I used to do weekly goals and they seemed to stick pretty well.  After yesterday’s late night graham cracker and milk incident (totally stayed within calories though!) I need to remind myself that what I’m eating is what is fueling my runs and while milk is great calcium I honestly don’t need the added sugar from graham crackers.

On tap this week:

Monday — Rest day (whoo!)

Tuesday — 3 miles; 2 miles with the puppy, 1 by myself (or however the change from what the dog doesn’t do)

Wednesday — 3 miles at the gym, 7 bike miles at the gym

Thursday — 3 miles; 2 miles with the puppy, 1 mile at the gym, 2 elliptical miles

Friday — Rest day (maybe weights at the gym)

Saturday — DOGGIE 5K!  Or 1.5 run.  Depends on the weather and how the puppy reacts to all the other dogs at the race.  (It’s an organized fundraiser for a local rescue where you can walk/run 1.5 miles or a 5K) ;  Whatever miles not done I’ll do to equal 5 miles for my training.

Sunday — Rest day

Food goals:

- Get rid of the easy access processed food for dinner (aka, couscous and spaghetti ADIOS)

- Freeze more blended fruit pops for cold treats

- Prepare salads, chicken, and hard boiled eggs for the week’s lunches

Other goals:

- Finish last 3 job applications due this week

- Laundry (gotta have clean clothes to run in!)

- Finish Chapter 3 of thesis so I can resubmit Chs. 1-3 for review while working on Chapter 4

- Find a pattern to knit that needs 3 balls of fine merino wool yarn worsted weight (I’m open to suggestions!)

Did my run yesterday afternoon, just didn’t have a chance to post my recap.

Dog and I ended up with 4 miles under our belts when all was said in done.  Originally planned for 2 running with the dog and 2 by myself.  Ended up with about 3 miles running with the dog and the rest was walking with him (fireworks really got him moving towards the end!)

Temperatures were HOT HOT HOT here in Florida (78 degree at the start of our run!).  So I guess be jealous because I was running in a tank and shorts instead of being all bundled up?  GPOY of gnome stalking in the lower left of the picture — 10 of ‘em are either there or to my right against the wall. :D

Then came the fun times of getting the dog to do his business quickly so we can MOVE MOVE MOVE.

Obligatory Vibrams photo.  Bikilas from REI in Seattle.  And part of my phone case..oops.

Post run 4 mile smile.  Fun fact: This nail color and polish has lasted WITHOUT chipping longer than any other nail colors on my fingers.  Which is saying something since knitting has decided to destroy my nail polish quite easily.

Dog sucks at picture taking.  Still, he was my Race Epic partner so he needs some credit for pushing me through.

Watch proof.  Not my fastest 4 miles.  But with the puppy it never is.  Still an epic run for us closing out 2012!

Splits….Fireworks started up right in the middle of Mile 3.  Ended up carrying the dog for about 1/4 of a mile during Mile 3 because he refused to move.

And this was waiting for me when I came home……

Happy 2013!  Let’s make this one awesome!

2012 by the numbers:

Running — 551 miles

Total (running, biking, swimming, elliptical, walking) — 1001 miles

2012 by the memories:

January — discovered a new trail to run while half marathon training

February — The 10K race from hell, that in perspective was a good thing.

March — The whole month.  Seriously.  NYC Half Marathon.  NYC with Tumblrs.  NYC in general.  Thesis traveling in Alabama.  Too many great memories.

April — Final assignment for my 1st M.A. done (April wasn’t too awesome of a month)

May — I graduated with my MLIS.  ‘nuff said.

June — Tropical storm flood waters ruined my Spring RWRunStreak

July — Temporary Employment!  A boy! (From a story I’ve yet to tell…but he’s still SUPER involved in my life <3)

August — Too many memories from this month.  Flew to Seattle to be with family. 25th birthday.  First REI trip. Bought more Vibrams.

September — The start of medical testing.

October — Medical diagnosis. Became like Moxy dressing my cat. Knit a purse.

November — Ran a 5K.  Knit projects for December started. Friends’ wedding. Emotional breakdown.

December — Knit 2nd purse. Interviewed for dream job. COMMITTED TO A MARATHON! (and the boy….)

2012 by the goals:

Be under 200 for May 2012 M.A. graduation  — weight didn’t happen, graduation did

Finish a half marathon in 3 hours (or less?) — 3:07 for half time.  Not too shabby.

Get my 5K time down to under 40 minutes — 43:43.  Not quite there yet.

Enjoy all of the awesomeness that 2011 prepared me for in 2012 — First half of 2012 this happened, second half things didn’t go that way.

2013 goals:

Run a MARATHON for my 26.2 birthday (Octoberish).

Get a job, move, and find a running group/route that I can love.

Figure out my body and PCOS so that I can start losing weight again.

Have all knitting projects/gifts done on time for presents.

Enjoy life and all that it throws at me.

Going to lay it out here in hopes that something can actually be accomplished right.

On going:

- putting things on Ebay 

- 1 thesis page per day minimum (in hopes that I can start progressing quicker now that I have one degree to focus on and not two)

- cleaning up the room 

- job applications (isn’t this an obvious one??)

Workouts:

Monday — 1.5 miles running, 30 minutes stationary bike, try out 1 new machine

Tuesday — 1 to 1.5 miles running, 30 minutes stationary bike (early A.M. workout?)

Wednesday — 2 miles running, 30 minutes stationary bike, 15 minutes stair climber

Thursday — 1 to 1.5 miles running, 30 minutes stationary bike (early A.M. workout?)

Friday — bike outside and/or run outside

Saturday — bike outside

Sunday — REST

Food (dinner only, as it’s the most difficult):

Monday — salad with hard-boiled egg and grilled chicken

Tuesday — lean ground turkey meat, salad, butternut squash

Wednesday — homemade pizza, salad OR egg omelet with squash & zucchini

Thursday — lean ground turkey meat, salad, yam fries OR egg omelet with squash & zucchini

Friday — salad with hard-boiled egg and grilled chicken

I’ll be happy if I can at least accomplish half of my workouts and all of my meals.  Meals for Saturday and Sunday are unknown because I don’t know if we’re having any guests over for meals so I can’t plan that far ahead.  I’ve notably taken off any grains from my evening meals as they seemed to really be the focus of my carbohydrates instead of more vegetables these past few weeks.  Also, if I switch out any of my weekday workouts with running and biking outdoors I’ll be just as satisfied even if I don’t get the “try 1 new machine” goal at the gym.  No swimming until I get a new bathing suit, which is supposedly coming in the mail sometime this week, so hopefully it fits and swimming will start back up next week.

WIT

SW: 256

LW: 215

CW: 219

Reaction: up four pounds in two weeks. I look the same, feel the same, ate as best as I could while traveling. Yet I’m up four pounds. I am not upset over this as I’m certain those pounds are partially water weight.

I’m not going to reflect on this or let it stick to me, I’m moving past this and onward to getting 20 pounds off of me to hit that magical 199 on the scale.

This is what the next few months are all about—losing weight, working out, and eating right. I might also be “training” for a 5k in June. Why did I say training like that? Well training in this case will be speed work to improve my times.

Things going thru my mind right now:

• today I hiked 6.5 miles on uneven ground, up 500 feet+ in elevation, towards a dam that has more history than any other dams in the TVA.

• a week ago I became a half marathoner in the city that never sleeps and met some amazing people in the process

• a month ago I ran 10.38 miles for my “long run Saturday” in preparation for NYC Half Marathon

• a year ago it was the eve of my very first 10k, I was scared, the farthest I had gone was 7 miles, it was my very first race by myself not knowing anyone else in the race, only 4 months into my journey to change my life. And it was also the eve of getting a new puppy in the family (which I obviously didn’t know until AFTER my race, haha)

Why do I bring this up? I mentioned to some of the Internet last week when we were walking through NYC that if it wasn’t for all the changes in my life I don’t think I could have done as much walking as I did in NYC. And I thought the same thing today hiking through the trails. I could have turned back, all those rocks, all those climbing stairs—I kept thinking once I got to my destination could I make it back? When I got there, I sat and stared, realizing that just getting there was something that the old me couldn’t have done. I had no clue how to get back (my mind was freaked by how many descents there would be with all those upwards climbs), but I have a good sense of direction and found the main road to get back—with pavement! But I kept thinking back to how the week before I had traveled 13.1 miles in a timed race and made it still standing with fuel left for more walking.

It’s amazing how time changes and people change. The best decision in my life came in December 2010 when I chose to turn my life around and start running and taking better care of myself.

I can only begin to imagine what this time next year will bring to me. Certain dates will always stick out for me, they always have, my first 5k, my first 10k (also the day we got my puppy!), and my first half marathon. Those dates mean nothing to some, but to me they mean the world.

What about you? What dates are most important to you in this journey of life?