2014 Hopes and Dreams

Hopes and Dreams….I thought that was better than goals or resolutions.

I've said it before; I don't like to make "resolutions". But I do like to set goals for the year. Funny though, how just a change in the word makes a difference. I never used to set resolutions because it was always just that I needed and wanted to lose weight. I would; and would just as quickly gain it back plus some. I soon decided I enjoy having goals to strive for in addition to losing weight. It gives me a better sense of focus (sometimes). But really, call them what you want; goals, resolutions, hopes, dreams - it's all the same.

A goal..like finish an Olympic Triathlon

I don't know that I've ever been quite as happy as I am this year to see a year come to an end. I am more than ready to bid farewell to 2013 and celebrate the fresh start of 2014. 

However, coming up with a list of goals for 2014 is much more challenging than in years' past. 2012 was such a great year. I had only a few goals (4 to be exact) and met all but 1 of them. I would have met the 4th, but that is when I was really starting to get sick and just couldn't muster up the energy to complete the 2 more races I needed to meet that goal. 2013, on the other hand, has been a much more difficult year. But we've already discussed this at length (here, here, and here - to name a few). 

I have a feeling my 2014 goals need to be significantly smaller than ones that I am used to making. There probably will not be any Olympic Triathlons (or perhaps even sprint ones), marathons (maybe not even half marathons), multiple races, etc. I need to think smaller in order to stay healthy (Crohn's-wise) and get healthier. That's really the ONLY goal that matters in 2014. But, I think I can break this down to smaller goals so that I can really focus on being the healthiest me I can be. 

Goal #1: Figure out how to be accountable (i.e. stay on track) without being too hard on myself. Heck, figure out how to not be so hard on myself in general. Two of my friends suggested that I make this my first goal for 2014. I've heard countless people tell me I'm too hard on myself, so perhaps it's time to focus on this. Honestly, I am not sure how to do this. I think this is going to be one of the most difficult goals I have, but I also think it will do a lot for my overall health. 

Goal #2: Lose at least 50lbs between Jan. 1st and Dec. 31st. Wow…this one is REALLY specific, but totally doable. This would amount to less than 1lb per week overall, which is not unreasonable. I have significantly more weight than that to lose, but this will be a great start. I usually set weight loss goals to lose 2lbs per week and although I may have been able to lose 10lbs in 5 weeks before; it usually ends after that. I really want to see if I can meet this goal once and for all. If I can consistently lose weight (slowly, but steady) for the course of a year it will be an enormous accomplishment. 

Goal #3: Exercise at least 3 days per week. This will be much different than the last few years as well. This "exercise" can be anything that I can do at the moment. Right now, that may be just walking and that has got to be OK. This is where those small steps come in to play.  I need to be careful in regards to stressing my body so that my Crohn's can stay at bay. I am sure being physically active and losing weight will only help me in the long run (duh), but doing it too fast can tax my body too much and quickly put me in another flare.  

And that's it. I think those are the three most important things to focus on this year. Would I like to get back to doing races? Absolutely. However, I have no idea if that's realistic for me this year or not. However, if I can meet these goals AND stay healthy this year it will set the table for some lofty goals in 2015 and beyond. 

Farewell 2013. You beat the hell out of me, but you didn't break me. I hope that you all have a wonderful end to your 2013. And here's to an amazing 2014!

2013 Goals Revisited….part 2

In case you missed the first part for some reason you can find it here.

I left you with Goal #7 in the last post. So, let's continue….

Goal #8: Volunteer at the kids school more.
I have ABSOLUTELY met this goal! Not only have I started volunteering on a bi-monthly basis in the office at the elementary school; I have since gotten myself added to the substitute secretary list for the school district.

Goal #9 - Learn to chill. 
This is a tough one. Kind of like the eating out less and spending less goal, I think I've made some significant progress with this one. I actually think not working and spending more time being a mom has made me more patient with the kids. They still have the ability to get on my last nerve, but not like before and certainly not as quickly as before. Still a work in progress, but I'm definitely in a better place regarding my anxiety.

Goal #10 - Don't fall off the wagon the last 1-3 months of the year (or the first 1-3 for that matter)! 
Didn't do too well with this one. I fell off after being in the hospital in January (duh!)…and really haven't gotten back on yet.

Goal #11 - Find a new distance race for another instant PR. 
Didn't do it. But, I would like to do a 15k for my new distance once I get back there….

Goal #12 - Lose enough weight to do another marathon.
Clearly….no. This will continue to be a goal in my mind though.

Goal #13 - Consistently improve my running (and fitness in general) and keep improving until Jan. 1st 2014 (and then continue to improve after that).  
Broken record….didn't do this.

So there you have it. Clearly 2013 was a tough year and not many goals were met. I think I'll agree with my mom who said it's time to bid a farewell to 2013 and start with a clean slate for 2014. I will be coming up with my 2014 goals soon. I'm not going to be nearly as ambitious for next year. I won't be picking 14 goals for 2014 or anything like that. It's going to be hard, but I'm going to try to start small and work my way up. We'll see what I come up with…..

2013 Goals Revisited….part 1

So last year I wrote a post about my 2012 goals revisited. However, if you follow my blog at all or know me in real life, you know that 2013 was a rough year for me. Needless to say this post may not be quite as positive as last year's. Last year I also thought it would be fun to come up with 13 goals for 2013. Yea, that might not have been such a grand idea! I don't really know what I was thinking. When I composed that post I was feeling like crap and was getting worse every day. I think I was in complete denial and thought that if I could just snap out of it, I'd be able to meet lots of goals. Anyway, I'm going to divide this into two blog posts since it's 13 goals and I tend to get wordy anyway. You can thank me later!

So, without further ado let's recap my 13 goals for 2013 and see how I faired.

Goal #1: Take care of myself. 
Although it seems that I have successfully found the medication that seems to be working to put my Crohn's back into remission (knocking on wood); I let emotional eating and feeling sick get the best of me. In the process of going through my worst flare yet, I gained back all the weight I had lost and found an additional 6+ pounds. So, I met this goal because I actually stopped to take care of myself in regards to the Crohn's flare (even if I was completely forced to). But, I did not meet this goal because I did not take care of my health in any other way. I stopped exercising (for a while because I was too sick to exercise, but then because I was just lazy); and I ate like crap pretty much all year (well, when I could eat without feeling sick).

Goal #2: Lose some weight
See explanation above. I have no real excuse for this. I can blame some of the weight gain on the steroids that I had to be on for about 9 months of this calendar year. But, I can't blame the entire 35+ pounds that I've gained on that. I can blame the fact that I couldn't exercise at all from about January to March/April on the disease. But I can't blame the fact that I can't seem to get re-motivated to consistently workout currently on the disease.

Goal #3: Work towards a 2:30 half marathon and PR in the half marathon in 2013. 
With the way my 2013 started, there was pretty much no way I was going to meet this goal this year. I began my year with a week long hospital stay and didn't get better until almost April (and then got really sick again in August). I don't know that many people would recover from that to PR in a race. So, this is what it is and I will continue to put this on my "to-do" list!

Goals 4 & 5: Complete at least one sprint (4) and one Olympic (5) triathlon in 2013. 
Obviously that didn't happen either. This is going to be a trend throughout these posts because a LOT of my 2013 goals were fitness related. I couldn't do that this year. I did not complete a single race in 2013.

Goal 6: Eat out less. 
I'm not sure where I am on this goal. I think that overall I probably have eaten out less this year. Still not as little as we need to be so this will be something to continue to work on.

Goal #7: Spend less money.
Hmmm…I think that we really did meet this one (in some ways). I quit my job back in January when I was so sick, but I had actually planned to quit it in May anyways. I put this on my goal list in anticipation of leaving my job. Then, January happened and I decided I really couldn't stay until May. Given that we cut a significant amount of money off our income and are still surviving, I would say we've met this goal. But again, not as much as I would like. We need to continue to work on this as a family. Goes hand in hand with the eating out!

To be continued……..