New Year, New Goals

The New Year has arrived! 2014 will be a better year, or will it?

How do you plan to make 2014 a great year? Do you make resolutions? Or do you let the year bring what it may without outlining any personal goals?

I am a firm believer in resolutions. Not because someone will hold my feet to the fire if I don’t accomplish them but because it helps me keep my eye on the prize.

Do you set your resolutions on January 1 and then not check them until the end of the year when it’s too late or do you set timeline goals for each resolution?

I do both. I give myself timelines within the year that I should accomplish them, but am flexible enough that I don’t berate myself if I don’t complete something by a certain date.

What are your New Year resolutions? Are they purely personal, purely professional, or all of the above?

Mine are purely personal.

Do you share your resolutions?

I believe that if you share your New Year goals with others then you’ve cemented the deal and you push yourself to make them happen. That doesn’t mean I share all of them. There’s usually one very personal one that I keep to myself.

The best part of setting goals or resolutions, at least for me, is the chasing down of those dreams. It wouldn’t be any fun if it was just dropped on your lap. It takes heart and soul, sweat and tears to imagine a goal, set it, and achieve it.

What if you don’t achieve your goals? Do you kick yourself? Curl up in a corner and whine about it?

I tend to say as long as I tried then that’s all that counts. If I fall a little short then I pat myself on the back and determine if I need to adjust the goal. Is it more important to lose ten pounds or be able to run a 5K the entire time?

What are your resolutions for 2014?

I have a couple of running and health related goals this year. Okay, more than a couple.

My first goal is to run my first ultra marathon, a 50K. That’s 31 miles! I’ve already picked the race. It’s the Lake Waramaug Ultra in Connecticut on April 27. My only goal is to finish the race with a smile on my face.

I love running but I’m not exactly fast. My other running related resolution is to improve my half-marathon time to 2 hours 30 minutes. Last year I improved my half marathon time by more than twenty minutes. Yea me! So I’m only asking for another 10 minute improvement. Wish me luck!

Since we are talking time improvement, I might as well say that means I am also hoping to improve my marathon performance. Last year my goal was to run one marathon (the Marine Corps Marathon) and just finish. I did! I actually ran two marathons and I did improve between the two races so that was good, but now let’s see if I can do better when I run 4 marathons.

While I am at it, I want to run 2014 miles in 2014! Ha. Come on! Join me in the insanity.
For a more well-rounded health goal, I hope to lose 10% body fat. GASP! I just put that in black and writing for the world to see. I can feel my toes burning from having my feet held to the fire.

I want to improve my core. As part of this, I am pledging to do a 60-second or longer plank every day of 2014 and 20 body-weight squats. Now, this will be the hard part!

An easy resolution for me is to read 52 books, at least one a week. Since I’m an avid reader this is a fun goal and usually easily attainable. If this is one of your New Year resolutions, a good way to achieve this goal is to participate in read-a-thon’s. I really like the way the Dewey Read-a-thon is run and if possible, I participate in the 24-hr read-a-thon twice a year. Check out the Dewey Read-a-thon website at http://24hourreadathon.com/.

There is one more resolution on my list, but that one I am holding close to the vest. [WINK]

Hope you share your resolutions or goals and have fun achieving them in 2014.

Now, I'm off to work on these goals. Got my first race of the new year in a couple of hours. Okay, it's only a mile race, but it's with a friend and that time with a friend is more precious than any resolution.

Happy New Year! May it be the best!