Saturday, January 7, 2017

Happy New Year!

Here we are then - a few days into 2017, hoping against hope that this year will be better than last - though, given there's a dumb, climate change-denying, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic narcissist is about to be sworn in as President of the US, it's hard to imagine how it can be. :-(

Determined to think about things other than the sad state of the world, I've spent the better part of the past week contemplating my running goals for 2017. I'm certain I want to participate in the Cabot Trail Relay one last time if my team makes the cut again. We should hear soon. And I think I'd like to run another marathon - my 10th - to mark my 55th birthday - though I confess the idea doesn't hold the appeal it once did. Still, I stopped at the library this week and picked up a couple of books on marathon training, which I hope will inspire me to train more seriously this time around. If I'm going to run another 26.2, I want it to be faster than my last one.

On the nutrition front, Husband and I are kicking off the new year by abstaining from alcohol for the month of January. We did the same in 2015 and found it tough, but it feels easier this time around. I suppose both my body and my mind were ready for the break after a wine-filled holiday season.

Husband suggested (and I agree) that one thing I need to focus on this year is sorting out my work situation. I haven't been terribly happy in my job for awhile so it would be good to change things up somehow. Truthfully, what I'd like to do is retire - from full time work at least - but I'm far too young and another few years of working full time could make a significant difference to our long term financial security.

On a happier topic, Husband and I are still mulling over what we'd like to do to celebrate our 30th "first date" anniversary in February and his 65th birthday. We're thinking about another trip to Europe but haven't settled on where. France and Ireland are possibilities. So too are Spain, Portugal and Greece. And, if we decide to cross the pond, we hope to spend at least a few days visiting friends in the Netherlands.

I haven't selected my word for the year yet either. I've been trying to come up with something positive but - truthfully - the word that feels right is "fierce" - as in strong, powerful, determined, and passionate. I suspect I'm going to have to be fierce to deal with the personal and professional challenges that lie ahead.  

As for my New Year's intentions (not resolutions, for the reasons I explained last year), I'm continuing to work on the ones I first articulated in 2015: read more, eat better, run more, train smarter, banish clutter, and put first things first. To help me stay focused, I've begun keeping a simple bullet journal and am logging my runs again.

Bullet journals are something I learned about only recently and I love the concept - though the beauty and complexity of some I've seen online makes the idea intimidating. Mine is a simple version since I haven't time for anything else and, so far, I'm finding it helpful.

Logging my runs is something I haven't done for awhile. For the first decade of my running career, I kept detailed records of training plans, workouts and race results but I gave up being data-obsessed a few years back and have recorded little since. In the past couple of years, the only time I've kept track of anything is in the 14 to 16 weeks leading up to a race, when typically I rough out a training plan then amend it as and when travel, work, injury or other factors intervene to keep me from sticking to it. At other times, I maintain a straightforward 3-4 day/week maintenance regime. Though I still wear my Garmin Forerunner 305 on most runs, I rarely transfer the data it gathers to my computer. Adopting a scaled back approach has worked okay because I haven't attempted to achieve any ambitious time goals. However, given that I'd like my last marathon to be a reasonably quick one (for me), I'm determined to do a better job of tracking my progress in 2017.

My other major intention for this year is to spend more time with my camera, paints, and quilting tools. However, since we listed our country house for sale today, it's possible life will intervene to prevent me from creating as much as I'd like. The real estate market's been slow in this part of the world so we don't expect to sell the house quickly, but who knows?

In any case, since 2017 is still so shiny and new and full of possibility, I'm determined not to waste time worrying about "what ifs". Provided I work hard and stay focused and positive, I'm bound to make some progress.

To close out this post, here are a few pics from my 10k run this morning. (There's another at the top of this post.) It was a perfect day for running - with light winds, comfortably cool temperatures, and a fresh blanket of snow that made everything look more beautiful. Wherever we end up living next, I hope it's close enough to visit these trails now and again.




Happy New Year of running and writing!

1 comment:

  1. Such well composed photos! I like path shots, where the viewer is led into the photo via a path, or a fence line or something. I looked over the bulleted journal idea, and it seems interesting. I'm just starting a photo journal, and I'll probably use some of those ideas. The fitness stuff goes into iSmoothRun, where it can do the math.

    I'm trying not to think of the sad state of the world, and am attempting to influence the tiny part of it I occupy. Demonstrating one can be kind, and pushing back on various forms of rudeness when possible.

    If you aren't happy in your work, you have to make changes. You must. Unhappiness there will leak into the rest of your life. There are two paths. One (which I can't do) is decide you can put up with it, and you make changes to insulate the rest of your life. The other is to decide what you want out of your work life, what changes need to happen to make it acceptable, then you must articulate that goal to yourself, and start working towards it. You have to be working towards an improvement, there has to be a light at the end of the tunnel for you. This will almost certainly involve ways of enduring the current situation as you work to change it.

    Good luck selling the house!

    ReplyDelete