few more photos
• Car
• Retire the old Mitsubishi Lancer
• Fitness
• Bike
• A small number of bike rides would be a starting point
• Run
• 5km - 18:00
• 10km - 37:30 is about a PB time
• 21km - two races and a PB
• Total Distance - 2500-3000 kilometres
• Parkrun - 10 new events
• Races
• 5 new events
• 1 international events - either NZ or Singapore
• 2 interstate events - already missed two Hobart options
• Weight
• 70kg
• Food
• Healthy options besides fruit
• Holiday
• One short interstate or international holiday
• One longer international holiday
• Probably South East Asia like Cambodia, Vietnam etc.
• House
• Hopefully, at least have decided on an area and made some progress
• Money
• Shares
• Depends on house - don't want to cash in everything for a deposit
• 10% given strong performance last year
• Super
• 10% including contributions
• New contributions will have less impact as (when) the total increases
• Music
• 5 is best case scenario - one planned so far
• Reading
• 5 books
• Sport
• AFL
• Cricket world cup - maybe
• NBL finals - if Sydney qualifies
• Study
• 1 exam perhaps, depending on work projects
• To Do List
• No major goals besides this list
• Video Games
• Install Nintendo Switch
• 5 games finished
• Work
• Promotion hopefully

2019 Review

A bit overdue for the yearly, although it's not much more than a summary of each monthly.

These were some of the traceable 2019 goals I put down, before I come up with similar ones for 2020...

• Blog (50%)
• 26 out of 50
• Had no holidays so just consists of monthly reports and a bit of running
• Car (100%)
• Finally decided to go with a Mitsubishi Lancer 2017
• Good enough for the amount of driving I do, and more comfortable than the old one
• Fitness
• Bike (0%)
• None
• Run (75%)
• I've put more details in the 2019 running review
• 5km was right on my target time of 18:00
• 10km was also close to my target time of 37:30
• 21km improved PB by 30 seconds, hoped to get a little closer to 1 hour 20 minutes
• Only did one half marathon instead of two
• Total distance just missed due to injuries to finish the year
• 13 of 10 new parkrun events
• 0 of 1 international events
• 0 of 2 interstate events due to last minute Gold Coast injuries
• Weight (10%)
• Still stuck around 75 kg instead of 70 kg
• Food (0%)
• Haven't changed much to help with fitness and weight
• Holiday (25%)
• 0 of 1 international holidays
• 2 small interstate holidays
• Brisbane 3 days and Gold Coast 2 days barely counts
• House (0%)
• None
• Money (100%)
• Shares
• Hard to calculate exactly due to extra investments
• Close enough to 50% recovery from late 2019, optimistic aim was 25%
• Investment loan also recovered to about 10% profit
• Super
• Hard to calculate also due to contributions
• Possibly up 20% which was the goal, a third of that is probably new contributions
• Extra 3% contributions
• Music (20%)
• 1 of 5 events
• September - Apocalyptica at Hamer Hall
• Reading (0%)
• None
• Sport (75%)
• No goals really
• March - NBL finals
• August - Australia vs USA basketball
• September - AFL grand final
• Study (0%)
• 0 of 2 exams
• To Do List (50%)
• Just wanted to get all of the larger 2018 and 2019 tasks done
• Most of these have been listed already
• Yes
• New car
• New Garmin watch
• Super contribution
• No
• Holidays
• House
• Video Games (50%)
• Opened Xbox One at last
• Haven't opened Nintendo Switch yet, can only do one at a time anyway
• Did not quite finish five games:
• Xbox 360
• GRID 2
• Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning Returns
• Xbox One
• Forza Horizon 4
• Forza Horizon 3 almost
• Work (25%)
• Had a good variety of projects is a small success
• No promotion this year and project positions haven't been ideal

And similar to the monthly reports I'll end with a few favourites for the year:

• Movies
• Parasite
• Us
• TV
• Atlanta
• Rosehaven
• The Amazing Race
• The Challenge
• Video Games
• None were a standout - too much achievement grinding