January Goal Check-In

I know it's the end of January and everyone else has already written their 2014 year resolutions and goals. I've been wanting to post mine for awhile, but I've been holding back on sharing them. I'm not sure if it was I didn't think my goals were interesting enough or that I was afraid if I put them down for everyone to read I would feel like a failure if I came up short. After a lot of wavering back and forth, I realized that I needed to share my goals. I needed to feel the accountable and I felt that writing them on here would make them real. I needed to start believing in myself and take my goals seriously.

I knew from experience that too many goals would never be achievable. I also wanted to try to have well-rounded goals that focused on a variety of aspects of my life. I ended up choosing five goals and tried to brainstorm a few ways that I can work toward achieving the goals

Goals written in my new training journal. 

Goal #1: Work toward balance in my life.

Last year was a big adjustment for my family and me, in a good way! Bringing the twins into our family was an amazing and rewarding experience, but it has definitely had its challenges. Finding the balance between myself, my family and our responsibilities has been a big adjustment for all of us. This year, I am hoping to try to find a balance between all aspects of my life so that I can be stronger mother, wife and friend.

As of now, I feel that I have more times of failure than of success. I am hoping that I can continue to communicate with my family and friends to help me understand how I am feeling and to brainstorm solutions to the challenges we face. Lately, I have been relying a lot on my husband, N, to help me. He's my biggest supporter and is working to help me realize it's ok to feel the way I feel. That being overwhelmed is OK and that by working together we can work toward a more balanced life.

Another strategy I am trying is to choose a monthly word or phrase that speaks to how I am feeling at that time. Whenever I have moments of self-doubt I am trying to remind myself of what I have chosen so that I am try and remain positive. January's word is "believe." I've been trying to remember this throughout the rough times and I posted it on my treadmill to remind me while I'm working out.

My little reminder while I run. 

Goal #2: Consistent healthy lifestyle.

Every year I strive to be healthier, but I always seem to fall into the same habits. This year I am determined to be more consistent with my exercise and diet. As a mother, I want to make sure that I am being a strong role model for my children so that they can begin the steps to their own healthy lifestyle.

So far I have been doing pretty well. I am working on following my training schedule consistently and to be better at meal planning. I'm not perfect, but I feel like I've learned some skills about portion control and healthier options. I hope to continue to be better about planning in advance and to find meals that our whole family can enjoy.



Goal #3 Complete 26.2.

I've always wanted to run a marathon, but I've always felt that it is out of my reach. After running multiple half marathons in 2011, I realized that with proper training and dedication I could run a marathon. I would love to go in and have an amazing finishing time my first marathon, but I am hoping to finish it strong and healthy.

The only step that I've done toward this goal is to sign up for a marathon in October and to start researching different plans for my training plan. I know that I will need to begin training in June so I am hoping that I can finalize everything soon so that I know in advance what my commitment will look like.



Goal #4 Finish half marathon in 2:15.

After having the twins I thought that I would have a harder time coming back to running than I did. Being healthy and active prior to and for as much of the pregnancy as I could definitely helped my recovery period. As a result, I wanted to push myself to achieve a PR in the half this year. I did well on my first two half marathons considering I had never really run before I started training. I also knew I could do better. I didn't pay attention to nutrition and I didn't follow my training plan as well as I could.

I have been doing very well on my training and have stuck to my plan. I have researched nutrition ideas and I began keeping a journal of my runs and workouts so that I can look for trends in what worked and what didn't. It has been incredibly helpful to have a designated place for all of my workouts so that I can find the information I need quickly. It's also such a bright and inspiring journal, how can I not want to use it? If you're looking for a new one consider Erin Condren Design. I chose the notebook and added the extra calendar pages below. I have had multiple life planners and notebooks from them and I have never been let down!

Goal #5 Run 1,000 miles for the year.

I stumbled across the blog "Matters of Course" by Running Hutch that hosts a "Run This Year" Challenge. I saw a lot of people making the commitment to run 2014 miles this year. I was intrigued but I knew that I would never be able to run that many miles, especially because I had a strict training schedule for my races this year. After looking further into it, I noticed that I could make my own goal and still join the "Run This Year" community. I decided on 1,000 because I knew it would be a challenge, but could also be achieved.

As of today I have finished January with 45.75 miles. I know that I still have a long way to go to achieve my goal, but I'm pretty impressed that I was able to maintain as much consistency as I was. I am looking forward to seeing how many miles I add in the next few months!

A pretty decent start, but I know that I have many more miles to go!

I am going to do my best to keep up with at least a monthly update on how my goals are going and to write a quick post on my word of the month and why I chose it. I'm working on narrowing down February, but I only have a few days! I'll share it once I make a final decision.