2012 Goals in Review

I set several goals for myself in 2012.  I even wrote them down.  One of them was to keep a journal, which is where I wrote the goals. But that is where the journaling stopped.  But here they are, along with the progress I made.

1.  Run Outside More – Less Treadmill.  Well, I have to say that I hit this one out of the park.  Once we moved to Phoenix, the treadmill had to be an option when the temps were in the triple digits.  But overall, I ran just shy of 700 miles (NOT the results I wanted, but better than 2011) and only 128.7 of them were inside.

2.  Increase Mileage.  Overall, yes.  I ran more in 2012 than I did in 2011.  But I had hoped for better mileage.  I did discover that I do WELL with running twice a day.  And would much rather do two short runs than one long one.  Go figure.  And I increased my “short” runs from 3 miles to 4 and 5 miles.

3.  PR 5K.  HELL TO THE YES!!!!  I knocked quite a bit of time off my 5K PR and broke my 30:00 goal.  I ran a 28:27 and am VERY VERY happy with that.  This AWFUL picture is what it looks like to PR a 5K.

4.  PR Half. I made one attempt at this in February and failed.  Miserably.  But I had a great time with my sister that day.  Later in the year I decided that I didn’t want to race the 13.1 distance and I am still VERY ok with that!  I DID PR my 10K time by over 4 minutes, I think.

5.  Spend Less.  I have to think I did better with this or we wouldn’t have had the money to hire people to pack and move us.  Or the money to move in general.  So I am saying this was a success.

6.  Stop Stockpiling Food.  I thought I was doing better with this.  Especially with the big move. But I cleaned out the cabinets last week and the results were poor.  It will be on my list of goals for 2013 as well.  I just can’t resist a sale at the grocery store!

 

7. Spend Time with Dogs.  I don’t think this is exactly what I meant. I work from home. I am with the dogs all day, every day.  But rather I meant walk them and play with them more.  Walking, yes there definitely has been more of that.  Playing, not really.  I seem to get injured when I play with the dogs.  So walking will have to do.

Overall, not bad.  I will be setting (or resetting) goals for 2013.  Did you set goals for 2012 and how did you do?

2012 Books

One New Years Resolution a few years ago that stuck was to read more. While I didn’t hit my 2011 total of 20, I did read 18 books in 2012. You can click any of these to view the Kindle edition on Amazon. Here they are:

Friday: Blog News

Friday was spent in the house.  Except for my run. The hike on Wednesday was a bit hard on the knee, and I could feel its effect on my run Friday.  But run I did.   I LOVED my new New Balance top (thanks Sis!) with the thumb holes and the leggings/tights I received in my PB Body box.

Run: 3 Miles / 31:34

BIG BLOG NEWS!  I am moving to my own domain name and a self-hosted site.  It is mostly setup and things went fairly smoothly.  I am attempting to have WordPress move my subscribers, but if you could have some heart and go to the new site, I will love you forever.  Just in case.

WWW.THEKIDLESSKRONICLES.COM

You are awesome, thank you.

So that was how I spent most of Friday.  Working on the blog move.  And lets be honest, playing Bejeweled Blitz.  Then I made delicious Jambalaya.  And there was a request for brownies.  Which will also become Saturdays breakfast.

Thursday: In-a-Box

I walked the dogs.  That was about it in terms of fitness.

One of the big trends in 2012 was in-a-box programs.  The biggest seemed to be the beauty boxes.  A monthly program that delivers different sample sized beauty products to your door.  A great way to try new things and see what the latest and greatest products are without having to buy a full-sized bottle or tube.  Another of these in-a-box programs is PV Body.

My sister told me about it and I was intrigued.  A similar program to the beauty boxes but PV Body  delivers fitness clothes to your door for $50 a month.  You take a quiz related to the type of working out that you do, what styles and colors you prefer, etc.  And then the first shipment arrives with a top and bottom in each box.  There is no obligation and you can cancel anytime. You can return if the items don’t fit or even if you just don’t like them.  I definitely have some items in my rotation that need to be retired and thought this would be a great way to try some new brands and styles.

This is what arrived.  What I would consider compression tights from American Apparel.  And the tank is Nux.  All in all, I would say this was a great value for what I paid (my first order was 20% off).  I will wear the tights for running and the tank will be great for the gym.

I will wait and see what shows up next month!

Wednesday: Purge

I am on vacation until after the first of the year, but that doesn’t mean I am any less busy.  Staycations, for me, are full of projects and lists of things I want to get done.

First and foremost, I ran.  I am sticking to my short and slow for this week.  Well, sort of.  It was short but it wasn’t really slow.  And just like Monday, there was no pain but I can still tell that things aren’t quite completely healed.  So maybe that HIKE in the afternoon wasn’t such a smart idea.  That was where I could feel my knee saying, “please stop.”  My knee is so polite.

Run: 3 Miles / 32:50

Hike: 2 Miles / Kiwanis Trail (picture is the view from the TOP of South Mountain)

So, in between the run and the hike, I decided to clean out the cabinets.  WTF?  I thought I had stopped stockpiling food.  But really, I have not. I threw anything away that was “expired” and it could explain why my sisters birthday cupcakes were a big, fat failure.  Everything is gone, cleaned out and looking better.

I will do a recap of my 2012 goals (and results) next week, but I already have a new goal in mind for 2013.  Hike all of the South Mountain trails.  Now, some are short and I could do them right now.  Some even shorted than the Kiwanis Trail.  But there are a couple that are LONG. And I mean 14 miles long.  ONE WAY. So those longer ones may have to be done in sections.  But there are 33 in all and I think it is doable!

In addition to actually hiking (or running) the trails, I will do a write-up on each one.  And in the Phoenix area, once I am done with South Mountain, there are plenty of others to choose from (North Mountain, Squaw Peak, Camelback, the Estrella’s, the White Tanks, etc).

Food went something like this:  Egg sandwich, coffee, a little bit of leftover sausage dip and tortilla chips, a piece of crack (cinnamon) toast, chicken breast with ranch for dipping and veggie mix.

I have more updates for you on the projects I made for Michael, the trail review and what arrived in my mail on Wednesday.  Those are coming soon.