So far, 2024 has gotten off to a pretty good start for me, but I would like to take this opportunity to take one last look back at 2023, while it is fresh on my mind. For this post, I will look back on two key events: The death of my father in April, saying goodbye to one of my favorite jobs in July, and riding in Pelotonia in Augus

I will admit that 2023 got off to a pretty rough start, with me dealing with medical problems with other family members and issues at work. A major life altering event that occurred the week before Easter forced me to take a hard look in the mirror. I was leaving work on April 3, 2023, when I got a text from my sister to call her ASAP. During that phone call, I learned that my father had passed away in South Carolina at the age of 71. I did not have a good relationship with him (more on that in a later post.) Despite that, I was the only direct descendant to attend the funeral, which occurred a few days later on April 7th. It was a small service, and was pressed into pallbearer as a result (only 20 people attended the funeral.) I also got a chance to connect with some relatives from his side of the family, including a few that I had not seen in almost 20+ years.

The second life altering event that took place in 2023 was the decision to move on from the first job that I ever had: working at Nationwide Arena (the home of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets) on July 10, 2023-over two years after I worked my last game. I held out hope for as long as possible that I would make it back down there for one last campaign, but fate had other plans for me. I started working there in the 2006-07 season as a way to help me pay for college (I was attending college at Columbus State Community College at the time). Over time though, It became a refuge from the health problems that were bubbling under the surface on the home front.

After the pandemic hit, I was forced to take a hard look in the mirror, and came to the realization that I had to take better care of myself. When my grandmother started having serious medical problems, I had no choice but to take a step back and focus on taking care of her (and my primary job.) I will be taking a final look back at my career down there in a future post. At the time that I made that though, I was in the middle of training for the 2023 Pelotonia Ride Weekend.

Despite all of that, I managed to make it out to New Albany to ride in the 2023 Pelotonia Ride Weekend on August 4, 2023. I was relieved to actually get out there last year, as I had missed the previous year due getting COVID-19 the week of the ride. It went pretty well, until the last miles of the ride, where I was struggling with the lactic acid that was building up in my legs. Despite that, I was pumped up once I crossed the finish line after riding 37 miles, yet pretty relieved once I was on a massage table getting the circulation back in my legs.

That experience ultimately taught me one thing, despite the effort that I had put into training, that effort was not good enough. The fundraising aspect had some problems, but I managed to pull through and meet my goal for the year just before the deadline. After some time to decompress, it became clear that I had some work to do. I decided to make some major changes to my off season training regimen, including adding an indoor bike that I got for my birthday.

As 2023 wound down, I was thankful to make through another year, but once again in December, came down with a major sinus infection and a stomach bug at the same time (part of the reason I am late writing this post, the rest was me being tired due to working in retail during the holiday season.) The end of the year did bring a couple of more changes, including the acquisition of a Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset and an iPad, in a effort to make my life a little easier, and to force me to finally lose weight and get healthy.

There was one major piece of good news to close out the year, as my hometown soccer club Columbus Crew won the 2023 MLS in a 2-1 thriller over Los Angeles Football Club. This marked the second time in four years that the Crew won the title. I had been a soccer fan off and on through out the years, but have been paying more attention to the club after they won the 2020 MLS Cup.