New Year's Resolutions?

C'mon, I'm sure we've all got them. Standard, outlandish, nonsensical, let's hear them.

My resolution is to live a more purposeful life in all aspect of what I do. Focusing on:

Relationships - using them as opportunities to be kind, loving, joyful, accepting, forgiving etc.
Food - eat healthy, eat slowly to appreciate and feel the fuel that it offers my body.
Health - encompasses everthing
Wealth - encompasses spending or not,type of products I but, and building wealth and abundance but not needing but preferring
Charity - look for opportunity to give through work and personal
God - connect and make me whole!
Awareness - be aware, not beware

As far sports - I'd am going to make an effort to incorporate swimming into my marathon training this upcoming cycle. It will be challenging time wise but I will also be reducing my mileage a bit from last cycle.

Tough act to follow Kenny! Always an inspiration.

Mine is to do a Body Pump class at the Y at least once a week, in addition to my running. Core strength is what I am lacking.

I don't know if this counts but I have a list of 24 books I'm going to read and I'm going to stay off Facebook for all of January (to hope that leads toward more time to read the books and also realize how much time I waste online and then manage time better the rest of the yr).

Julie wrote:I don't know if this counts but I have a list of 24 books I'm going to read and I'm going to stay off Facebook for all of January (to hope that leads toward more time to read the books and also realize how much time I waste online and then manage time better the rest of the yr).

GREAT IDEA!

littlewally and farnk wrote:

Julie wrote:I don't know if this counts but I have a list of 24 books I'm going to read and I'm going to stay off Facebook for all of January (to hope that leads toward more time to read the books and also realize how much time I waste online and then manage time better the rest of the yr).

GREAT IDEA!

Would never happen for me...

I have to say this is one of the first years for me with no real new year's resolutions. It's just been really busy the past few months so I haven't had time to think of any. Running wise, I really want to do well at Boston, and then figure out a new fall marathon to train for. I'm finally spooked by CHicago so now maybe the weather will be good.

Mostly already covered in my 2012 goals, but here goes:

• Follow the plan
  
• Lose weight
  
• Keep off any I lose
  
• Get the house fixed up
  
• Get control of the clutter
  
• Complete the DXCC (an amateur radio operating award)
  
• Complete the IOTA 100 (another operating award)

Citius, Altius, Fortius.

Traveller wrote:Mostly already covered in my 2012 goals, but here goes:

• Follow the plan
  
• Lose weight
  
• Keep off any I lose
  
• Get the house fixed up
  
• Get control of the clutter
  
• Complete the DXCC (an amateur radio operating award)
  
• Complete the IOTA 100 (another operating award)
  

I don't know if you've ever read it, and it's a somewhat older book (I think from the mid 90s?) but Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett is an awesome book on decluttering. I used to read it when I was in high school and would always get in trouble if anything was missing because they'd blame me for decluttering. I should re-read it now that I have my own house with my husband and daughter and just seem to accumulate stuff.

Guess my response is due:

Be real.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Guess my response is due:

Be real.

For some of us, that could be a real challenge.

Julie wrote:

Traveller wrote:Mostly already covered in my 2012 goals, but here goes:

• ...
  
• Get the house fixed up
  
• Get control of the clutter
  
• Complete the DXCC (an amateur radio operating award)
  
• ...
  

I don't know if you've ever read it, and it's a somewhat older book (I think from the mid 90s?) but Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett is an awesome book on decluttering. I used to read it when I was in high school and would always get in trouble if anything was missing because they'd blame me for decluttering. I should re-read it now that I have my own house with my husband and daughter and just seem to accumulate stuff.

I haven't, but I've noted the book and will look for it. I recently paid a friend to come over and help keep me on task as I emptied out a room in my home.

Traveller wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:Guess my response is due:

Be real.

For some of us, that could be a real challenge.

Pun intended? It is indeed a challenge for me.

Mike MacLellan wrote:

Traveller wrote:

Mike MacLellan wrote:Guess my response is due:

Be real.

For some of us, that could be a real challenge.

Pun intended? It is indeed a challenge for me.

Not really. I'm not that good.

I resolve...

... no races in 2012. Just running.

Mark B wrote:I resolve...

... no races in 2012. Just running.

NICE.

To not get angry at the New Years Resolutioners occupying my work treadmills.

My resolution was greatly tested this afternoon when the three treadmills bore three new faces. Grrrrrr....

Dave-O wrote:To not get angry at the New Years Resolutioners occupying my work treadmills.

My resolution was greatly tested this afternoon when the three treadmills bore three new faces. Grrrrrr....

I am dreading my trip to the gym this evening...

Nick Morris wrote:

Dave-O wrote:To not get angry at the New Years Resolutioners occupying my work treadmills.

My resolution was greatly tested this afternoon when the three treadmills bore three new faces. Grrrrrr....

I am dreading my trip to the gym this evening...

Ha, having decided to sign up a gym this year, I am quite disappointed not seeing any $1 first month promotion.

To get my act together in terms of running. For me, this entails:
1. Finding a way to run even 3-4 miles a night on the weeks that I work.
1a. Figure out how to be more efficient at work to get my hours below 90 hours a week so that #1 is more possible.
1b. Find out who to contact to fix the broken treadmill in the staff lounge.
1c. Start using said broken treadmill at work at 7 pm every night I'm still at work at 7 pm
1d. If I'm tired, drink coffee so that fatigue / exhaustion are not excuses to go home and sleep instead of running.
2. Stop being a perfectionist about running / training.
2a. Accept that being 15 lbs heavier than I was when doing marathons, and running infrequently, will obviously make me slower.
2a1. Just because I'm slower / slow is not a reason to not run. While this seems obvious, it's still an issue.
2a2. If I start running consistently, I'll be in better shape and probably lose weight, and likely to get faster.
2b. Accept that I get colds frequently and that even though being sick can interfere with my training, it doesn't need to ruin it.
2b1. Get more sleep so colds are less frequent. This involves decreasing hours at work.
2b2. Eat some fruits / veggies every once in a while and take a vit C supplement and multivitamin
2b2a. Stop eating a staple diet of pizza, pasta, and cereal
2b2b. Stop buying fruit, watching it rot, and throwing it away, and eat it.
2b2c. Start buying salad materials and make salads at least 2x / week.
2b2d. Get my blender out and make fruit smoothies.
2b3. When I have a cold, run slow, short runs of 2-3 miles anyway instead of sleeping
2b4. If I am truly too sick to run, get back on track when better instead of just giving up on training. All is not lost.
2c. Accept that even if I can't stick to my original training plan, something is way better than nothing
2d. Stop being vain about entering races / ashamed of my slowness / ashamed to have a bad time next to my name. Run them anyway even if my times are much slower than what I want. Far better to run a race with a slow time than to not run it at all and not train for it.
2e. Accept that with my insane work schedule, trying to run for a time or PR may not be possible, and the goal may need to just be to finish. Don't not run the race just because there's no way I can PR. My old PRs are 3 years ago, times are changed, I'm changed, so stop comparing myself to the past and accept where I am now.
3. Set realistic race goals. Start with a half marathon this spring and see if work and training for this are mutually exclusive or not. If not, then register for Chicago marathon.
4. Run with other people / group.
5. Set some short term and longer term goals and put them somewhere where I'll actually see them every day instead of buried away somewhere, and make these running goals a high priority so I'll stay consistent.

Kathy - hang in there! I hope you can get your work hours down. 90 hrs is incredibly too much to try to have any kind of healthy life in addition to working. I love using fruits for smoothies, and if you notice they're over ripe, just core them (if applicable) and stick them in the freezer and then they're all smoothie-ready.

And.... 2012 resolutions! How'd you do?

(I successfully managed to avoid racing, which was a pretty easy target to hit.)

This was one of the first years that I didn't have any resolutions, so I guess I met all of them. Doing some thinking about real resolutions, both attainable and challenging, for 2013.

I did reasonably well. For 2013, I'm taking a page from Mark's book. No racing. Meaning, no training specifically for a race. Some trails around here ONLY open for races, so I may sign up for one of those just to get into that trail system. And I will likely do a double-century bike ride. But that's not competitive.

So, no competition. There.