goals – Page 5 – French Fry Runner

Yes, I have a plan.

Yeah, so don’t mind my random train of thought in this post… 🙂

Hey, guess what? I’ve actually been running since I last posted–and it feels great! Okay, so running around a track at the gym (6 laps = 1 mile) isn’t the best, but I’ve been doing it. I’ve even managed to go to yoga a couple times. Score! And I’m waking up at 5:15-5:25 every morning to get some sort of exercise in. Crazy, I know. I’m finding out, though, that I’m a morning person–at least Monday through Thursday. When Friday hits, I’m just dead tired from the week. My job is super high stress (as it always has been), which doesn’t help. I did change positions/responsibilities, which helps a little.

Anyway . . . Right now, I’m at this weird place where I’m loving running/exercising for fun. I know that my motivation will wane soon, however, so I’ll be signing up for a 5k, which will take place in March. I’m helping my friend train for her first 5k (so exciting, by the way), so that is the perfect slump-buster for me. I’m also signing up for the Disneyland 10k on Tuesday (cross your fingers that I get in). And I’m hoping to run my first half marathon of the year in June. I’m taking my training slower this time around so I don’t get injured–I don’t need to recover from an injury as I’m working my way up to a marathon. I need to start half-marathon training soon if I’m going to be in really good shape by June 21. By half-marathon training, I mean working my way up to that distance agai n. . . because, remember, I’m back at square one. First stop is that 5k, and then I hope to run a few more races here and there in preparation for my half.

I’m going to be using Jenny Hadfield’s half-marathon run-walk plan to reduce my chance of injury. We’ll see how it goes. Oh, and check out her site for more great training plans!

Well, I hope ya’ll have a great week. Happy running/yoga-ing/cycling/whatever! 🙂

Hello, 2014!

Pretty much every health and fitness blog does a year-end recap, and I’m just going to follow along. 🙂 Let’s see how I did with my goals for last year:

Eat more vegetables. I ate a lot of vegetables in 2013, but I don’t know whether it was significantly more than in years past . . .
Cross train more. I did a lot of yoga in 2013, and I just love it! It’s definitely my cross training workout of choice. I’ll take fun strength training over lifting weights any day. Haha. I also tried other classes at my gym. Yoga’s the one that stuck, but I hope to try others in 2014.
Run 3 half marathons. Well, I ran two: the Thanksgiving Point Half and the Hobbler Half. I didn’t run any others because of my plantar fasciitis. Bummer.
Improve my 5k time. I finally ran a sub-30-minute 5k! Next stop, 27 minutes.
Run a few 10ks. I ran one–and it was hard . . .
Grow the blog. Kind of let this one go. I just need to work on it more. Right now it’s more of a hobby and a “when I feel like it venture.” I want to be better in 2014.
Go on a kick-awesome trip. We went to Boston in May. It was so much fun, and I really want to move there. It was my dream trip–so much so that I cried when we left Massachusetts and cried again when we landed in Utah . . . I LOVED that trip with all my heart.
Get ahead at my job. Yeah, like this would actually happen . . .
Cook more. We kind of did the opposite and ate out way more. Go us.
Have fun! Though the year had its highs and lows, I had a ton of fun in 2013. Let’s see what happens in 2014.

I’ve been thinking about goals I want to set for 2014, and some are pretty big. Here goes:

Get into shape. I need to lose a few pounds and tone up, so this is the obvious first goal.
Run a marathon. My goal is to run a marathon in October . . . and not collapse. I’d also like to run a few more races.
Do a handstand. I’m hoping that as I continue to practice yoga, I’ll be able to do this. We’ll see!
Go on a kick-awesome trip. This will be on my goal list every year. I have a few lined up.
Do a runDisney race. I’m going to try my darndest to get into a Disney race–and hopefully run it with my sister.
Try not to let the stress of my job get to me. After a year full of migraines and tension headaches–and breakdowns and so on–this would be great. Maybe I’ll try more meditation.
Move across the country. The Engineer is almost done with grad school, so this in inevitable, but the goal with moving comes with streamlining my house, organizing a move, and trying to successfully make the transition to living in a new place.
Spend less. When I’ve been stressed, depressed, frustrated, etc., I tend to go shopping . . . not a great idea. So I need to stop spending and only buy what I need or budget for.
Cultivate a new talent. Self-explanatory–now to think of the talent . . .
Have fun! And be happier.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I heart swimming

Since I’ve been backing off of running for a little while, I’ve started swimming again. I went once last week, and I’m going to see if I can go twice this week. It’s a great workout, and I feel like a rock star after my workout. Okay, I feel like a rock star anytime I work out lately. Ha! And I’ve run a few times since my last blog post. I feel like I’m going to keel over after I run, but that’s just fine. It’s how it goes. Work is still super busy and time consuming, which doesn’t help my exercise endeavors. But I’m still practicing yoga. Love. It. 🙂 I have a class tomorrow, and it should be great.

Question, though, what do you do to become and stay motivated? I’m having such a hard time, and just signing up for a race doesn’t motivate me enough. Also, what to you do to keep what you eat in check. I’m making some bad dietary choices lately because of how much I work. So, tell me, what’s your secret? 🙂