2012 goals

I'm not a believer of resolutions. They are usually just broken a few weeks or even days after you make them.

I am a big believe of goals though. Goals are what helps to keep me motivated whether it's in health and fitness or personal goals.

So here are my 2012 goals in no particular order

• This year my main goal or overall focus is keeping my motivation since it disappeared on me for a little while there at the end of last year.

I hate the way I felt physically and mentally after losing all motivation to go out and run, one of the things I love to do most. Running helps me "find my happy place" if that makes sense to anyone. I just feel better overall. I want that feeling back and I want to keep it with me year round.

(I have my Runner's World calendar up at my desk at work to help keep me motivated every day. Love looking at all the different quotes, exercises and pictures of that month. There's even one from Idaho in this years calendar!)

• This year I would like to run 1,500 (+) miles.

Last year I was on a good track to run 1,200 miles. The first half of the year I had some great months averaging 100 miles or more a few months, then the last half of the year I had some crappy mileage months and just all together held myself back cause I just figured, well my goals is 1,000 I'm close to that, I know I will do that before the end of the year. I need the extra challenge this year. Even if that (+) is just one extra mile, I would like to be over 1,500 for the year.

• Cross train & strength train more.

Well one reason cause it will help me become a better runner. And two if I'm not motivated to go run, I need to find another activity to do and that's cross/strength training.

We already have the gym class schedule up on our fridge. There's a few classes Gene and I want to try out. I also have the Xbox Kinect and have seen some pretty cool workout games that I want to try out. We are downloading a trial version of one. If anything it will be a fall back cross training workout and fun pictures to post on here for you all to laugh at :)

• Run a sub 4 hour marathon.

My current PR is 4:07:34 at the Seattle RnR marathon. I would like to break 4 hours at the Lake Lowell Marathon on May 5th. Breaking 4 hours was one of my goals last year, but I didn't really focus on it too much. This year I'm putting in the training and the pace runs specifically needed for a sub 4 marathon (I'll talk more about my training plan on a separate post)

• Run a sub 1:50 half marathon.

I noticed last year that I ran my best half marathon time of 1:53 when I was in marathon training and not specifically training for a half. My current marathon training plan calls for "tune-up" races, I would love one of these to be my sub 1:50. We will see how the training and scheduling goes though and if I need to focus on just a half marathon after marathon training is over.

(Thanks Michelle for predicting this goal and the sub 4 marathon, though I really really wish I could run in Germany with you :)

• Eat healthier.

This is on my list every year. I usually do a well rounded job except during the holidays and there's cookies every time I turn around. I know how my body feels during training when I eat healthy and when I eat junk. It's obviously 100x better when I fuel my body right. Not only that but my weight is down and it's less of an effort to run "fast". This will be my motivation to fuel properly to help me achieve my above timed goals.

• Wake up early to workout.

Not everyday, but at least 1-2 times a week I would like to workout in the morning before I head to work. I always feel so much better throughout the day if I run or workout in the morning. And then that means I can come home after work and relax. I actually woke up early today and got some miles in on the mill at the gym thanks to Gene for helping me wake up and going with me!

I need an alarm that is going to motivate me to wake up and not hit the snooze button. I'm thinking I need to somehow find a way for Dolvett to record a personal wake up greeting for me :)

• Read more books

This is more of a personal goal but it can help me in my health and fitness goals if they are running/health type books. Last year I read 2 running related books and 3 non running related books (Hunger Games which I LOVE and can't wait for the movies) I started other books but just never finished them. That's pretty sad :( I have this lovely new Kindle Fire I got for Christmas and I need to put it to good use! Even though I already have one running book (Advance Marathoning) and one magazine (Running Times) I'm reading on it. So if you have any recommendations please tell me in the comments so I can start reading something now!

• Continue my education

I'm not quite sure where I want this goal to take me yet. I do know that I'm not 100% happy in my job. And I know that my Bachelors degree isn't enough anymore and I need to get some type of certification or get my masters and find a job that will make me happy. So this year I would like to get everything in order to go back to school. What I would love to do is go to school for Physical Therapy, but the closest school is 3 plus hours away and we don't plan on moving there so I need to figure out what else I would love to do. After all I can't get paid to run can I?

Well that's pretty much my overall goals for 2012.

I'll leave you with a picture of my 2011 medals and my wall of motivation.