Evaluating my 2017 goals

2017 is mere days from ending. I still have 6 more runs and 14.4 more miles to complete my year. I’m taking the boys to visit my parents for a few days – where the temps are barely in the single digits. I have a feeling I’ll be hitting the treadmill each day for the three days I’m there. Meanwhile, it’s time to evaluate my 2017 so that I can start firming up my 2018.

Running

1. Get back into the local race scene. I knocked this goal out of the park. I ran 5 races with Pacers Running – my favorite local race company. Over the years, I have run many of their races and never been disappointed. This women led organization ROCKS the DC area race scene. 
2. Find some speed again. I did pretty well with this. I hit my goals at the GW Parkway, after intentionally working on speed all of last spring. Then I had a surprise amazing race at the Rehoboth Half Marathon in December. Apparently Hansons paid off for me, just not at the marathon.
3. Use a training plan again. I did a great job with my training for GW Parkway and then knocked it out of the park with my training for MCM. Too bad I wasn’t able to execute on race day. I’m not sure I’m going to have the time or energy to devote to Hansons this summer, so I’ll be searching for another plan.
4. Add another 4 or so states to my 50 states quest. Boom! The whole chunk in the middle that was missing is done. I got in Missouri at Spring break and Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio in early summer.

Fitness/Physical Health

1. Batch cook on Mondays.  Yeah, nope. We have fewer evening commitments than we did at the beginning of the year, but I still haven’t managed to get in the batch cooking or prepping habit.
2. Cross Train at least once a week. When I was in the heat of marathon training, everything else fell away. Hansons just took up so much of my time. Recently I started doing the Faster Way to Fat Loss program and I’m loving it. Unfortunately, that cuts my miles way back, so I’m still trying to find balance.
3. Stop grazing. I started intermittent fasting this summer (the version I do allows an 8 hour eating window. While I do still graze some during that window, mindless evening snacking is gone.

Work

1. Blog 3 times per week. Lately, I’ve dropped back to twice a week. I may try to come back to 3 next year, but I may also focus on other priorities. I’ve been struggling with too many balls in the air lately, but I’m slowly but surely getting things under control.
2. Sub as often as I can at the local library. I try to take a daytime shift anytime they are available. There aren’t a lot, so this usually means once or twice a month at most.
3. Keep up my 2016 schedule. This year was not a great time management year. We went on too many trips and I found myself completely behind most of the time. I’ve picked up another gig, so I need to get better about focusing on one thing for a period of time and then moving on to others.

Personal

1. Continue cleaning and decluttering. I’m pretty sure this is just going to be a constant battle. I have gotten rid of almost all of my old work clothes. (I quit working in an office 13 years ago LOL.) I also got rid of all of the Jones’ outgrown clothes. It’s apparent that he and Shoo are built differently and have different styles, so I donated it all to an organization that helps single moms get back on their feet.
2. Take a trip with Beer Geek.  Did this. Will do it again in 2018. The where is what remains to be seen.
3. Minimize Facebook and other social media. Facebook is my kryptonite. If I go there, I get sucked in for far too long. Some days I do a great job of avoiding it, some days not so much.
4. Keep using my bullet journal to keep me on track. This thing is my saving grace. I keep so much information in this thing! Next year I’m going to have to use a ring binder of some sort though. With 2 jobs + my blog, I need to be able to have separate sections and be able to add pages. Even with an index, trying to keep track of all my notes in various places in the journal can be frustrating. But I still love it as my organized to do list on steroids.

From my post last January:

It feels a little strange to not have some BIG.SCARY.GOAL. this year, but there are enough things swirling around unsettled that I want to focus more on the day to day happiness. This is not to say I won’t do something crazy like sign up for MCM again or hop a plane to knock out another state. It’s just that I’m not planning to. At least not today.

2017 never did have a BIG.SCARY.GOAL. I did train hard and make several attempts at PRs. We also had some great vacations. We had some good news and some bad news and we watched our boys grow and experience new things. 2017 was the junior version of the roller coaster of life and honestly, I’ll take that any day.

Will there be a BIG.SCARY.GOAL in 2018? That remains to be seen.

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