New Year Fresh Goals

2011 was an amazing year, so I've been a little slow to let go of it and embrace a new year.  It's a little scary when last year was successful in so many ways.  It would, in fact, be easy to sit back and bask in the glow of all that I accomplished and all the goals I was able to check off.  However, that's not moving me forward.  And I want to continue to grow and improve.

This blog has largely (ok pretty much entirely) been about running.  And I do love to run and to write about running, but I want to expand it.  I changed the name of the blog to Life on a Run.  I think the new name keeps running front and center but allows for other posts.  All name suggestions and feedback are welcome!


I have a lot of running goals for this year (not a surprise I know).  I also have more general health goals than I did last year.  The first goal I will share is losing weight.  Yes, I know how cliche this goal is, there's no reason for anyone to tell me.  I also know nearly everyone in America made the same goal.  For me, I want to be free of the constant thinking and feeling like I should lose weight.  I need to lose between 20 - 25 pounds. So it's not a huge number, but it's a number that sneaks in and steals happy moments from me, puts doubts in my head and slows down my runs.  On the first day of 2012, I weighed 179 pounds.  My ideal weight, according to my doctor is 145 - 160.  I'm aiming for 155 by the end of 2012 or sooner.

Nutrition is going to be an area I focus on more.  I've been doing a 12 week kettlebell challenge and they place a lot of emphasis on nutrition before exercise.  I want to adopt this way of thinking. It's going to be a long process for me.  It's the area I need the most improvement and I know it won't be easy or happen over night.  Luckily, I have good friends and mentors who are helping.

As for running, I plan to run half marathons in at least 5 states.  Those states are Alabama, Texas, Minnesota, Kansas and Indiana.  I'm going to run a half marathon in 2:15 or less and finish a 5k in under 29 minutes.  I'm also going to complete my second marathon.  I'm so excited about the marathon.  It's going to be the Chicago Marathon.  I was in Chicago last year when it was going on and the atmosphere was unreal.  I can't wait!  Of course, I want to beat last year's marathon time.  I'm going to log all of my miles this year, something I haven't done before and by the end of the year I want to be over 1,000 miles.

I have lots of other goals personal, family and work.  It would take too long to list them all here.  One of my goals is actually to read and visualize my goals everyday.  Most importantly, I realize my goals are constantly evolving and changing. 

Cheers to an amazing 2012!