End of Year Update
2022 is coming to a close- a year of huge transitions: lingering coronavirus, RSV, long-term Covid, flu, pneumonia and severe colds.
Those events are dwarfed by the January 2, 2022 death of my wife Marcia, one of the two women who were most present in my life. We were approaching our 50th wedding anniversary last May, but metastatic breast cancer had other plans. 
My mom Isabel died in a memory care unit after contracting covid on February 5, 2021.
Individual and group grief therapy have helped ease the pain and sadness, but these wounds are likely to persist in some form.
Next up were two major surgeries. Neurospinal neurosurgery in 2021 removed a cyst lodged against my spinal cord as well as three laminectomies of my lower vertebrae. On April 13, 2022 I had a total replacement of my left shoulder joint, which is still healing.
I continue to struggle to establish a comfortable routine. The blog that I started in 2007 has been untended. I cried every day for three months of dark nights from Winter into Spring.
I’m hoping that things will stabilize for me, but the universe may have other plans.
In looking into 2023, I plan to publish two blog posts a week. I enjoy writing about adventuring outside, and my area of interest is branching toward aging and endurance. In 2020 I wrote half of a new book on the topic and may muster enough energy to return to that project. I have a reserve of unfinished blog posts that I plan to bring out in the next month.
With the new year coming on, it is time to review my 2022 mileage history and set fresh movement goals. I’m targeting 2,023 miles of combined hiking and bicycling, which I monitor and record using the Strava app.
One of the few undertakings that kept me engaged in riding and hiking was playing catchup with my bicycling goals in 2022. Despite my left arm’s immobilization in a tight sling for six weeks ( day and night) for half of April and all of June, I was able to keep up a steady walking schedule and even finish the year with 625 extra miles on foot.
Biking was another story. Doctor’s orders after the April shoulder surgery were to stay off the bike until August 1st. A bike crash would likely injure the artificial shoulder joint and put me back into surgery. As the summer wound down I became discouraged when I realized that I was 400 miles behind pace to cover my biking mileage goal of 1,011 miles. I found a couple of quiet backroads near my house where I established a 10 mile loop and cranked out increasing miles each month as I gained back my miles.
As the weather changed from Fall to Winter I developed a new habit- indoor biking. I rejoined the Penobscot Bay YMCA in October, where I have taken advantage of their almost daily 45-60 minute Spinning group sessions. I continue to bike outside as long as the outdoor temps stayed 40 or above. Last week I finally reached my biking goal!
On to 2023, where the biking/hiking odometer resets to zero, the open road once again beckons, and I post a couple of days a week on my Blog.
I’d encourage you to hit the subscribe button on my Post page and I will send you my 2023 posts.
Tom Jamrog's Weblog 