Oh My Oh-Nine: The Impossible

As I look back on 2009 and look forward to 2010, I have mixed feelings. Like I said in my previous post, 2009 was great overall, but a few bad memories seem to take over the retrospective. The best way to sum up the year is to say that in 2009, I realized that the impossible can happen -- both in good ways and bad.

Two main adventures stick out in my mind as my big sports accomplishments of 2009. In May, I successfully rode White Rim in a day. Chris and I had previously done this in a 1.5 day camping trip, and I always saw this 100 mile mountain bike ride as impossible for me.
Yet...
100 degrees and 100 miles later...
I did it.

On July 31st, Chris convinced me to get up at 1:30 am to climb Longs Peak. Longs Peak had always scared me, and he not only convinced me to climb it, but he convinced me to climb it via a 5.4 rock climbing route. 5.4 should've been a walk in the park for both of us, but with the route covered in ice from an overnight freeze, the trip became somewhat epic. When we started the climb up Longs, I looked up and declared that it is impossible.
Yet...

I did it.

I've tried to decide which adventure I'm most proud of, White Rim or Longs, and I can't.

In 2009, I also broke the 30 minute mark in the Cherry Creek Time Trials -- which I'm very certain I declared impossible for me to do on more than one occasion. It's hard to look back on 2009 and not marvel at Chris's accomplishments as well. He kicked serious butt and set the singlespeed record on the AZT300 in April. He then went on to dominate the Tour Divide and set the new singlespeed record for the Divide route. Being away from each other successfully for 20 days was something we'd always seen as an impossibility. But, 19 days and 21 minutes later...
He did it. We'd done it.

Of course we all know how the month of October went for the Plesko family. One miscarriage and an avalanche later, and the world found us pretty beaten down and listless. The bad impossibles had happened.

We made a goal of making it to Thanksgiving when things would be looking up. Chris began to walk again and slowly (as it seemed to us, but quite quickly in the world of broken-ankle-recovery) got back to riding and climbing. From there we made a goal of making it to Christmas, when things would hopefully be looking a lot better.

As it turns out, it seems Santa brought our smiles back.



I think 2010 will be full of more surprises, both good and bad. My main goal for 2010? Keep in mind that both the good and bad impossibles can happen, but as long as you keep your head up, each will make you stronger. From there, seek out the adventures in everyday life and enjoy them.

Happy New Year!