2012 Goals Revisited

I don't believe in making New Year Resolutions. I never really have. Every January for the last 10-15 years I've probably wanted to lose weight. I didn't necessarily call it my resolution to do so since making it a resolution wouldn't make it stick any more than just saying, "I STILL need to lose this damn weight!"

I obviously have not yet figured out what WILL make it stick so that one of these years my thoughts come January can be, "I just need to maintain my weight", but I continue to try to figure that out.

Perhaps 2013 will be the year for THAT! Ok, so for the last few years I started picking fitness related goals to focus on throughout the year instead of just saying that I need to lose weight. It didn't necessarily work to help me lose (and keep off) weight, but it did help me increase my fitness and health overall. Let's see how I did with my 2012 goals, shall we??

1) Start a blog....CHECK! (yes, I know not totally fitness related, but it was still a big goal and one that I met!)

2) Complete my first Olympic distance Triathlon.....CHECK!

3) Complete my first marathon....CHECK!

4) Complete as many races in 2012 as I did from when I started (2007) until 2011....Not quite, but came close!


Overall, a pretty successful year with meeting my big goals. As I've said before on the blog, I thought the number of races between 2007 and 2011 was 10, but it turned out it was actually 11. I am ending 2012 with having completed 9 races. Yes. I was 1 race short from the number I had had in my mind all year and only 2 short from meeting my goal. It was a little stupid that I didn't meet this goal. I easily could have met this goal and frankly, I was going to try to make it a nice even 12 in 2012 since I was so close. But, then the lovely post-big race depression hit and I have done very little since finishing the marathon in October. Not to mention the fact that I haven't been dealing with normal life stresses well lately (like finding the time to fit it all in).

I'm starting to really think about some 2013 goals. I guess it's about time since it'll be 2013 in less than a week! Honestly it's tough to start thinking about these goals when I've been in such a rut. But, starting to think about my goals is helping me to come out of it a bit. I'm starting to look forward to working towards something again.

The frustrating thing...and perhaps something that I need to figure out how to change....is that every year I fall off the wagon so hard that I spend so much time working back up to where I was that I can't meet some of the goals I would like to make. Anyone following me?? For example; a goal that I have now had for over a year is to have a 2:30 half marathon finish time. This would require me to shave 11 minutes off my current half marathon PR. That's a lot, folks! Clearly, this would take work and dedication. However, I also haven't hit the 2:41 time (or anywhere near it) since November 2011 when I was apparently at my "prime". There's a part of me that would like to make "run a 2:30 half marathon" a 2013 goal, but I am thinking that's probably not a realistic goal (at all) given how hard I've once again fallen off the wagon.

Next up....2013 goals.....