2018

Well, for about a month now I 've had some unformed goals for 2018 roaming around in my head.  I talked about them before Christmas but haven't come back to finalize anything.  I don't know that anything is final anyway.  I don't know if I'm going to have a "final" list of goals, but I have thoughts.

Mostly this year I want to focus on being a better me.  So far in my head, this has included being more active, not just running, but getting out more.  Damian spent a lot of money in the early summer on backpacking gear, and went backpacking once.  Ever since then, I have had the desire to actually do it.  I've always thought hiking would be fun, but have never actually done it.  This is the year.  I am going to do it.  I need a couple basic supplies before I do anything major (hiking boots being number one priority) but until I get them, I can do smaller hikes in the area that I live.  There's a big hill called "Little Mountain" that has a ton of trails on it, so that is my first goal, go hiking there in my tennis shoes. 

January 7, 2012

This also includes more time with my kids.  Damian and I can do some more challenging hikes in the summer, and Maddox and I can do some easy hikes starting now.  I actually was going to go hike on the "hill" this last weekend, but ended up not able to get away.  When Maddox was a baby, we actually did do some hikes on those trails, I just haven't been back in 6 years.  =/

Not my most flattering pose. This
was about 4 months before my
marathon, June 2015.

I am tired of the aches and pains that I get from running.  I love running and am not going to give it up, but I need to work on keeping my body from falling apart.  So I am going to do yoga (or stretching, whichever term you prefer).  I have made this commitment before and have never followed through.  A couple years ago I decided that money was a good motivation for me, so I decided that every day I did yoga I would give myself a dollar, which I did for awhile, but then I quit (again).  I kept giving myself my extra money though, so that was nice, it was what helped pay for Damian's and my tattoos.  I think I need to rethink the way I think of yoga, not that I want to be more flexible (which is true) but that I need to do it to continue to run regularly.

I couldn't figure out why I didn't have these aches and pains in 2015 when I trained for my first marathon.  Ignoring that I was 2 years younger, I had started out my training with a lot of yoga.  I didn't keep it up but I did it faithfully for about half my training and then sporadically for the rest.  I did no stretching during my training this year, no wonder I developed a hip and knee issue. 

So that may be my biggest goal of 2018, stretching to prevent injury so that I can run.

I also want to PR my half and full marathons.  The older I get the harder this will be to accomplish, but if I can train for a full marathon following the training exactly, I have no doubt I could PR it.  My initial thoughts were to start working on speed work once the Last Chance Half was done, but with my knee pain, I'm happy to just run right now.  I will work on speed when I know that I won't hurt my knee more. 

And finally, I want to work on losing the weight I gained in 2016 after I sprained my ankle.  I'm not going to lie, I was really hoping that marathon training this year would "melt" it off, but it didn't.  Probably because I didn't do a good job at training this year.  And also because I'm over 40 now.  Oh, and I've developed an afternoon high calorie coffee habit.  I won't lie, I love looking at pictures of me from 2015 when I was marathon training, I was at my smallest, healthiest self, and my most confidant, and I love seeing that.  I want that back. 

Right now I'm fluctuating at 150-155, which is 5 to 10 lbs heavier than I want to be, and 10-15 lbs heavier than I was in October of 2015.  I'm not going to lie, this is the hardest goal I have.  I feel like I don't eat poorly.  And I didn't go overboard at all this holiday season, yes, there was more sugar than a normal month, but that is not unusual for me, and I didn't gain any additional weight.  I just need to figure out how my over 40 yr old body will lose the weight. 

I did lose a little weight in 2017, at the end of 2016 I was hovering above 155 and January 2017 I was at 158, so seeing 150 in November was nice, but I am above that again.  I'd like to be back in the 140's, and ultimately in the low 140's.  I haven't seen "14-" since June 2016, a month after I sprained my ankle. 

I know that my struggle is with food.  Afternoon coffee is not a good thing.  I also have been eating out for lunch a lot more often, and that isn't a healthy thing either, while it's not fast food, it's still not my old "leftovers for lunch" routine.  And if I'm totally honest, it probably has some to do with my wine drinking.  I don't think I drink excessively, but on nights when I have 2 glasses (or more) I snack more. 

This last week since my last half marathon, I've taken it easy in regards to running.  I ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym on Thursday, then 3 miles outside on Saturday.  My knee didn't bother me at all after, or during, either of those runs, so I ran 5 miles on Sunday outside.  My knee started bothering me at mile 4 and more at 4.5, but there was no where to go by then, I was already headed home, so I just finished the run.  It didn't hurt at all yesterday evening and still doesn't today.  So I'm good with that.  Last Monday after the half, it bothered me a lot.

I moved my treadmill inside on Saturday.  Chris needs to exercise more, and one way we thought that could work is if the treadmill came inside from the garage.  That way he could walk and watch TV.  We'll see if it works, I have a feeling he won't use it much, but maybe I'll get on it to walk in the evenings when I'm not running.  I can already feel the calling of it (not for running though, that's so boring).