I usually do a half-way point check in for my yearly goals but, in an effort to keep myself on track, I am doing quarterly check-ins this year.  I feel pretty good about how things are going so far.  Let's take a look....

• Exercise a minimum of three times a week - Ummm, this one isn't as good.  I averaged 2.38 times a week for the first quarter.  Some of those were yoga classes and some of the running days were run/walk heavy on the walking.  No surprise then that my St. Pat's Dash was as bad as it was.  The last two weeks have been much better and I am hitting my three run minimum and it has been more running than walking so I feel like I can pull this one back in line.
• Lose 30 lbs. - Nope.  But I am lower than I was two weeks ago.  So that is something, right?
• Volunteer at least 40 hours - At quarter's end I was at 4.5 hours but put in four more last night and have some things lined up that should be fun.  And yes, I count the half hour of someone trying to poke my skin and drain my blood as volunteer time.  That just isn't the fun kind.
• Take four different classes - I have signed up and taken two so far: yoga every Monday and a one-time embroidery class.  I am not counting the ballroom dancing classes that we were doing through March until our teacher retired because I was already signed up for those when I set my goal. 
• Travel one place in state I have never been before - Not yet, but I think wine in Walla Walla is calling my name.
• Travel one place out of state I have never been before - Done!  New York City, Virginia and Hershey, PA
• Read a minimum of one book a month -  I was afraid I might have low-balled this when I set the goal and I think I did.  It just seems like there wasn't enough time to read the past few years so I wasn't sure I could find the time to squeeze in even this small amount.  Turns out if you make time even a few minutes a day and also have a vacation that involved long plane rides you can accomplish lots o' reading.  It also helps if you (inadvertently) pick some shorter books.  Through the first quarter I have eight books under my belt.

"Maybe Baby" by Lori Leibovich
"The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett

"Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick

"The Art of Fielding" by Chad Harbach

"Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

"Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins

"Turn Right At Macchu Picchu" by Mark Adams

"Terroryaki!" by Jennifer Chung

How are you doing with your goals? 

Running Through the States

On my trip back east I decided to set a new life goal for myself:  to run in all 50 states.  I meant to get all four of the states we visited checked off on this trip but where we were in Maryland was horrible for running (zero shoulder and no sidewalks) and I was just too dang tired the morning we were in Pennsylvania.  Next trip for those.  However, I did manage to get a run in while we were in Charlottesville, VA and in New York.  I don't run with a phone or a camera so these pictures are things I saw on my run that we walked by later the same day.  I might have to change that rule for future 50 state runs.

First I give you beautiful, historic Charlottesville. 

A little Lewis and Clark statue in a roundabout.  I almost didn't recognize them because anywhere else you see them one of them is pointing off in the distance.  Since the initial plan for the expedition began here in Charlottesville it seems a fitting statue.  Couldn't figure out if they were facing west or not, I sure hope they were.

This one stopped me dead in my tracks.  "Conqueror of the Northwest?"  WTF?  I started to get all indignant and filled with regional pride.  I'm from the Northwest and I never heard of George Rogers Clark conquering anything to do with us you motherfu......oh, wait.  When George Clark (William Clark's big brother) lived, the Northwest was probably Kentucky or Ohio.  I slunk away from the statue feeling a little silly.

The turn around point on my run was the University of Virginia grounds (I was told by a local that it is never "the campus" but is always "the grounds").  This has to be the prettiest campus in all of America.  No, I haven't been on them all but I will still place that bet.  The place was designed by Thomas Jefferson and this main area is just stunning.  All different styles of architecture are represented here in this rectangle (known as The Lawn) but it all flows together beautifully.  The low slung buildings flanking the picture are actually dorm rooms of some of the fourth years (Jefferson hated the terms freshman, sophomore, etc.).  Can you imagine living in one of these rooms that were part of Jefferson's original design for an academic village?  Lucky kids that go here.

The run itself was about 3.5 miles and it took me from our beyond charming 120 year-old inn through the town, past all the college kids streaming into class (the official outfit of the UVA female is the tight jeans with knee-high riding boots in case you were wondering), through the grounds to the end of the lawn and back home again.  It was a gorgeous clear day and one of the best runs I have had in a very long time. 

When we were in New York I got up early to squeeze my run in.  I was worried we wouldn't have enough time but Kevin encouraged me to get out there and do it because he knows how much I love doing this.  Sure enough, I came back practically giddy from this run.  I was grinning like an idiot and was completely energized.  Great run through a truly great city.

I started from our hotel in Times Square and ran up Sixth Avenue towards Central Park.  It wasn't too crowded and I only had to dodge people a little bit.  The stoplights were a little annoying but since my fitness isn't great I didn't mind the stops.  Besides I got to check out all the cool New York stuff like Radio City Music Hall, NBC studios, the LOVE statue and so many more.  I entered Central Park on the south side and just started following paths.  As I ran past the partially frozen pond, I thought about Holden Caulfield and the ducks he worried about when the pond froze over.  I ran past an ice skating rink and through the beautiful, rocky landscape.  I wish I took some pictures later of some of the pretty rock outcroppings.

I spotted this and fell in love with it. 

This is the mall and when you run it facing the other direction like I did you see the Bethesda Fountain at the end.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The trees reaching over to create an archway across the path are so beautiful and welcoming.  I kept imagining it through all the seasons. 

This is the Bethesda Fountain viewed through a bath house type thing whose name escapes me.  I ran to the back of the fountain and realized I had been gone for longer than I expected so I turned around and headed back downtown to our hotel.

This is a detail of one of the end walls leading down to the fountain.  There were carvings and statues everywhere you turned.  I loved Central Park from the minute I stepped foot in it.  I can't wait to come back and run it again and again and again.  Next time I will be in better shape and have more time so I can go further into the park and see more. 

The total mileage on this run was about four miles.  I couldn't pick up a Garmin signal until I got to the park because of all the skyscrapers so I had to estimate a little.

So far I have ran in seven states:  Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Virginia and New York.  I am looking forward to completing my list.  Yes, even New Jersey.

2012 Goals

Well, after completely losing track of goals last year I am ready to really start working on some this year. I feel motivated again and ready for action. As part of my goal making process, I only included SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-constrained) and ones that are in my control.  For the few I haven't told yet, the big goal for 2012  is to have a baby or at least have one cooking by year-end. We've been trying for six months but no dice yet. But I don't list the baby down below because it is almost completely out of my control.  The baby goal has made me re-think and re-tool a few objectives I have for this year though.  I tried to include ones that would still be doable if I get knocked-up but that would still be stretch goals if I don't. To that end, I give you my hopes for 2012.

• Exercise at least three times a week.  I decided that training for a marathon would be too much of a stressor on my baby making body at the fitness level I am at right now so I am going to shelve my marathon dreams for another year.  The exercise will most likely be running (I miss you running!) but I am including any kind of exercise.  I just need to get my body moving again. I do still plan on running some smaller races this year.
• Lose 30 pounds.Yep, that old chestnut again.  I am currently at my all-time highest weight and I can't continue to stay here, or worse yet, or get fatter.  Yes, a baby will kill this goal but if we don't succeed at that I should be able to do this.
• Volunteer at least 40 hours.I always feel great after doing volunteer work so I want to incorporate this into my life more.
• Take at least four different classes.Time to stretch my brain and try some new things. 
• Travel some place in state I have never been before.
• Travel some place out of state I have never been before.
• Read a minimum of one new book per month.It is sad that 12 books a year is a stretch goal.  I used to read so much more than this but just can't seem to find the time anymore.  After getting my Kindle for Christmas I realized how much I missed reading and how much I want to make it a regular part of my life again.  I need to make the time for some quiet, reading time.  In fact, I think I am going to convert a corner of my office to a reading nook. 

That's about it for the year.  Nothing too radical, nothing overly ambitious. Just some things that will provide a little bit of challenge and interest.

2011 Goals Recap

I tanked 'em.  I am not even going to list them out because a)I really didn't hit any of them other than my perennial travel goals and b) I stopped caring about them many, many months ago.  In fact, I had to go back and read what they were to even remember them.  Not a good indicator for success. 

You know what though?  I am totally OK with it.  After the wedding I just kind of stepped off the merry-go-round for awhile.  For the first time in over four years I didn't have some Major Thing going on in my life that either absorbed stupid amounts of time or involved a lot of psychological work.  No work/school combo, no adapting to being in a relationship, no dealing with a dying father, no wedding, no dealing with the aftermath of a death and family implosion, no major emotional work to be done to wrap my head around the ideas of wife, marriage, grief or loss.  Nothing but just enjoying life and not pushing myself in any way.  It was kind of nice.

However, I have enjoyed my break and am ready to start challenging myself a little bit.  I have some things I want to accomplish and feel ready to get back in the game.  I'll cement what I am trying to work for the next year in the next few days and then post goals that I fully intend on achieving in 2012.

2011 Goals Recap

It is hard to reach your goals when you can't remember what they are.  It just occurred to me awhile ago that we are more than half-way through the year already and I haven't even thought about my goals other than my aborted marathon attempt and my mileage.  I have totally blown off almost all of my 2011 goals this year.  I might try to accomplish a few before the year is done but I am totally giving myself a pass this year if I don't.  I am feely blissfully unmotivated.  So what have I accomplished so far this year?

1. Run at least 750 miles - Bwahahahahahaha!  Next.
2. Finish a marathon - Nope.  I instead made a very costly "donation" to the Portland Marathon.  I am going to spend the rest of the year re-building my base for a spring 2012 marathon.
3. One stretching session for each day I run during the week - Not even close.  I might try bringing this one back this year.
4. Lose 30 lbs - Currently I am about three pounds heavier than I was at the start of the year.  I lost 10, gained nine, lost nine in a hurry for the wedding, and then promptly put it all back on and then some.
5. Visit one place in state I have never been before - Success!  Well, technically I drove through there once when I was a kid but I am counting our camping trip to Newhalem and Ross Lake as a first since I don't think we ever stopped the car to walk around.  This place also has important family history; my great-grandfather died while building Ross Dam. 
6. Visit one place out of state I have never been before - Success!  This has always been a domestic category in the past but I think Tahiti and Bora Bora count. 
7. Take a multivitamin at least five days a week - Not good for most of the year but the last month I have managed to take one dang near every day.
8. Paint the downstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room and upstairs bedroom - This is getting pushed off until fall and no way are we getting all of the rooms.  I will settle for the upstairs bedroom, downstairs bathroom and kitchen. 
9. Have a once monthly cleaning night - We were doing really well with this for the first four months of the year but since May we haven't really had an official cleaning night.  I would like to restart this and get 3/4 of the year.
10. Not be further in debt than I am right now - I am slightly over where I thought I would be because of a $1500 clutch repair right after we got back from our honeymoon.  I should be back to status quo by year end.

So there you have it.  An uninspiring list at the start of the year and an uninspiring accomplishment rate during the year.  Much like us Mariners fans have to say "wait until next year."

2011 Goals

After some pondering I have come up with my goals for the new year.  Mind you there are lots of other little things I would like to work on such as keeping the house cleaner, eating healthier, getting more sleep but if I couldn't easily quantify it it didn't make the official list.  My goals are always SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-constrained) and not everything fits easily into that category.  Or at least I don't want to get that specific with some of them.  Here are the ones that made the cut:

1.  Run at least 750 miles - What do you do when you can't meet your 650 miles per year goal the last two years.  You yell at yourself and add 100.
2.  Finish a marathon - Registering is just a small part of the battle.
3.  One stretching session for each day I run during the week - Run four times, stretch four times.  Only way I think I can do this without injury.
4.  Lose 30 lbs - Yep, not giving up on the weight loss.  I don't want to be a fat marathoner or a fat bride. 
5.  Visit one place in state I have never been before - A perennial list maker.
6.  Visit one place out of state I have never been before - See above.
7.  Take a multivitamin at least five days a week - If I didn't have to take them with food this would be a piece of cake and a non-issue.
8.  Paint the downstairs bathroom, kitchen, living room and upstairs bedroom - I'm tired of the lack of color around here and it is high time my taste was better represented. Monster poster art will also be moved.
9.  Have a once monthly cleaning night - Regular cleaning will still be done as usual but this is for Kevin and I to tackle one big cleaning project together.  We'll open a bottle of wine, turn on the music and clean the joint up.  By the way, it was originally his idea.
10.  Not be further in debt than I am right now -  Ideally this would involve less debt but with a wedding, honeymoon, an elderly car that is incontinent of both engine and radiator, and an elderly cat that has been diagnosed with very early kidney disease I am going to shoot for a more realistic "hold steady".

I still like some of last year's goals such as "take classes" and "volunteer" but I am trying to be realistic about the time commitments involved and how busy the first half of the year will be.  At least those are more on my radar since I put them in last year's goals list.

Anyone else have any goals for the new year?

2010 Year In Review

Well, I don't want to start this post on a negative vibe but:  2010 can kiss my ass. 

This year has been a year of suck in a lot of ways.  Getting engaged was amazing and happy and I had a few good running moments but other than that, not so much.  Jumping almost straight from the craziness of a work/school double-life into a ramping up of my father's illness in February, his death, my mother's really bad illness and almost inability to function for a month prior to and after Dad's death making an already stressful situation almost unbearable, the defection of my sister at the same time Dad was dying leading to the family being chopped in half and dealing with the aftermath of it all really took a toll.  I didn't really realize all of that until just recently when I am starting to get some more distance and perspective of it all.  It's funny how you can still experience grief and anger when you don't even really miss the people.  Oh, and there's a little guilt for not really missing the people.  It is one of those things I didn't really understand until I had been through it.  Unfortunately it is something we all will know someday.  However, things feel thawed again and I feel like a lot of that turmoil and sadness is over.  I just want a drama free 2011.

But on to happier things, the goals from 2010.  I didn't hit as many as I wanted but I am glad they were out there because they kept me more focused than if they weren't.

The recap:
Running Goals
5K PR - Done!  At the Top Pot Doughnut Dash in April I ran a 29:14
Half-Marathon PR - Done!  The following week at Eugene I ran a 2:21:56 which killed my previous PR.
Run at least 650 miles - Fail!  This is the only one I am beating myself up about.  There is no good excuse for not hitting this.  None.  I ended the year on 511.65 miles.  Pathetic.

Health
Lost a minimum of 40 pounds - I knew this was a stretch goal and would be challenging.  I did lose 20 but some have crept back on.  I haven't been to WW in awhile so I don't know how many (I can't remember what the home scale said at my lowest weight) but I think put on at least six so I am guessing my total yearly loss is 14 pounds.  Once I head in for a weigh-in next week I will post the real number.

Personal
Visit one new place in state - Probably the easiest on the list and it was a fail.  Never got anywhere new this year.
Visit one new place out of state - This was a success.  We hit McMinnville, OR and also saw huge swaths of Colorado I hadn't seen before.
Travel outside the country (offer excludes Canada) - Success!  Big tickets purchases are hard for me to pull the trigger on and if I didn't set this goal I would still be waffling on where exactly was the perfect place to go. 
Drink more -  We drank more wine than we purchased (I think) but we definitely hit our yearly 52 bottle total.  We consumed 58 bottles. Thanks to two friends we had over in January for some over-imbibing for helping us reach for the stars.
Complete 40 hours of volunteer time - Only completed 14 hours.  Does time spent helping your parents out count?
Take four different classes - I took two:  a 10 week yoga program and East Coast Swing.
Really learn 10 new entrees or side dishes - Yeah, I kind of gave up on this right away last year.  I need to break my toast or sandwich for dinner habit.  I get home so late that I don't much feel like cooking dinner and we are frequently gone or superbusy on the weekends which doesn't leave much time for cooking.

So there it is, the goals that were.  I have been mentally compiling my 2011 list and am eager to post it once I get it all sorted out.

Here's to a new year!  And a huge "thank you" to my friends and loved ones for putting up with crabbiness and general out-of-sortness this year.  2011 will be a better, brighter year.

2010 Goals

Well, it's a new year and a chance to hit the re-set button on a few things. Here are the goals for 2010.

Running
I am recycling my three gently used running goals from 2009 and reusing them here.
1. 5k PR.
2. Run a minimum of 650 miles.
3. Half-marathon PR

Health
1. Lose a minimum of 40 lbs.

Personal
1. Visit one new place in state I have never gone before.
2. Visit one new place out of state I have never gone before.
3. Travel outside of the country. Offer excludes Canada.
4. Drink more. We buy WAY more wine then we drink so Kevin and I are trying to drink 52 bottles this year. Combined. Not 52 bottles each.
5. Complete 40 hours of volunteer time.
6. Take four different classes. No actual school learnin' here. Just fun stuff.
7. Find and learn, I am mean really learn, 10 new entree or side dish recipes.

I am trying to do all of my goals as SMART goals which, if you aren't familiar with them already, are: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-constrained. With that in mind, I came up with the specific cooking goal but I am not sure that is the best way to measure it. What I am really going for is "learn to cook" but that doesn't fit the SMART goal pattern. Any other suggestions for how to incorporate "learn to cook" into a SMART goal?

Good luck to all my fellow resolutioners, goal-setters, and theme-builders.

* Edited to fix my counting error. Geez...counting to seven is hard.

2009 Goals Recap

So how did you do on your goals for 2009? Me? Not so well. I reached four of nine. They were the four easiest too so it's not like I had to really stretch to hit them. Here is the recap:

Running Goals:
1. 5k PR - Nope. Not even remotely close.
2. Run a total of 650 miles. - Funny, I thought I might have been low-balling a bit when I chose this mileage total. Total miles for the year ended up being a whopping 354.
3. Complete a half-marathon without walking. - No. I ended up Gallowalking the one I competed in this year.

Health Goals:
1. Weigh what my driver's license says I do. - Bwahahahaha!! Not only did I not come close to this one but the six pounds I had lost at mid-year have been regained along with three others. I am now the heaviest I have ever been. Epic fail.
2. Have all preventive health and dental services - Success! I also added a mammogram and a core needle biopsy for good measure. Way to overachieve!

Personal Goals:
1. Go someplace in state you have never been before. - Done. This is the easiest one of all. I went to Friday Harbor for the first time this year.
2. Go someplace out of state you have never been before. - Done. Napa Valley, South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park and Devil's Tower.
3. Pay off a minimum of half of my debt. - This would be the epic fail if not for the weight loss. This would be much closer if Ollie hadn't been single handedly (paw-edly?) trying to stimulate the economy not once, but twice, this year.
4. Finish my Bachelor's degree. - Done. Even though this was probably the biggest challenge in the grand scheme of things this was also kind of a gimme. Unless I was abducted by aliens this was pretty much a foregone conclusion. I also attribute some of my other failed goals to the evils of school. Yes, I could have made running and weight loss more of a priority while going to school, lots of people do, but I felt like I couldn't add much more to my plate.

Have you thought about what you want to accomplish in 2010?