New year, new me?

I know I last wrote that I am going dark. But, I just wanted to pop by here to say that I am going to try to keep writing here at least once a month.

For 2019, I obviously don’t have any running resolutions.

I just want to be able to run without pain this year.

I’m still going to PT and when I returned from a week away — in Colombia visiting my Bryce’s family for Christmas — I told my physical therapist that my knee had actually felt better in the last week.

“Just keep doing what you did in Colombia!” he said.

Sleep in and eat huge avocados every day?

I’m participating in a trail race at the end of this month. Yes, participating, not running. Bryce and I signed up for this race a while ago, before I stopped running again. We plan to hike the race together. Since this will be in New Zealand, I guess I’ll want to take a lot of photos along the way, so maybe it won’t be too bad to walk the whole thing.

Hope you’ve been able to stick with your new resolutions and goals. Cheers to 2019!

Reaching a goal: 30 during 30

Last summer when I was feeling sorry for myself for not being able to run, I created a goal for myself.

I will hike 30 times during my 30th year.

Now, I started this goal in mid-July and my birthday was at the beginning of June. Even with those few “lost weeks,” I was excited to achieve this goal for my year. I wasn’t going to continue to let my running injury keep me down!

While the summer was busy, I went out often to the mountains and did several hikes — with friends, with Bryce and my family.

Bryce and I tried to squeeze in as many hikes as we could before Christmas-time and were even able to go on some nice snowy ones (that weren’t blizzarding!)

Then the new year rolled in and I sort of “forgot” about this goal as wedding planning started consuming my life. Now it’s mid-April and I’m freaking out a little bit because my count is at 21 and my birthday is less than two months away!

I think there are exactly nine weekends in between now and June 8 (my birthday), but I know I’m not available every weekend to go on a hike — soo many wedding “obligations” and just other things to do!

So, I’ve decided that trail runs are OK to add to my count as long as they are outside the city of Seattle. Also, I’m counting those cross-country and snowshoeing jaunts from the other month as well. Those were up in the mountains and involved walking (sort of), so they count, OK??

I’m hitting my goal no matter what!

(Blog) check – 1, 2, 3 … Is this thing on?

What can I say, I’ve been so busy not running that I haven’t had time to write!

Let me provide an update on those new year resolutions I talked about last month.

1. Do at least 20 minutes of strength and core each day – I’ve altered this goal. Because, see below.
2. Join the YMCA before February – YES! I am now an official member which has become so convenient because I live right in the middle between two Y locations so I feel like I have a lot of options. I’ve become a slave to the elliptical and have gone to quite a few yoga classes. Today I went to my first Pilates class and hopefully I will make my way back to the pool again. (The pool has been so crowded so I haven’t quite figured out an ideal time to workout there). So, on days when I go to the gym, I do not adhere to my “20 minutes of strength/core” rule. If I don’t go to the gym, I definitely do a workout at home for at least 20 minutes.
3. Continue journaling – Check!
4. Read one book a month – Shocking but (so far) I am on top of this goal. What am I reading? January’s book was Lauren Graham’s Talking as Fast as I can and currently I am reading Hidden Figures. Yes, so far I am only reading books that have been a movie or has been written by someone who stars in movies and TV … but, books are books are books, right??

So, a month-and-a-half into the year and things are going well! (Or, as well as they can be while you are sidelined from running).

New year resolutions for the injured runner

New year resolutions seem good in theory but I don’t know if I really stick to them. I usually come up with a list of a few goals at the start of each year, but I also change the goals throughout the year as the months change and the shape of my year also changes.

Here are my current goals. Note, that at this time, I know I won’t be running again for another four months or so.

1. Do at least 20 minutes of strength and core each day — Yes, you read that correctly. Every day. I gave up on my walking goal since Seattle has gotten so freaking cold! I started this new goal on Jan. 9 and have so far stuck to it. What honestly helps me do this is following along with random YouTube videos. I just do a search for “core workouts” and do whatever comes up. If you have any specific video recommendations, please send them my way!
2. Join the YMCA before February — Regardless of when I can run again, I need to continue working out and cross train. Swimming is my “substitute” to running. And, once I am running again, I will continue to swim as cross training days. (Something I never did regularly before and will help in my plans to never be injured from running again!)
3. Continue journaling — I used to keep a “dear diary” type of journal. No, I did not write “dear diary” but I had been keeping journals since I was in sixth grade. I’d just write about what happened that day and my feelings. I didn’t write daily but was very consistent with it. About a year ago (so even prior to getting injured) I stopped for some reason. I guess I just got too busy. I was tired of always writing “I’m feeling tired” countless times in my journals. Now my plan is to not write the details and all my feelings of the days, but to just write one sentence (or more if I feel like it) to describe one positive thing that happened that day.
4. Read one book a month — This is really hard for me. Bryce always jokes that I never read. But, I guess it’s true so it’s not a joke? I enjoy reading but always say I don’t have time. I’m going to make a habit of reading before bed or instead of those minutes where I am aimlessly scrolling through social media on my phone while I sit at home, I will pick up a book instead! This is honestly going to be my hardest goal of them all.

I know I’m late to the game in establishing my new year goals. But hey, better now then never, right?

Hello, 2016

Hey there, 2016.

You sure surprised us with some amazing weather and sunsets and frost/snow to kick off the year!

After a day-and-a-half of spending time with friends on Camano Island, I am tucked in the corner of a coffee shop (with Bryce sitting next to me doing work), and thinking about this brand new year.

It’s a clean slate.

I haven’t made any mistakes. I haven’t failed at anything. I haven’t hurt any feelings. I haven’t stepped on any toes. I mean, that I know of …

But, instead of thinking about what I haven’t done, let’s look at what I have planned to do.

My main goals of 2016 are running-related.

1. Break 4 hours in a marathon.
2. Complete my first 50K.

How will I go about achieving these goals?

1. Train my heart out for the Anchorage Marathon. This will include focused strength and core training and foam rolling every day that I run. I will cross that finish line with at least a time of 3:59:59. Joanna will be doing the race in June with me so I’m thankful to have a training partner (and racing buddy, hopefully!) along the way.
2. Once registration opens for the Chuckanut 50K trail race, I will register. Then, I will train and race run my first 50K ever in March. Scary! Phyllis and I will be running the Orcas Island 25K (as volunteer sweepers) at the end of this month, so I hope to have a good base going and can ease right into 50K training.

Why I am scared:

1. I don’t want to fail at breaking 4 hours — again. I have failed twice already. (Once horribly at Portland two years ago, and a second time not-so-horribly at Eugene last year. I guess Oregon state just won’t give me a break!) I’ll be having a pretty long training cycle for Anchorage (I’ll explain why in another post,) so it would be devastating to put so much time and effort and to not reach my ultimate goal.
2. I’ve never done a 50K before. It will be the longest distance I have run on trail or road! The unknown is pretty scary. But, I’m still more scared about sub-4’ing than I am completing a 50K!!

Don’t you have any non-running related goals?

Yes, I do. Thanks for asking. Here are a few that I will share with you:

1. Learn Ruby on Rails (type of coding). I work on the web team in my marketing department and while I do not need to know coding for my job, my boss felt it would be good for the two of us to have some background knowledge on it. And, I agree! Plus, it’s fun to learn new things and to have another skill up your sleeve, right?
2. Get serious about my finances. I keep putting this one off. And, by no means am I neglectful with my money. But, after having four other jobs before my current one that have had 401K or 4013b options, I have little pockets of money everywhere and need to sort out what is what and combine some things or not. Basically, get organized with my finances!
3. Read one book a month. I love reading but most people probably think that I hate it. (Rare for a writer, I know). But, the thing is, I am always so busy running or writing, that reading gets bumped down to the bottom of my list. I end up re-reading the same chapter of a book three times because I forget what is happening each time I pick the book up after a 2-3 week hiatus. This gets exhausting. So then, I move onto a new book, or rather, a new first chapter of another book. I honestly think that last year I read 1 to 2 books in their entirety … I plan to change that this year.

Of course, I have a few other goals/resolutions but I don’t want to bore you with how I am going to be the ultimate version of myself this year.

What are your goals running or otherwise? What are you looking forward to this year? What challenges will you face? Whom or what will you pull strength from?

Take some time to think and reflect on some of this. I’m sure most of you already have. And, let’s all rock 2016 together.

I’m ready.