December Goals

And recap of November goals

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So who else is still recovering from Thanksgiving? 🙌 I feel like it was just yesterday I was flipping my office calendar to the November view, and now it's already December?! Who authorized that?! Of course that means it's time for a monthly goals recap and new goals!

Recap of November Goals:

First, a confession: I feel like I didn't succeed in any of my goals this month. There were little victories, but nothing that felt like a solid check in the win column. But it's okay: December is another chance for new goals.

Writing

Post three times a week. I totally missed this mark the second week of November when I only posted once that week (😱!) but after that major slip I was strict with myself and pushed to post three times a week (I even had them on a regular schedule: M/T/F at 7pm!)

Photography

Work hard on some upcoming gigs. Check and check! I loved taking photos of the McGinn-Sadler family and the Spurling family for their holiday cards! Have I mentioned recently I love doing photography? Oh yeah. I love doing photography.

Come up with a game plan for 2017. Whomp whomp, but I've been brainstorming plenty of fun things to do, explore, and capture on photos.

Running/Fitness

Race the Richmond half marathon! Yes! And this is one solid check in the win column! If you missed it, the race report is available here.

Climb at least once a week. Unfortunately this just didn't work out because I was seriously under the weather after the race and because of scheduling issues between me and my climbing partner. We climbed at least once a week most weeks, but we missed one week in November. Ah well, we'll get it figured out and back on track :)

Opt Outside. I mean, what else do you do with a four-day vacation but spend it outside the whole time? (Okay, three-day vacation, but you know, family deserve some love and attention on Thanksgiving too.)

Travel

Check out Richmond. Yes, we did this a bit, but there was so much more of Richmond to see! We only saw a tiny fraction of the exciting sights that were on my radar, so I need to spend a couple more weekends up there. Hello, extended weekends in the spring!

Personal

Don't go bonkers. Heh. The end of the year seems to be the most stressful time of year when you work in software development and you promise in June that you'll totally get another release or two out by the end of the year. It seems totally reasonable, totally achievable, and then time just slips away from you until you and the development team are pulling your hair out by Thanksgiving. Did I not go bonkers this month? Debatable.

Make at least two dishes using recipes from "Run Fast, Eat Slow." Gahhh fail. I'm not sure I did anything in the kitchen this month except bake some pies for Thanksgiving. Of course all that turkey and stuffing has made me absolutely crave some lighter, healthy options with plenty of dark greens, so I'll have to break out that "Run Fast, Eat Slow"* cookbook so I can appreciate all the goodness from the Shalane and Elyse event over and over again.

Read at least two books. Ha! Hahahahaha. Oh man. I didn't even finish one book this month. I made it through a bunch of magazines though, does that count? (I needed to make a dent in a pile of magazines in my living room so I don't look like a hoarder; seriously, it was a bigger priority!)

So I can't say this was my most successful month, but that's why we make goals, right - so we can work to improve, even if we occasionally fall short? Right??

At least I've got December now.

December Goals:

Writing

Let's try the whole "post three times a week" goal again. It was a good challenge to push myself to do stick with it through the November holidays, so let's see how I can stay on top of posts for December.

Photography

Explore the area for some nice photos of holiday lights. I don't do a lot of night or low light photography, and I figure all the holiday lights will be a good chance for me to experiment a bit.

Come up with a game plan for 2017. Since, you know, it's now the last month of 2016 I guess I ought to get this done. ☺️

Running/Fitness

Maintain half marathon fitness. I might have to get creative with this, but my biggest worry after a race is taking too much time off (especially in December!) and losing fitness. I was good and went for a 6 mile and then 7.5 mile run the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I just need to make sure I keep making time for some long runs and the occasional speedwork. Totally doable in the cold and during the holiday season, right?

Climb at least once a week. It's not a lack of desire to do this; it really is just fitting it in, which means I should keep making it a goal and a priority and try try try again.

Do some strength training. If it ever gets cold outside I know I'll be whiny about having to run outside, so let's make a game plan that if it's nasty and cold outside then I can focus on strength training. (Does this count as building in a cop out option for another goal?)

Travel

Plan and execute a vacation in the time between Christmas and New Year's. Every year I get an awesome chunk of time off work when my office is closed from Christmas to New Year's Day. Previous years I went backpacking in the cold on Mt. Mitchell and went to Italy with McCrae and his dad. I've got another itch for another exciting trip, so now I just have to plan it and then make it a reality. (Oh no, I'm not a procrastinator at alllllll, what makes you say that??)

Personal

Just survive. I just have to make it to Christmas and it will all be fine, right?

Make at least one dish from "Run Fast, Eat Slow." I'm craving some radicchio, so maybe it will actually happen this month?

Catch up on all the old copies of "Backpacker" and "Runner's World" magazines I've got stacked in a pile in the living room. Maybe I'll even plan a summer backpacking trip or figure out my spring race while I'm at it!

December is an ambitious month to set goals because there's so much else going on, so we'll see how this goes! What about you? Do you have any goals?