2019 is over and done! I reviewed it. I set some goals. I achieved some and didn’t achieve others. I feel good about it too; content with the activity of the year and not particularly unsettled about what is still left to be done. I still like the process of reflecting on the past to see what can be done in the future, and a yearly cycle still feels like a good interval for this process.
I’d love to have a longer intro, but I’ve been accused of occasionally being verbose. So just this once I will happily refrain - on with the goals!!!
< 220
The last two years have both had a weight goal up at the top, and both times I didn’t get there. 2017 was a huge drop and then ’18 and ’19 just weren’t there. So this is tops again, and we’re bringing back the extreme, all-of-my-friends-hate-it keto diet that seems to work for me.
I also made this a more achievable goal. I’m still starting this year lighter than I’ve been in the past, so this is a modest decrease (and then hopefully I can keep the momentum rolling).
Run a Sub 54 10K
I like these running goals. Somehow along the way I got addicted to running and it became fun again. Even more paradoxically, running long distances is fun too.
I’ve done plenty of 6+ mile runs at this point, but not in a race. And not this fast. So my first running goal is a sub-54 10k. Which is tough for me. It’s sub-9 min miles all the way. The plan is to hit the Pikes Peak 10K in April and see what happens.
A 10k race is also a good step along the way to..
Half Marathon
A half marathon. I’ve definitely never done a run this long. 13.1 is long enough to be a real long distance run without being completely obscene like a marathon. Bethany has a half-marathon the Saturday before the duathlon I’ve done the past two years, so September is the target. There will be lots of training this summer!
And since I’m a glutton for punishment, a time goal for it is 2:10. 130 minutes is 10:00 miles for 13 miles, so 2:10 would be a great time.
Sub 7 Mile Time
For a totally different running challenge, I’d like to run under a 7 min mile. I think this is achievable, but this one is definitely more of a ”I wonder if I still can..”. Interval workouts will help. Losing weight will too; according to this study, it’s about 1.5 seconds per mile per pound. On my 38th birthday I pushed hard on a treadmill and ran a 7:18 (nevermind that I was obliterated after that).
We’ll see, it’s definitely a lot different than long distance training, and I plan to favor that if I need to.
Write A Book
Ten years ago or so I did NaNoWriMo. I loved it, hated it, and - while I wrote 50k+ words for a story - never really finished it. I’ve been trending towards longer writing exercises, so it’s high time that I finish a book-length story. I love writing but I let life push me around a bit too much and I don’t take one of my favorite pieces of writing advice:
“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” - Gustave Flaubert
Writing something up in the 40-80k words range will take discipline and regular input and focused work. I think I also have a story that needs to be told but isn’t as scary as some of the others clanking around in my head.
But it’s still scary.
Learn To Work At Home
Nearly every weekday morning for a couple of years now I’ve run out to a local cafe for breakfast and to start my work day. Occasionally I’ll be focused on my own projects, but much more often it’s work work.
Concentrating at home with 3 young kids bouncing off the walls is hardimpossible. But they’re getting older and so am I and I really like it here. I like being around the house (even if I still like eating out a lot). I’m slowly learning to let myself concentrate and my family is slowly learning to let me be if Daddy’s working. We’ll strike a balance.
So this year I’m going to focus on working at home and really using my office. I’ve been geeking out with a new mechanical keyboard and I’ve got a more comfortable chair on the way. Most importantly, I’ve got headphones and I’m going to let myself focus here.
I think this will be a really good change.
Give up IG
I’ve largely given up Facebook, I only check my account every month or so maybe. But I got hooked to Instagram. It was great when I was powerlifting, it’s great for car culture too, and especially family and friends. Posting on IG feels more like curating some of my own experiences more than it does signaling or showing off like some social media. But we’d be lying if that wasn’t a part of it for everyone.
It’s also a huge time sink when I have so many other things I want to do. TV is already out. FB is already out. My last really big useless time sink is IG. So it’s out too.
Reading
I read a lot last year and I want to keep reading a lot this year. I’ve got no real metric for this, I’d like to say a book a week because that used to be no problem at all, but that seems optimistic as a consistent measure. So we’ll see.
One More..
And there’s one more goal that I’m pursuing that I’m not ready to put out there yet. So we’ll see what happens with that in a year!