2015 Goals in Review

I’ve done a few “year in review” posts so far this month and it appears that my year was pretty amazing. But I haven’t looked back at my goals since June, so it’s time to take a quick look and see which ones I met, which ones I missed, and which ones I completely forgot I had.

Running

1. Finish six half marathons in six days. Boom! Center of the Nation was another amazing Mainly Marathons experience. I added Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska to my state collection (and ran Colorado just for the heck of it.) 
2. Run Marine Corps Marathon. Yep, I’m going back to my roots. I started this blog when I began training for the marathon in 2008. It’s time to do it again. I ran the Marine Corps 17.75 on a crazy cold day in March to guarantee my registration.  I finished. It wasn’t the race I wanted, but I ran it as well as I could with the downturn my training took after CON.
3. Qualify for Marathon Maniacs. “They” say that if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.  Well, this one scares me, so it must be big enough.  Thanks to Mainly Marathons and being on the RNR “rocknblog” team, I have several opportunities to do this. I’m still debating the best timing. KNOCKED this out of the park! I decided to go for my stretch goal and ran NJ one day and NY the next, thereby qualifying at the Iridium level.
4. Run 2 Ragnar Relays: Cape Cod and DC. I adore Ragnar. I want to run one every weekend. I want to be like that couple that ran every Ragnar in a year. But, since that can’t happen, I’m all about running the two that work for my schedule. Ragnar Cape Cod was amazing. Unfortunately, I had to make a choice between Runner’s World Half and Festival and Ragnar DC. I chose RW and I don’t regret it. Jones and I did volunteer for Ragnar and that was a blast. 

Fitness/Physical Health

1. Try one new recipe every month. We are in a food rut, big time. It’s time to find some new recipes. I did pretty good on this. 
2. Find a strength training program that works for me. I used to love lifting weights before Jones was born. I need to find that love again. I did five sessions with a trainer and it was awesome. Unfortunately, I can’t justify the expense and it was really hard to schedule because I often have work meetings come up at the last minute. More on this in 2016.
3. Get control over my snacking. I eat really healthy meals, but I have a bad habit of walking through the kitchen and grabbing a snack, even if I’m not hungry. I go in streaks here. I’ll be great for a few nights and then fall apart. This is an area I need to work on more in 2016.

 

Work

1. Set up a better work environment. Working at the dining room table is not comfortable, plus it leads me to snack more. I’ve moved to the living room. It’s a bit better.
2. Be better organized with my work schedules. I’m juggling my real job, subbing at the library, writing for RunHaven, and various gigs that I get through my blog. I need to come up with a better way to balance them all and keep track of my deadlines. It took me the whole year, but I’ve finally got a routine schedule. I have to be somewhat flexible due to kids and clients, but I plan to only work 3 days a week for longer periods of time.

Personal

1. Prioritize one daytime social activity a week. Towards the end of 2014, I stopped doing anything with my friends. With marathon training starting and the increased work I’ve been doing, I need to make this a priority or I will never leave my house except for errands and running. Not a good thing for my extroverted self. See above. Hoping to start making plans to meet for lunch or coffee on one of my days off each week.
2. Take a trip with Beer Geek.  We have two planned: Cape Cod  and Center of the Nation. Yes, I am running a stupid number of miles on both of our trips. Yes, my husband indulges me. Cape Cod was amazing. CON was just as much fun. We’ve already made plans for the New England Series this year.
   
3. Run more with moms from MRTT. I’ve realized that for long runs and hard runs, I prefer to be by myself.  So, I need to join some of the slower/shorter runs so I can chat with friends. I haven’t run as much as I’d like with them, but I have done more social activities, so we’ll call this good. 
4. Get more sleep. Said every mom everywhere. I try to go to bed by 11. Sometimes I actually do it, sigh.

Looking at my goals, I think the key thing that jumps out at me is “balance”. I’ve gotten better at it, but the area that is having to give, unfortunately, is running. Next year there will not be a marathon as I just don’t have time. That’s ok – my favorite distance is the half marathon.

[Tweet “Goals should make you stretch. Here’s how I did with mine… #runchat”]

How about you? Did you rock your 2015 goals?

Now I just need to figure out 2016…