Some Late 2011 Goals

Happy second day of 2011! As promised, I’ve come up with a few 2011 goals. These are just a few things I’d like to focus on this coming year. They aren’t things that really need fixing – I guess they are more about taking a slightly different approach to some things in life this year.

1. Blog 2-3 Times a Week: I went from a once-a-day blogger to about once-a-week, if it’s a good week. The end of 2010 was pretty hectic with events and a very heavy workload. In 2011, I’d like to find more balance and be able to blog about 2-3 times a week.

2. More Balance and Less Stress: As I mentioned above, I found myself stressed out toward the end of 2010. A lot of it had to do with work changes – a new boss and lots of changes at work left me scrambling to get things done, pick up the slack and transition at the same time. I think I let it take over my life a bit and affect my overall balance. In 2011, I’d like to regain some work/life balance and not put so much pressure on myself at work. Mistakes will happen, sometimes deadlines are missed and projects don’t always work out as planned. I hope that in 2011, I can go with the flow a bit more and deal with the pressure and changes better. It’s just work – it shouldn’t rule my life.

3. Live in the Moment: I’m a thinker and a planner. I always have been. At times it serves me very well. We got to see and do soo many things in Ireland because of my research, planning and preparation. However, sometimes I find myself trying to plan the next 5-10 years of our life and that can become frustrating. There is no way of knowing what lies in store for us over the next few years, so in 2011, I’d like to try to live more in the moment and less in the future. What will be will be, right? I’d like to try to appreciate what is happening now and focus less on the future.

4. Run the Boston Marathon: Qualifying for the Boston Marathon was one of my goals for 2010. Done! Now in 2011, I’d like to run it! I’m not putting any time pressures on myself. I’ve heard it’s a tough course – one of the most challenging there is. So my goal is to run it strong and consistent. My last marathon was totally inconsistent with a very fast start and a much slower finish. I’d like to run Boston much more consistently and hopefully feel decent at the end.

5. Back to Healthy Eating: Supposedly, our gas is going to be fixed by tomorrow and with it, I’d like to fix some of my less than stellar eating habits. Not having an oven or stove forced me to use the microwave and toaster oven a lot more than I would have liked. In 2011, I’d like to renew my focus on healthy eating, especially as I train for Boston. When I’m reunited with my oven/stove, I’ll strive to be more creative and heathy in my cooking. The “eat” aspect of this blog has certainly suffered from the longterm loss of our apartment’s gas.

6. Make Morning Running More of a Norm: I’ve never been a very good morning runner. I’d like to make a very concerted effort to run at least 2-3 times a week in the morning. It will allow me to get more done in the evening and not stress about trying to fit my run in if I have to work late (although work-life balance goal should help with that as well).

So those are my goals for 2011. I had a whopping 10 goals last year and that felt like a bit much. This year I think a solid six is more realistic.

Oh and on the running front, I ran 5 times this week and managed to hit my Boston Marathon Training mileage of 26 miles. Hurray! Let’s hope this is the start of some good training for a successful spring marathon!

Have a great Sunday all!