Goals.

I like to take time on the last day of the year to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and to set goals for the upcoming year.  I feel very strongly that goals work if you set them and don’t forget them.  This year I feel very good about what I was able to do, and I’m excited about what the New Year will bring.

Running

In looking back on this year, I am so very grateful that I committed to running.  It has completely changed my life.  I am not the same person I was a year ago.  I am thinner, more confident and definitely more at peace.  When I find myself getting stressed out, I now know I can go for a run and feel a sense of contentment I never knew I had in me.   Running creates a sense of empowerment, especially distance running.  I am so grateful for the first time I ran 8 miles and fell in love with running.

This year I kept track of every mile I ran.  Here are my stats for the year:

The races I ran this year:

* The asterisks represent the races that my body was in a pregnant state.  The Maine Coast Half Marathon was 10 days after D&C surgery.

I wasn’t able to improve on my running times during the course of the year, but compared to last year I have improved greatly.  I knocked 10 minutes off of my 10k time, and 5 minutes off of my 5k time from last year.  Next year, after I reach my goal weight, I will focus on improving my speed.  I’d like to be able to run 10 minute miles on the long runs by the end of the year.

I plan to run 10 races this year:

Weight Loss

I lost 19 pounds this year.  Although I am a little bit disappointed, I am aware that I lost nearly 3 months of training and weight loss during the pregnancy/extended miscarriage saga, so I really shouldn’t beat myself up.    19 pounds is really pretty good.   I’ve also lost 3.2% of fat.  I’ve dropped two sizes and I am very happy with myself in general now.  I won’t allow myself to get complacent, however, because I really want to get to my goal weight in 2011.  I’m so close, I only have 25 more pounds to lose to be at my goal.

My goal is not that far away, so I will focus my efforts on weight loss.  That involves lots of running!  I have to get my mileage up to 20 miles a week and I need to be incredibly mindful of everything I eat.  I need to add more protein, I definitely don’t get enough.  And I have to eat more vegetables.

I think it’s as simple as this:

1. Run more miles
2. Keep track of my calories and keep them at or below 1500 per day.
3. Eat more lean protein (fish and chicken)
4. Eat more vegetables

That really should do it.  The other stuff (avoid processed food, sugar, bad fats) is pretty obvious and something I already try to do every day.   I am so close to where I want to be, I just need to step it up for the first half of this year to get to where I want to be.

I plan to focus the first half of the year on weight loss.   I will do some speed work to try to get faster at running but it will not be my focus.  Once I have reached my goal weight, I will spend more time on doing speed work.

Have you set goals for 2011?  I find the sense of accountability that comes from telling people my goals really keeps me focused on acheiving them.  Feel free to use the comments below to publish your goals.

Here’s to a healthy, happy and successful 2011!