Hello, retirement!
I’m finishing my work career this week and entering retirement. This is something I’ve been looking forward to basically since I exited college. I’ve had two separate careers over the years:
- Corporate Bond Investment Analyst (BlackRock, JPMorgan) – 1995-2007
- Financial Analyst (CPI) – 2009-2026
One was high pressure/high reward and the other was pretty much the exact opposite of that. I enjoyed parts of both careers, but at the end of the day a job is just a job. It was always the people who made the work fun or in a couple very rare cases, miserable.
What’s Next
The first thing you can expect is more content here. I enjoy the process of writing so plan to spend more time doing it now that I’ve managed to free up 40-45 hours a week. Now, not all of this will go to writing. I’m going to prioritize it, but probably won’t spend more than 30-60 minutes per day. I think I have more to say, but I don’t really have that much more. Hopefully, the overall quality of my writing improves.
The second thing you will notice is a change in the content. I’ll still be writing extensively on ultras and documenting my progression towards a hundred 100 mile races. You can expect to see new topics added as I progress through retirement. I plan to begin some new hobbies (big reveal coming soon!) and it will be fun to write about starting from scratch again. From what little I’ve read on aging, it’s important to continue learning as a way to combat dementia so one of my retirement goals is to keep trying new things. There’s a long list of things that I would like to try and I’m working to prioritize them now. I’m also still working on the depth vs. breadth dynamic. Do I devote 100% of my time on one thing or 10% on ten different things. I was originally thinking the latter, but I’m starting to change my mind here based on my obsession experience with ultras over the past 15 years.
Speaking of which. . .
More time = more time for training! I plan to up my base training from 30-50mpw running and 10-20mpw walking. I’m also going to start strength training. No, seriously – stop laughing. It’s finally going to happen. I don’t have any concrete plans beyond: more. More time, more miles, more vert, more workouts. I’ll play it by ear with short term training cycles in between my races with everything dependent on staying healthy. I don’t have any performance related goals, however this is my best chance to see what I’m really capable of. And if it turns out I don’t really want to push myself, I’ll do what any good ultrarunner does and pivot to the next goal.
Let’s GO!