It took me too long to realize that if a goal is not reached it does not equate to me being a failure. A goal just needs to be reevaluated if it's not reached. Reevaluated to see why it wasn't reached and to see if a plan can be made in order to reach the goal.
I set goals last year based off of my bucket list in an attempt to cross a few things off of the list. Like I mentioned, I didn't quite accomplish as much as I would have liked..
2014 Goals:
1. Write in a journal every day for a year- I think I made it a month or two before forgetting for a couple days in a row. I started writing again this past Monday and am trying to do it daily. We'll see how it goes..
2. Take one picture a day for a year/take more pictures in general- this lasted a little longer, but I didn't make it the full year. I made it to April and really enjoyed it, but found myself forgetting and taking a random picture at the end of the day to keep with the goal. When I attempt this goal again I plan on only using my digital camera (no phone pictures) and I would like to get a photo album to store the pictures.
3. Run and/or walk 1250 miles in a year- completed!! In fact, I reached this goal on December 1st and decided to push it a little further to 1400 miles in 2014. I like distance goals and was excited to reach milestones this year, including my first year surpassing 1000 miles in a year. I ended the year with 1402.67 miles.
4. Complete Santa to Santa (13 half marathons in 13 months)- check-ish? The original goal was to run 13 half marathons between December 2013 (Santa to the Sea) to December 2014 (Santa to the Sea). I did 14 in that time period, but early on decided to just make it 14 half marathons in 2014, which was completed.
5. Run at least 1 mile (intervals) every day for a year (which will also complete my mini goals of 100 days and 250 days while on my way to my main goal of 500 days)- I made it to 230 something days in a row before the pain in my left hip became too much to not see a doctor. Doctors orders required me to end the streak in order to continue running races. Bursitis was the diagnosis and although it still flairs up, it's not as bad since I don't run daily.
6. Continue to track calories using MFP to reach my goal of 365 days in a row- this was an on again/off again goal. Between trying to lose weight and not caring, I did not maintain a decent streak until recently. Day 71 and going strong!
7. Read 24 books in a year (including the one I am currently reading that I started in December)- hmmm.. Not sure what I ended at, maybe 5? 6? I did not spend as much time reading as I would have liked, however a lot of exciting and time consuming things happened this year. I do plan on picking up the reading next year though.
8. Make 5 or more monthly goals and do them- it got to be too much. I felt overwhelmed with trying to keep up with all of the goals I was setting for myself. On top of that, the pressure I put on myself for not completing a goal was ridiculous..
9. Pay off debt and build savings- I'm pretty sure we have more debt and less in savings, however we have a house to show for it. An adorable perfect house. This will go back on the goal list for next year, however with the recent (within the last couple months) update to our budget we have a payment plan set up to hopefully get out of debt by June 2016.
10. Set aside time to spend with Isabel- this did not happen as much as I would have liked. I'm pretty sure a better plan should be put into place for next year to have mother/daughter dates. I plan on taking her to the library every (or every other) Saturday, but I would like to make a container with date ideas that are inexpensive that she can pick from once a month.
11. Make the effort to have more date nights with my husband- I knew this one wouldn't happen as much as I would have liked.. On the scale of priorities, our marriage is pretty low. Our children, work, the animals, the house, etc.. It all comes first, unfortunately. Add on top of that the guilt of spending money on ourselves and the guilt of spending any more time than I already do away from Isabel... I think we need to make our marriage more of a priority, even though we're the happiest we've been in years.
12. Sign up for the Dopey Challenge without feeling guilty about the money- did not happen. I felt too guilty spending that much money on a race plus traveling expenses. It just wasn't worth going into more debt for me. Instead, I'll be doing Tracy's Dose of Dopey the same weekend in California and I'll be proud of myself the same way I would be crossing the finish line in Florida. After all, it's about pushing my limits and doing the distances, not the medals (although that was a huge reason I wanted to do it).
13. Work on accomplishing tasks from my Day Zero list- the Day Zero list was basically my bucket list. Not much was accomplished on it this past year other than accomplishing the following: run and/or walk 1250 miles in a year, buy a house, see Ingrid Michaelson in concert (twice!), finish 12 or more half or full marathons in a year, run a half marathon in another state, complete the Rock N Roll Las Vegas half, do a bound out photo shoot, no fast food for a month, pay for someone's food behind me at the drive thru, send Christmas cards to family and friends.
14. Reach a healthy weight and BMI- didn't make it this year, but I'm working on it and I will get there (and stay there) eventually!
15. Complete Jillian Michael's Body Revolution- I attempted it once and made it through the second week. It is currently scheduled to be accomplished between July and October 2015, which is why I have no races scheduled during that time.
16. Bake more and try new recipes- I baked cupcakes a couple times. I experimented more with cupcake decorating than baking, which was fun. Hoping to do more next year because I enjoy it so much..
This year I wanted to make less goals (an even 10) and make them more obtainable for me while still needing to push. I'd still like to work towards crossing items off of my bucket list and plan on printing out my list so I can see it more often. There are quite a few things I could easily cross off... This coming year is more fitness and health related though. As an attempt to keep myself motivated to keep with my training schedule I'm focusing on trying to achieve certain things in 2015.
2015 Goals:
1. Run and/or walk 1702 miles- this is the distance from where I live to Missouri where my grandfather is buried. My mom has never seen his headstone in person, so my plan is to pay myself $1 for every 1 mile. I'd like to get all miles done in one year, but am flexible to have it last longer. Once reached, I'm going on a road trip with my mom to Missouri.
2. Bike 5000 minutes on the stationary bike- I had originally set a goal to bike a total of 1800 miles in a year. I recently bought a recumbent stationary bike and unfortunately didn't realize that it didn't track time or distance. It's an issue with the bike itself and although it should track these things, it doesn't.. In fact, it only runs for 4 minutes and 16 seconds before it resets itself. It's fine because I get a good workout in and until I can afford another bike I'm making it work by just pressing start, but it's difficult to track anything other than time spent on the bike and even then I use the stop watch on my phone. So I adjusted my goal from miles to minutes. Easy enough!
3. Half Marathon PR- current PR is 2:33:53
4. Full Marathon PR- current PR is 5:52:58
5. Complete Tracy's Dose of Dopey- scheduled for January 8-11th and courses have been tracked out.
6. Complete Body Revolution- scheduled to start in June. This is a 90 day program that I am looking forward to. I'm attempting to talk Patrick into working out with me a couple days a week when I start, mostly to keep me motivated and accountable.
7. Work on getting out of credit card debt- budget has been updated and is visited every payday for revisions. We are also more on a cash budget for certain areas and have a set amount to go specifically towards debt. Now to stop using the credit cards... Patrick and I have also discussed using any additional money we receive (for example our tax return) towards debt.
8. Volunteer at a nearby race- the plan is to volunteer at the nearby race in August. I really like this race director and tried to volunteer for one of their races last October, but the race ended up being cancelled. This year I will volunteer and it will be an amazing experience.
9. Read at least 24 books- I really want to do this. I just need to set aside some time to sit down and read. It's not that difficult, especially if I leave a book on my nightstand and take it with me. Less phone time, more book time.
10. Reach a healthy weight and BMI, have less body fat- as always this goal ends up on the list.. I've been there before and I know I can get there again. I just have to step out of my own way. It's doable. I'll be happy with simply weighing less on December 31st than I do on January first.
I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year! I didn't quite make it to midnight, but did get woken up just before by our neighbors setting off fireworks. Just in time to wish Patrick a happy new year before rolling over and falling back to sleep.
I'm very grateful to have the day off of work today and plan on taking advantage of it by getting in a good workout and getting some cleaning/organizing done. I want to start the year off organized and keep it that way. It can be done, I just have to commit to it..
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