In a nutshell, I worked a little and ran alot; we traveled in Spain with the boys and England with my parents; Susan and I visited California, Boston, Montana and Cape Cod for marathons and family; Daniel studied in Spain for a semester and David continued his studies of both fine and liberal arts at University of Puget Sound in nearby Tacoma.
Big Sur was my first marathon back in 2002. In April we drove down and I ran it again, more slowly this time but I took lots of pictures and counted lots of birds. On the way home we drove up the coast stopping at artichoke stands, beaches and a drive-through tree.
After 5 months of seeing Daniel only on Skype, Susan, David and I flew over to visit him in person in Granada, our first trip to Europe in more than 30 years. We thought Spain was the greatest place ever until we went to Paris, then we loved France until we got to Oxford, England, and the Lake District, and Wales. It was all (well, mostly) wonderful. Susan loved meeting the people; I loved meeting the birds; Daniel loved the tapas bars and David loved Paris. We spent two weeks in England with the family then accompanied my parents back to New York on the Queen Mary 2 in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. Daniel and David stayed in Europe, visiting London, Sweden and Sicily with cousin Silas then revisiting Spain and Paris respectively.
Meanwhile Susan and I returned home. Weeds had overwhelmed the garden but Puss was still around and glad to see us. We kept her company for just a few days before driving out to Montana for the Missoula Marathon followed by several days in Glacier National Park. Back home we put on the fourth annual Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon in late July then I ran my first 50 mile run at the end of the month. In early August I did a brief backpacking trip in the Olympic Mountains with a fellow Expedia retiree before returning to New Hampshire to meet the boys again.
We spent almost two weeks in New Hampshire, savoring tales of the boys' adventures and enjoying dinners on the porch with all the family. I got to do the Wildman race with my brother Eric and my ex-brother-in-law's wife Virginia and we won first place in our age group, thanks in part to the lack of competition. Then on my birthday I ran up Mt Washington and back, 33 miles and 8000 feet up and down though I ended up walking a fair amount of it.
Back in Washington, the boys and I squeezed in a hike up Kaleetan Peak before school resumed. With both boys back in school at UPS (Daniel is a senior, David a junior), Susan and I drove down to northern California in October. We admired the redwoods around Eureka and relaxed in Mendocino, one of Susan's favorite places, then dropped by my favorite Mexican restaurant in Santa Rosa before heading home. In November my parents joined us for a weekend on Cape Cod. I ran a scenic marathon then we returned to Jackson with them for a week before flying home in time to see Daniel dance in the UPS Repertory Dance Group performance.
In late November I turned down a contract programming position and decided that I was pretty much retired, only to be surprised a few days ago by another offer, a position working with an old friend at Microsoft. I'll be returning to work in January for at least 6 months and perhaps as long as a couple of years. Finally, last weekend I ran my 100th marathon/ultra race, the Birch Bay Ghost Marathon. My time was seriously slow but I did manage to spot 52 species of birds, just 3 shy of my marathon record, during my run.
Though not without its challenges, it has been a good year and we're grateful to God for His love and the love of family and friends that we've been able to share this year. God bless you and Merry Christmas.