Goal Checkin for 2017

Here we are, nearly a quarter of the way through 2017. In typical fashion, time has both flown and seemed to stand still. I can’t believe it’s already the end of March, but I’ve never been so ready for spring! Since this is the Tuesday on the Run where we rate our runs for the month, I’ve decided to look at things on a bigger scale. Overall, March was about a B+. I ran a few races as paces that made me happy, but I only ran a single double digit run. This is slightly concerning given I’ve got a whole lot of half marathons coming up.

Running

1. Get back into the local race scene. I’ve been really busy with the traveling and racing and only running half marathons. I used to love to run at the local races, so I’ve decided to hit up a bunch again this year. I’ll be doing a 5K, a four mile race, the GW Parkway 10 miler, and a few others. Running these shorter races will also help me with my next goal. I’m right on track. I even managed a bonus 10k and the MCM 17.75K.
2. Find some speed again. I suck at speedwork. I just really am not good at pushing myself when I’m not in a race. If you are local, don’t be surprised to see me pop up at some 10Ks and 5Ks in the area. Why? Because I want to run the GW Parkway at a sub- 10 minute pace, which is not something I’ve been able to manage in a long time. (My PR is 1:30 and change, so it’s very unlikely I’ll PR…) This is looking promising. I’ve had some really strong races and a few strong runs up to the 7 mile distance. Now to add in a few more miles.
3. Use a training plan again. I was all over the place with my training for 2016. I never really settled into any plan, regardless of the race I had coming up. This week I plan to sit down and put the Hansons Half Marathon plan on the calendar and use that to get ready for the GW Parkway. Umm, no. I haven’t followed a training plan at all. Luckily I have a loose idea of what I need to do and I’m managing a few good speed workouts.
4. Add another 4 or so states to my 50 states quest. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t plan at least some travel and racing. And I do still love the half marathon, even if I am backing off a bit. We are planning to hit the Mainly Marathons Heartland Series, but everything else is very tentative at this point. See that white section in the middle? That’s where I plan to run. I’ll be hitting Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa in just a few short months. That white chunk in the middle will be gone!

Fitness/Physical Health

1. Batch cook on Mondays.  We have activities three nights a week now, so I need to have easy meals for those nights. I figure if I make two large meals each Monday, that will feed us until Friday. We ate tacos entirely too often this year, so we need to branch out. Mondays are now taken, but Tuesdays have been freed up. Still trying to get on track here.
2. Cross Train at least once a week. I have options in my fitness room and there are tons of videos out there. I need to make myself use them. Bonus if I manage more than once a week. I’d say I manage once a week. Not necessarily a full workout, but at least a small amount of time.
3. Stop grazing. I don’t eat an evening meal on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Instead, I find myself grabbing random things from the refrigerator and the pantry. I need to fix myself a meal and eat it after we get home (and actually eat a healthy snack before practice/running so I’m not ravenous when I walk in the door.) Totally sucking at this one. Totally.

Work

1. Blog 3 times per week. I began cutting back from 5 times a week earlier this year and I love that I no longer feel pressured by my blog. Hopefully this will free me up to spend more time reading other blogs and interacting on social media. I confess that I love only writing 3 times a week. However, I’ve been inconsistent doing any sort of social media. Someday…
2. Sub as often as I can at the local library. I’ve subbed frequently this last month and I’m remembering why I became a librarian in the first place. Working the reference desk is a very social job and sometimes I even get a question that takes a lot of thinking or researching. I’m rocking this. I still love it and I can usually grab a few hours a week.
3. Keep up my 2016 schedule. I started working more hours on the days that I worked and taking one full day to not work. I noticed towards the end of the year that I fell out of that habit, so I need to make an effort to get back on it. This has totally fallen by the wayside, but in big part because my kids always seem to be off school for some reason or another. And we didn’t even have snow days this year!

Personal

1. Continue cleaning and decluttering. This month I moved a lot of stuff out of our house via a “buy nothing” group I belong to. It’s been great seeing things I don’t need (and are just filling up space in my small house) go to people who can use them. Along these same lines, I need to minimize how much new stuff I bring into the house. Just call me slacker. I did a great job cleaning out the playroom, but now I’ve pretty much stalled.
2. Take a trip with Beer Geek.  This will always be on my list. We need this time each year to reconnect and reevaluate where things are going in our lives. Heartland is coming  up soon!
   
3. Minimize Facebook and other social media. I’ve turned off notifications and I’ve left a bunch of groups. I know I need to spend a certain amount of time for blog purposes, but not having new stuff pop up all the time should help with the distraction issue I’ve been having. I swear, I need to just walk away from Facebook. It’s such a time suck.
4. Keep using my bullet journal to keep me on track. I love having everything in one place and for some reason, writing things down makes them more real to me. I’ve always been  a big “to do” list person, so this is just one big (really organized) list. I love this thing. I need to be better about setting up each week’s pages and I definitely need to check things off more consistently each day.  I do use it for all of my to do lists and notes on things, so it’s awesome to have a single place to go back to for things. It is not, however, a work of art like many bullet journals.

So far, I’d give 2017 a solid B+. I did add MCM to my plan for this year and there may be an attempt at a PR, but well, summer training and I don’t really get along. So, I guess we’ll see.

How about you? How’s your month or your year going? Anything new come along since you decided your plans for 2017?

Also, here are our April topics so you can continue to join in on the fun.

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