Tag Archives: new year

Resolutions

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I have to admit to not being big on New Years resolutions. Not that my life couldn’t do with plenty of improvement, just that I am not usually motivated by the calendar to do it preemptively. Usually something bad has to happen before I make needed changes.

But last year I did make one resolution in January that I managed to stick with – and that was to get in shape and start running again. So, on the heels of that success, I figured I would do it again for 2014. But I have a lot of stuff on my plate this year, so I need to have a lot of resolutions. 14, to be exact.

Here they are:

1) Finish my first half-marathon (the Rain Run at the end of the month).

2) Run one more race in February (have to figure out what this will be).

3) Get some skiing in (this resolution may require travel unless we get some dang snow in the mountains).

4) Be brave about my surgery so my kids won’t be afraid.

5) Have a good recovery, and follow doctors orders (not my usual MO, will probably require effort not to want to jump the gun as far as getting back to my normal routine).

6) Be the best mom I can be – keep the yelling to a minimum. This is a hard one but it’s worth working on since my kids really don’t respond to it very well anyway. The goal is to have them want to cooperate, not to frighten them into it.

7) Figure out my career situation by the end of the year. Back to real estate? Or something else? I am not certain that the unpredictability of real estate works for our family dynamic, so I need to get this figured out.

8) Get back to running (even if slow and not very far) by June. Supposedly I can start doing light workouts again (not running, lifting or twisting) after a couple of weeks so I feel this should be doable.

9) Finish another half marathon between September 1 and December 31, 2014.

10) Lose 8 pounds.

11) Run a 5k in under 27 minutes.

12) Run a 10k in under 54 minutes.

13) Get Christmas cards out before Christmas rather than after New Years.

14) Read more books.

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Happy New Year!

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Hope everyone’s new year is getting off to a good start. Mine is – we have been having a great time with our boys all through the holidays and it was really fun helping them get into the spirit of New Years Eve yesterday. We had originally been planning to go to a party at some friends house, but that was cancelled when the hostess’s son came down with stomach flu. Such a bummer for him, but at least our family was able to make alternate plans. We ended up eating ham and bean soup, going to see Frozen, then coming home to drink sparkling apple cider and prosecco, and watching the ball drop in NYC before sending the kids to bed. A very enjoyable way to say goodbye to 2013.

This morning we all woke up a bit late and groggy from staying up the night before, but still wanted to do something fun together as a family. So we decided to go to Discovery park in Seattle for a hike, and then to the Lockspot Cafe for lunch. I had smoked salmon chowder and a green salad. I can tell that I am pretty much at the end of the holiday feasting because salad is starting to sound really, really good to me. I am kind of over all the holiday junk and sweets. Even the egg nog in my coffee just doesn’t seem as festive and exciting as it did back in November. It is time to put all the holiday stuff away for next year (except the egg nog – I’ll just drink that, then it will be gone).

Done.

I think I mentioned that I am training for a half marathon at the end of the month. It’s going pretty well. I did a 9.5 mile run on Sunday which felt about as good as a 9.5 mile run can. I didn’t run very fast but I did maintain a steady pace all the way to the end. My ankles were a little sore after, but that was all. Did a 5 mile run a couple days later with no issues at all. Felt great, except for a little bit of a refluxy feeling that I think is from eating junk for the last 2 weeks straight. Oh well.

As far as a training plan for the half, I don’t really have one. What I do is, I run on a three week cycle – short, medium then long. You can’t as a newbie just pile miles on every week, you have to give yourself a break. So for instance, I ran 7 miles for my long run the first week of this cycle, then 8.5, then 9.5 this past Sunday. Now I will cycle back to a shorter distance and do it again. In the next cycle the short run will be the same length as the medium run from the previous cycle. So on my next cycle, I will run 8.5, then 9.5, then 11. And that will probably be the last long run before the half itself.

So far this non-plan has been working pretty well. I guess well see how it goes as I get closer to the big day!