Mid Year Resolution Gut Check

I’m a little astounded that we’re halfway through the year already. It feels like Christmas was a few weeks ago — how has the summer gotten here so fast?

I figured it was about time to give myself a little look in the mirror and see how I’m doing with my resolutions.

1) Re-introduce weights.
I could be doing so much better with this. I love lifting. I just need to remind myself of that. This month, I’m re-introducing it in manageable, baby bite sized chunks. Then, next month I’ll add a little more. I want to be toned and feel great come September for the half (more on that in a minute) and our beach trip.

2) Run a half marathon. 
I signed up for this race! Yes, I actually did it! And, to boot, I got my husband and two good friends on board as well. I’m registered, we have a hotel room, I’ve got a training plan, and dammit I am going to do this!

3) Vary my reading.
I’ve been doing pretty good with this little goal. I’m realizing that I’m definitely better at knocking out non-fiction as opposed to classics. That’s a pity because there are so many classics I want to read. I’m hoping that having a Kindle (and free access to a lot of these books) will improve my classics record.  Don’t forget to add me as a friend on Goodreads! I love stealing book ideas from people. 🙂

4) Write letters.
I did pretty well with this for the first few months. Then, I got a few letters back and saved them with the intention of responding. They are still sitting in my cubby of the living room table. Whoops! I’ll work on sending some post cards from my trips this summer!

5) Get student loans under $X.
This is going very well. We are chugging away. I did some calculations yesterday about how much we’ve paid off in the (just under) two years we’ve been paying on the loans. I am astounded by how well we’ve done. Definitely on track here to meet my goal and pay off the loans before this time next year!

6) Cook!
Doing very well here too! Hubs and I have definitely been entertaining a lot. I’ve been picking a lot of our recipes for our meals and am generally starting to feel very at home in the kitchen!

7) Stop wasting time.
I gave up Facebook for Lent and that helped with this for a while. Lately, I’ve found myself killing time again lately. Refreshing facebook, twitter, and news sites. Re-checking blogs that I just looked at. Mindlessly watching TV that Hubs has on. I’m trying to avoid these time sucks but by the time I realize what I’m doing sometimes, I’ve wasted half an hour! Must stop wasting time! 

I’m satisfied with that. Looks like 3 goals could use some improvements and 4 are coming along swimmingly! Thankfully no huge failures on the horizon here! How are you doing on your New Year’s Resolutions?

Christmas to NYE Lull

This is, hands down, one of my favorite times of the year at work. I love the holiday parties leading up to Christas, but I love even more the week between the 25th and the 31st. The week is ridiculous short (hooray work holidays), almost no one is in the office, and everyone that is here is trying to unload all the candy left overs from the holidays (and cakes, and cookies). Really, it’s awesome.

Also on the awesome list: Georgia’s first white Christmas since the 1880s. Yes, it was beautiful (and a little scary when I had to drive home in the dark on snowy roads). I followed my normal (and crazy) Christmas routine. My parents (Mom and Stepdad) and I cook a Saralee coffee cake and open our gifts to each other. (I use the work cook very lightly here since it’s a microwave coffee cake.) There’s usually a little lounging and napping with the GPTV station playing Christmas music and that single shot of a burning fireplace going. Then, I drive half an hour to my Dad’s family. We prepare lunch (real cooking this time), eat ourselves silly, open gifts, have dessert and then (a mere three or four hours after I arrive) I head out again — this time to my Mom’s side of the family. There’s more eating, our version of White Elephant/Yankee Christmas, and general shenanigans.

This year I had the hair-raising experience of driving home from my Uncle’s down a windy, narrow, hilly, unlit road while it snowed. I’ve never driven in slush, ice, snow, etc so I was convinced that I was going to wreck my car/maim myself/die on Christmas. My sweet Yankee stepfather loves driving in the snow so he shuttled me over to Hubby’s parents’ place so that I could see him and his family on Christmas also. So, Hubby’s mom called it a PJ Party and I spent Christmas night with them.

Santa was overly generous and brought me a new North Face fleece, some new Vera Bradley, a variety of giftcards, and some new work clothes among other things. He brought me and Hubs a few things as well including a nice big stock pot and a VITAMIX!! We broke it out for the first time last night and my smoothie this morning was 1000 times better. Delicious! Now I’m looking forward to my daily green smoothie again. 🙂

I’ll be spending next week on work travel through Florida and Louisiana. I’m pretty pleased about escaping frigid DC for warmer climes during early Jan! Sign me up! I’m also looking forward to reading a ton of mindless magazines on the planes — something about airports makes me want to buy hundreds of magazines, puzzle books, and best selling novels. I suppose that’s the point of airport bookstores and news kiosks?

I’m still ruminating on my New Year’s Resolutions. What are you resolving to do? Any ideas for me??

At least I can blame it on being outside?

Run 2 while in Atlanta commenced on Christmas Eve at a local park. This was my first serious “training” run and it was definitely a wake up call. Thanks to advice from friends I was fairly well prepared for how to dress/what to expect in the cold. I borrowed a set of adjustable ear muffs from my mom and a squirt waterbottle from my step dad and set off. The first mile was a struggle. Drinking water definitely helped though — both with my overall feeling of well-being and with timing.  I cheated a bit and stopped by the car to drop off my jacket and pick up a pair of gloves. (I also stood around drinking water and catching my breath than I needed to really.)

Mile 2 was a battle. I mentally just didn’t have it. I finish up, stretched and collapsed into the driver’s seat. I was dizzy and not pleased.

Christmas morning, Santa-Mom brought me something that would change outdoor running for me: Nike+!!! Running friends have raved about this tool, so I was super eager to check it out. With a day full of Christmas eating to fuel me, I headed out this morning to test out my new toy and capitalize on my lessons learned from the previous run.

Something clicked. I felt great all the way through the first two miles. Instead of having to convince myself that I felt awesome (the mantra I repeat when I start to feel tired) — I actually did feel awesome. I did a modified third lap (which came in just under a mile) and went back to the car feeling much more satisfied. So, now I’m feeling like I might just be able to run this 5k all the way through come next weekend.

One other weird thing of note: my knees do not like outdoor running in cold weather. I find that they’re pretty sore as soon as I stop. This never happens on the treadmill. I suppose actual outdoor running is much higher impact. Hopefully this is normal…

Combating Holiday Parties

I am blessed with wonderful friends, family and a great job. However, when these groups combine forces around the holidays it equals a huge eating struggle for me. I can’t count the number of “holiday treats” I’ve been offered and parties I’ve been to in the past two weeks. The holidays aren’t exactly the ideal time for exercise, but it certainly is good motivation. I’m trying to keep myself especially on track because I have my first wedding dress fitting in about a week.

A good friend of mine (and one of my Bridesmaids) has recently been bitten by the running bug. With her as a motivator and influencer, I signed up to run my first 5k on January 3rd. I figure it will get me through the holidays and help me start the new year off on the right foot. (Literally?) So, I have been scrambling to get my running ability up to par.

A 5k has been a long standing “goal” of mine. But I’ve never signed up for one until now and I think that has been my stumbling block. I would start “training” and say I would sign up for the race when I knew I could do it, or when my times got better, etc. etc. Needless to say, I never had a reason to really make it happen. Signing up for this 5k was the commitment I needed.

A week and a half ago, I ran 1.25 miles. It was a struggle. Last Tuesday, I ran 2.25 miles — a gain that astounded me. Then, I took a little break. There are plenty of excuses, but the truth is that I just didn’t run for five days. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me. My motivational running friend ran her first 10k today (in the rain and the cold, without any music for most of it). With that, I realized that I really had no excuse. I need to get ready for this 5k so that I’m not holding her back. And, I need to get ready for this 5k for me — I want to run it and I want to do it under 35 minutes.

I ran a “circuit” today — 1.5 miles running, a .25 mile walking break and then another 1 mile running. My time for a 5k was just over 35 minutes. I think that if I can eliminate the walking and actually run straight through then I can definitely do it under 35.

Run today: check. My next  goal is 2.5 miles straight on Tuesday.