11, or maybe '11, Goals

I'll have to confess...I really "hate" New Year's Resolutions.  I've made, and broken, my fair share which is why I don't like them.  Why say I'm going to lose 20 pounds, clean out ever closet in my house or finally get all those pictures in a scrapbook when I "know" I won't do it?  For the past I don't know how many years I've just decided not to resolve to do anything.  That way what ever I did manage to get "done" would be better than what I had planned.

However...as usual, my sweet husband recently challenged my thinking without even realizing what he was doing.  He got to talking about goal-setting and about being intentional about some various things in his own life.  I told him I had just gotten used to the idea that I'm a "winger"; I had just accepted this "fact" about myself.  (Winger-someone who wings life, doesn't live by a list.)  For years I had lists for everything.  Not just the average "to do" list for the day or week, the usual yearly resolutions, or your run-of-the-mill bucket list.  I had lists of lists of lists, budget lists, lists of books I wanted to read/movies I wanted to watch, lists of plans for my house, my yard, my holidays...you get the picture.

The only problem with all these lists....they "never" came to pass.  Usually the fastest way for me to break a goal was to write it down!  I'm probably the only person you'll ever meet who can go to the store with a grocery list only to mark half the items off without buying them and buy twice as many things that weren't on there at all!  I had just come to terms with the "fact" that all those lists and plans stressed me out more than they helped me be organized or focused.  I accepted the "fact" that winging things meant never having to apologize to myself for breaking a plan/goal.

But, as is often the case with me...it's not that simple.  I think it took me letting go of my ideas of what it means to set (and keep) a goal for me to be able to embrace the real idea of setting (and keeping) a goal.  It comes back to the fear of success/fear of failure.  I have long had it in my mind that if I give up a goal I'm not really failing....but I'm coming to believe that not trying to reach a goal I want for myself amounts to failure before I even start.

So....I'll resolve once more.  But this year, I'll resolve with resolve to complete my goals for the year.

In this blog I'll only worry you with my "fitness" related goals for the year.  First, my planned races:

• January--I think I'll start the New Year off with a 4 mile "fun run"
• February 13th--Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon New Orleans
• February 26th--Wounded Warrior 5K
• March 26th--McKay Hollow Madness 25K
• April 23rd--helping direct the Cookie Dash 5K!!
• May 15th--Iron Girl!!  (Sprint Tri)
• May 30th--CONQUER Cotton Row 10K (sub 60 should be doable) ((OR I'll do the 5K and shoot for sub 25:00))
• June--Heel and Crank Duaththon
• August 28th--Rocket Man (Olympic distance) Triathlon
• October--Huntsville Half
• December--Rocket City Marathon and Recover from the Holidays 50K (first Ultra)

I plan to complete my first sprint and Olympic distance triathlons as well as my first duathlon, marathon and ultra.  As far as time goals go, I want to break 25 in a 5K by June, break 60 in a 10K, and 2:15 in a Half (maybe in New Orleans??).  I don't have a time goal for the tri's, the duathlon, McKay, the marathon or the 50K.

I'm planning on making P90X a staple of my fitness routine, up my running mileage, and bike and swim at least two to three times a week.  It might sound like a lot, but really it isn't as much as it sounds.  I'm hopefully going to learn from my mistake last year of not working backwards from my goal races to make sure I get adequate training and don't try to do too much too fast. 

I'm working on a plan now.  A plan I plan to keep! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!