Well folks, midnight and next year is fast approaching so I thought I'd give a little summary of the year just past and a little glimpse of what to expect from me next year.

I started this year off NOT running at all, but actually rowing, following a suspected metatarsal stress fracture I picked up at the end of last year. Well in retrospect, I don't think it was a stress fracture at all, rather I believe it was just the muscles and tendons in my feet telling me that I was taking things too fast too soon.

The break from running helped my feet recuperate and allow me to drop a few pounds too. I was soon however back on my feet in mid-February and rearing to go. I was soon running with a certain degree of regularity in my Vibrams and enjoying it as I slowly increased my fitness and distance. Nothing too crazy.

Then it came - my first completely barefoot run in April. WOW!!! I loved it and was hooked on the feeling of running completely barefoot. However that wasn't enough to stop me from trying one more run in shoes. Bad idea. It hurt and on 28 May 2009, I drew a line in the sand and stated I would not run in shoes again.

Following my declaration, I enjoyed a fabulous shoe-free summer holiday, switched to a pair of Vivo Barefoot Aquas for my general purpose casual shoes, slowly built up my mileage and the strength in my feet and ticked off the first 5 of my goals as I went along. I also started recording my runs on FetchEveryone.com and created a little feed in the sidebar to show off my training and keep me motivated.

The year has ended with a bit of a slow down in my running: the cold soon ruled out any further barefoot runs for the year before the wet, snow and holidays all set in to put a further spanner in the works. I'm not really too concerned about this as everyone needs a break and Christmas time is as good a time as any to take one. It also helps with the motivation needed for the new year's resolutions, which brings me nicely onto what I have planned for next year.

Next year is going to start off a bit bumpy: my wife and I are due our first little one in January so when I'm not looking after the baby, the wife or work, I'll probably be sleeping. I hope to squeeze in some runs where ever possible. Once things settle down on the home front I'll start work on attaining some of my goals with the primary goal of completing at least one 10km race completely barefoot and a tentative goal of running a half-marathon in Vibrams.

This may not seem like much, but if I manage to achieve both goals, I'll tick 6, possibly 7, other intermediate goals off my current list and may finish off the year as a regular barefoot runner. Time will tell, but I'll certainly keep everyone updated as I progress.

I'll finish off by wishing everyone a fabulous new year and I hope you all set yourselves some realistic and achievable goals for the new year.