Reevaluating my goals

Here we are, just over halfway through the year. I like to do a mid-year checkin to see if I’m on track to hit my goals. Short answer: I am, mostly. But lately I’ve been questioning my goals. Are they frivolous (I mean, who really cares if I hit Mercury?) Are they milestones towards our personal goals or just stand alone goals that don’t get me closer to where I want to be? And does that matter? Does every goal need to have a bigger purpose or could the purpose of simply keeping myself moving be worthy enough? I don’t have the answers at this point, but I’m pondering.

Running

1. Finish 7 half marathons in 7 days. I have now run three  Mainly Marathons series: Center of the Nation Series in 2015, Riverboat Series in 2014 and the Dust Bowl Series in 2013.  CON was 6 states in 6 days. Why not up the ante one more time? This year Beer Geek and I will be heading to the New England Series.  Done. And it was amazing.
2. Run my first ultra. Yep, I’m going over to the dark side. My plan at this point is Across the Years in December where I’ll see how many miles I can run in 24 hours. I make no promises that I won’t find one to do before then… I haven’t decided I won’t run some form of ultra this fall. But, somehow it seems less important right now.
3. Pick up the pace. I have really slowed down in the last few years. I don’t know if I can get back down to a sub-2 half, but I’ll be spending the first few months of the year trying to push the pace again. Ugh. I forgot how much the heat in VA sucks in the summer. I’m happy just to manage to get out there and run. If I want to get faster, I’m going to need to figure this out.
4. Moon up in Half Fanatics. This is really iffy. To get to Mercury, I need 23 half marathons in 23 states in 365 days. I’ve got 7 already (CON + RW) and I’ll get 7 more at NE. That leaves me with 10 states. 3 are easy (MD, DC, VA), 3 are relatively easy (WI, WV, MI) and that leaves me with 3 more to figure out. I’m torn on whether it is really worth the time and money investment for basically nothing but bragging rights (and only a small number of people actually care.) And I’d kind of like to do another Ragnar or other relay race and I can’t really justify both. At this moment, I have 21 of 23 states done and the final two races chosen. I should be done in August, with a couple of weeks to spare.

Fitness/Physical Health

1. Continue to try new things in the kitchen. My “Cooking with Beer” series will help me with this, but I also want to get less meat centric. We’ll see how that goes. Doing ok here. I could always be better though.
2. Figure out how to use the weight machines in the gym. I’ve joined (and am good at using the cardio machines), but I need to actually figure out the weight machines as I used to  enjoy those more than free weights. Oh, and then use them at least once a week. I’m actually considering canceling my gym membership. I have enough options at home that I’m not sure it’s worth the money. I have been better about doing some strength training at home lately.
3. Drink more water. ‘Nuff said. Some days are better than others.

Work

1. Follow through on my new work schedule. I’ve set it up to have one full day off to run errands and such. Now I need to actually get my work done on my work days. I’m doing pretty well with this. Some times my schedule is not under my control due to client meetings, but I’m getting in all the hours I’m supposed to and most weeks I have one day where I don’t work much if at all.
2. Blog/use social media more efficiently. I often get sidetracked. I’ll go to find one link and end up wasting 20 minutes on one of the platforms. While I realize that social media is important, as is being engaged with my readers and other bloggers, I need to figure out how to set parameters and find some balance. Ugh. Too many social media options.

Personal

1. Do something social at least twice a month on my free days. It can be a run, coffee, lunch, whatever – I just need to get out of my house and out of my head on occasion. Only averaging once a month on this. I need to run with my peeps more.
2. Take a trip with Beer Geek.  New England Series here we come! Done.
   
3. Read more but not binge read. I love books and I tend to not put down a good book once I start. I need to get better about putting down a book and going to bed. I also need to occasionally read books that do more than entertain. I’m still reading mostly mind candy, but life has been busy and stressful lately and it’s what I need.
4. Make a master To Do list. I’m carrying a lot in my head. I need to just get it down on paper and start knocking off things bit by bit. I use a daily to do list and generally get 80-90% done each day, so I think have a master to work off of would be useful. I haven’t done this exactly, but I am loving the “reminder” option on Google calendar now. Assigning things to a day to focus on them has worked well.
5. Get more sleep. Said every mom everywhere. Occasionally this happens. More often I doze off at my computer.

I’ve hit my summer doldrums. Heat and humidity + having the kids out of school has sucked out my motivation. I get like this every summer, so I don’t even know why I sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon. Unless I can pull myself together, I’ll be running it undertrained again. /whine.

How is your year going? Are you still liking the goals that you made or is it time to revisit them?