Header

2012 Goals

January 4th, 2012 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (22 Comments)

Happy 2012, everyone! I spent New Year’s Eve in South Beach Miami doin’ the whole club/table/bottle thing and had a blast. I left the trip on such a high (natural one, promise) because I had so much fun with our group of 10.

Honestly, I was a bit unsure of how the trip was going to go, as going on vacation to spend NYE with an ex isn’t ideal. But I kept positive the entire time, focused on letting go and just tried to be myself and have fun. Maybe it was all the booze, tanning on the beach, or nonstop dancing on NYE, but I felt content and simply happy. 

What a way to ring in 2012! I have a feeling it’s going to be a good year.

Now that it’s January 4th, I’ve had a few days to think about my goals for 2012. Last year, most of my 2011 goals were concrete and measurable. I know the standard approach to setting goals is to make them S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, timely), but I’m feeling mostly abstract for 2012.

2012 Goals

  • Break 3:00 in the Marathon
    • Yep, this is concrete. I’m a bit nervous to say this given my motivation for Boston 2012 is lacking (more on that later), and I’m split on registering for a fall marathon. But I need to go big here and remind myself I can and will achieve this.
  • Break 1:24 in the Half-Marathon
    • I’m not currently signed up for any half-marathons (I didn’t register for the NYC Half, one of my favorite races), but I want to lower my PR of 1:24:23 set last year March.
  • Complete the Boston2BigSur Challenge
    • I’m registered for the Boston2BigSur Challenge, running Boston and then Big Sur two weeks later. I dropped the $$$ to do this, but need to hold myself accountable and not back out from either.
  • Live alone
    • This is something I’ve been thinking about more recently. I’ve lived in the same apartment since June 2009 with two fabulous roommates that I love. I love the Upper West Side, my room is huge, it’s affordable and has an elevator and laundry in the basement. I don’t mind having roommates at all, actually enjoy the company, but really think that living alone would be a good thing for me. In NYC, studios are pretty $$$$ so I need to hold myself accountable at the end of August when my lease is up, and not stay because it’s cheaper & more convenient. Not excited about dropping major bucks, but I’ve been saving and want to do this for myself.
  • Stop biting my nails
    • Same as 2011. Maybe one day….?
  • Be more spontaneous
    • I was going to say “do one spontaneous thing each week”, but planning spontaneity is a bit of an oxymoron. I want to say ‘yes’ to doing and trying more new things, like “Yes Man” style but not as intense. It’ll widen my experiences greatly. First up- said YES to joining an Intramural Dodgeball League, which should be interesting.
  • Live in the moment and be more ‘present’
    • Simply taking a few moments to look up from my phone and experience what’s going on, taking off my iPod while walking around and starting to actually listen, stop trying to distract myself/pass the time and enjoy the present.
  • Strengthen friendships
    • Make a better effort to hang out with friends more often, whether for a night out, quick coffee, or run. Call friends who live far away to catch up. Travel to see friends who live far away. Surround myself with the friends that make me happy, and hopefully meet new ones, too!
  • BE HAPPY.
    • I want to be the best version of myself. I want to be continuously inspired, remain optimistic, keep my head high, look at the good in situations, remind myself that there’s always tomorrow, not take myself too seriously and laugh often. I want to go with the flow and be more flexible and proactive. It’s silly to think I’m going to be happy 110% of the time, all I’m working towards is having a smile on my face more often than not and feeling good about the decisions I make.

And now, for a few inspirational pins from my newest obsession, Pinterest. Cheers to 2012, friends!

, , , , ,

Goodbye, 2011!

December 31st, 2011 | Posted by Lindsay Runs in Blog Posts - (6 Comments)

I’ve enjoyed the last few days of 2011 with this view:

I’m down in sunny Florida near Miami Beach with a group of college friends, and we’ll be ringing in 2012 at a club in South Beach. While 2011 was a good year, mostly, I am more than ready for 2012 to get here.

2011 was an interesting one. I decided to own my decisions and go for what I wanted.  After much resistance, I let myself fall back in love and a few months later, got my heart broken. After two years, I got promoted at my old job. Then, the stars aligned and I started a new dream job. I ran my second NYC marathon. I ran a 5 minute half-marathon PR. I made new running friends and NYC finally started to feel a bit more like home. I closed out the year happy. 

With all of these changes, good and bad, 2012 is shaping up to be a pretty good year. I have a lot to be thankful for and I’m ready for a fresh year!

About a year ago, I set out some goals for 2011. I acknowledged goals are always a work in progress, and tried to make them simple, concrete and actionable. Mid-way through 2011, I checked in to see how I was faring. Now that we’ve only got a few hours left in 2011, let’s see how I fared.

  • Run a sub-1:28 half-marathon.
  • Run around  a 3:00 marathon.
    • That was vague, way to go Lindsay. While I had really wanted to break 3:00 this year, a new 1 minute PR and 3:03 will have to count.
  • Go to the gym or do “extras” 2x/week
    • Was pretty good about this at the start of 2011, but definitely not consistent. Strength training is always a work in progress for me.
  • Stop biting my nails!
    • Fail. Let’s be honest, I’ll probably never stop completely.
  • Floss regularly.
    • I can say I definitely got a lot better here! Maybe not daily, but pretty frequently. Go dental hygiene.
  • Do a tempo, interval or speed training once/week
    • Thanks to joining CPTC, workouts became a regular part of my training again! Proud to say this was a success. In 2010, I barely did any workouts, even when training for a race.
  • Eat cleaner & more fresh foods
    • I definitely amped up my fruit & veggie consumption in 2011, and cut down on the junk I eat. And while it’s an ongoing struggle, I’ve also become a more mindful eater this year!
  • Dismiss negative energy.
    • Proud to say I’ve become a much more positive person throughout 2011. I’ve always been pretty laid back and optimistic, but for some reason I started to drift from that in 2010. 2011 brought it back!

Overall, I’d say I fared pretty well. I need a few more days to think about what I want to achieve in 2012, but I have a feeling it’ll be a good year.

How was your 2011? Did you achieve your 2011 goals/resolutions? What are you looking forward to most about 2012?

, , , ,