2018. Here we are: a new year. My goal this year is to write. I'm afraid I'm losing my writing practice as a ramp up my German practice. The only thing I've written lately has been with my poetry kids. And that's me writing poetry, so it really, really hasn't been good writing. With the internet as my witness, my goal is to write every day. Even if it's only for five minutes.

I know I need to write more on what the last year has taught me, but I'm not sure I'm in a place to do so yet. 2017 was exhausting in good and bad ways. For today, I'm going to highlight the goods in regards to my last year's resolution: run 3 50ks and in at least one national park. I ran 3 50ks: Stillwater, OK, Devil's Lake, WI, and Steamboat Springs, CO. And ran in Route, Rocky, Black Hills, Willamette, and Umpqua National Forests. And I hit five (Indian Cave, Ponca, Mahoney, Platte River,  and Niobrara) Nebraska State Parks. And Yadi Man got to visit three new states and THE MOUNTAINS. He loved it and is a natural little mountain goat.

Mahoney State Park

Fort Calhoun, Nebraska

Carol Joy Holling Camp, Ashland, Nebraska

Neale Woods, Omaha, Nebraska

Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bluff Creek Trail, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Palo Duro Canyon, Canyon, Texas

Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma

Garmin Marathon Kansas City, Missouri

Niobrara State Park, Nebraska

Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota

Horse Thief Lake, South Dakota

Devil's Lake, Wisconsin

Indian Cave State Park, Nebraska

Platte River State Park, Nebraska

North Table Mountain, Colorado

Genesee Park, Colorado

Windy Mountain, Colorado

Hmmm...a trail I forgot near Steamboat Springs, CO 

Continental Divide 50K Steamboat Springs, CO

Willamette National Forest, Oregon

Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

Humbug State Park, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Fort Lauderdale Beach, Florida

Ponca State Park, Nebraska

When I look at all of these pictures of the things I got to do, places to go, friends I visited, miles flown/driven/ran, I feel like 2017 was maybe not so much a bad/hard/tiring year I've chalked it up in my mind to have been, but a transition year setting me up for where I want to go/see/what I want to do next. Today I am incredibly thankful to my body that is willing and able to do the things I love most, to having a stable job that allowed me to explore, and to everyone who's on this journey with me. And to Yads. Always that dude.