January 2 – time to review 2008 and officially declare my New Year’s resolutions! (And none of them are to avoid procrastinating… hmm…)
Last year, I set three goals: to complete a half-marathon, to get certified as a personal trainer, and to run 600 miles. In reverse order:
I hit 575 miles by September 7 (and that was with a lot of miles not counted, because I sucked at tracking them). I have certainly run more than 25 miles since then. Done.
I did not get certified as a personal trainer, and it’s still something I’d be interested in doing, but I’m not nearly as psyched about it as I once was. In a way, this blog has kind of taken the place of that goal, as it gives me a way to pass on my insights, give advice, and learn a lot more about health and fitness through your blogs – which were my primary reasons for wanting my CPT anyway. Therefore, I’ll give myself half-credit for this one.
I did complete a half-marathon. In fact, I completed six of them. I also completed twelve marathons. I think I pretty much knocked that one out of the park!
Total score: 2.5/3, and I’ll give myself bonus points for the half-marathon one, so let’s just call me completely successful 🙂
I liked having a few goals to strive for, and I’m going to do that again for 2009. As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to categorize my resolutions so that I could try to improve each major area of my life. However, rather than having a few resolutions for each category, I’m identifying one broad resolution and then providing a few ways check my progress. Each resolution is going to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-bound. (Oh, the wonderful things I’ve learned as a consultant!)
Fitness: run faster, run farther, run better.
I will run 1,000 miles this year (I will also log all miles ran so I know if I’m on track for this).
I will complete 25 marathons this year.
I will finish a marathon in under 4 hours.
I will get some form of exercise at least 6 days a week. No excuses.
Family and friends: stay in touch.
I will call my dad at least every other day.
I will call my big brothers at least once a week.
I will send something or do something nice for my little sister (she’s 5 – she’s easy to please) at least once a month.
I will organize/host a get-together with friends at least once a month.
I will communicate better with Boyfriend and tell him exactly what I’m thinking rather than trying to let things go but then actually stewing about them.
Career: I will save these goals for after I get feedback from my mid-year review (our fiscal year starts in June, so mid-years were in December and I get the feedback in January). I probably won’t post them on the blog, but we’ll see.
What are your resolutions for 2009? How can we work together to achieve our goals? Post your thoughts in the comments!
(PS – I made some changes to the layout and sidebar that aren’t obvious but may affect browser functionality – please let me know if anything seems really wacky.)
Great goals! And I love your recap from last year. Not too shabby, girl. 😉
I’m vowing to run more and work less. How’s that for a good happy combo?
happy new year laura!!! those are awesome goals! cant wait to see you achieve them all this year!
You had a great year, and I bet 2009 will be even better!
One of my resolution is to finish house projects we start. We’ll see how it goes.
Great resolutions! 25 marathons. Wow. I can’t wait to read all of those race reports!! Happy New Year!
Great goals! I like the ones about calling your family more often, I think I should add that to my resolutions!
One of my goals is to run a half-marathon this year! Any advice for someone who is just starting out (I can run about 4 miles right now). Thanks!
Goal number one is BQ. So. Close.
WTH ??? 25 marathons this year??? Are you sure ??? In this case, I am going to have to brew a lot of coffee this year to read those post race reports.
By the way, Happy New Year to you!
Great goals, Laura. It’s obvious that you spent quite a bit of time coming up with those. Best of luck in getting where you want to go in 2009!
holy moly 25 marathons! You can totally do a sub-4!
25 marathons! How do you find the time? It’s a great goal however.
Your goals sound perfect. I hope you get some work goals up soon and that everything is going well with that.
Laura, you are an animal! I love your aggressive plans for 2009. Go for it!
Dan
Casual Kitchen
Laura, I see your goal and I say you can do double! You are so awesome in your marathon running and dieting and stuff that if you applied the same energy to other parts of your life, you are bound to be very successful. Best wishes for an awesome 2009.
Hmmm…if we are serious about your request (whenever you’re ready) contact me via e-mail (address is in profile page) and we can talk.
Take care. Either way, I’m sure I’ll bump into you around town sometime soon.
A thousand miles? In a year?! I’m not even sure I even drove that much last year!!
I don’t know whether to be inspired or depressed! 🙂
I like how you put your goals for 2009. I think that if you train 5-6 days a week then running the marathons will get easier and hopefully you wont have anymore pain!
We will have to see about the NYC for this year – since it isn’t until Nov 2009 it actually might be a possibility! Now you’ve got me thinking about it! The book by Liz Robbins was really good too!
Congrats on accomplishing 2.5 of your goals! That is awesome! This years will be cake 🙂
One of my main goals is not to let my training get in the way of having ‘fun’. As my mother says – I’m taking triathlon training way too seriously 🙂 So I’m STILL working on balancing the two out! One day at a time – that’s all we can do!
Very concise… me likes :-). I hope to run one of those 25 with you 😉
Those are some great resolutions. Good luck in 2009. I’ll be supporting you all the way.
Happy New Year!
Those are some good goals, but I especially liked: “I will communicate better with Boyfriend and tell him exactly what I’m thinking rather than trying to let things go but then actually stewing about them.” Its a good one, I should probably try that as well. =[
Happy New Year Laura!!
Your goals sound amazing!! ANd you know you will accomplish them all!!!
Keep it real girlie!
12 marathons… holy… I knew you were running a lot, but didn’t realize you were averaging one a month!
You’re my new hero.. sometime I’d love to meet up at a race, let me know when you have Colorado on the books! 🙂
I did Denver this past year, it was a really nice course and well-organized. I’m not familiar with the other (I only moved here Oct 5th)
Those are great goals, Laura and I’m sure you’ll be extremely successful at them. Good luck!
25 marathons!!! Simply amazing!
Happy NEW YEAR!!!
How many people actually go back and evaluate how they did on their Last years resolutions? Not many, I’d guess. That’s very cool
You’re my hero, Laura.
-xx-
Thanks for sharing your goals – you inspired me to post my own! I’ve also enjoyed reading your columb regularly – good luck in 2009!
Wow, Great goals!!!!
25 marathons? You are hardcore! Go you!
Sounds like we have similar goals…except for the 25 marathons bit. You do understand that is roughly one marathon every other week?