2012 Goals - Recap

Yes, I know the year isn't over yet.  I could wait until the end of the year to give a recap on how my goals this year went but I've come to find out that I'm actually not a very patient person.

I haven't even pulled up my 2012 goals list in probably 10 months and pretty much forgot at least half of what was on there.  I was anxious to check it out and see how much I did accomplish and what fell by the waste side.  You can read about my excitement for the 2012 year back in January HERE!!  I was pretty excited about it!  After all, I said this year was going to be "my year!"  Um... yeah, ok.

So...how'd I do???  I give you...my 2012 goals!

2012 Goals
1. Make at least 1 recipe a week.  I live alone and cooking isn't always the first thing on my list.

- NO!!  This lasted about 5 weeks.  Goal major fail!

2. Do my daily stretching and knee strengthening exercises.  Since my doctor visit, I have become lazy and haven't been doing his prescribed exercises to help my knees, hips, IT band and hamstrings.

-  NO!! This did not happen during the first half of the year at all...which contributed to all the injuries I had this spring while training for the IL Marathon.  During the second half of the year, I've gotten somewhat better at the stretching aspect but it needs much work.  And since the Chicago Marathon, my stretching has gotten bad again!

3. Take my vitamins daily.  I have not taken my multi-vitamin since the marathon!  I also need to take iron pills (since I'm borderline anemic). Right now, I should be taking vitamin C also.
 
- NO!! This also did not happen as discussed in May when I found out I had some major anemia and vitamin D deficiencies.  Since May, I have gotten much better at taking my supplements (I mean, it was really absolutely necessary!  I could barely function properly). My goals are not looking well so far.

4. Stop drinking pop.  My stomach feels much better when I'm not drinking any pop, especially diet coke!  Also, drinking pop ends up interfering with the amount of water I drink (see #5).

- YES/NO!!  I actually accomplished this 100%...all the way through the end of April when I ran the IL Marathon!  Then I splurged on pop...and well, the rest is history.  During the summer, I tried stopping again, but ...I'm back to it.

5. Drink a minimum of 6 glasses of water a day.  I've really been slacking on my water!  I used to be one that drank water all day long!  Now it's hard for me to get in the min. 6 glasses every day!  Especially since running the marathon, I think I got burned out on drinking water!

- NO!!  This was also a major fail while training for the IL Marathon during the first part of the year (Yes, I did everything wrong while training for it), which also contributed to my injuries while training for this marathon.  I've also improved on my water consumption.

6. Track all the miles I run this year.  I started using dailymile.com and I'm really excited about this for some reason!

- YES!!!  FINALLY something I actually did this year that was on my goal list!  I've been tracking my daily miles on dailymile.com as well as a spreadsheet by my FNRC group.  These do not match up (which is bothering my OCD-ness) but all-in-all, it comes out pretty close.  Almost to 1,000 miles for the year.  This is the first time I've tracked my miles and it's rather interesting to see.

7. Get a PR for my half marathon in July.  My old PR was 2:13+.  Right now, I'm just going to shoot for under 2:10.  Due to training for my marathons, I don't want to injure myself with pushing too hard with going for a half marathon PR that's too tough.  Any PR will be acceptable for this!  Ultimate goal PR for a half is to get under 2 hours!  Maybe I'll shoot for that next year (although it's really hard not to try for it this year!).

- YES!!  I didn't have high hopes for ANY PR's this year after the way my first half of the year went.  And I had decided if I was to PR nothing, I would want to at least PR the full marathon, which is where I ended up setting my sights.  And sure enough, when you stop thinking of PR'ing...  I PR'd my half marathon at the River Run Half Marathon in Cleveland, Ohio on 9/9/12 by about 4 minutes!

8. Get a PR for a 5k.  My quickest 5k time was 27:55 (Nov 2010).

- (????)  The year is almost over and I had given up on a 5k PR since I couldn't do any speed training until recently.  This doesn't mean I don't try my hardest but I typically don't run 5k's so hopes weren't high...and the summer was too hot for me to PR my 5k anyway!  But...I have one 5k left (Sunday), so we shall see about this one.  Yes, it would make more sense to do this blog post after but like I said...I'm not patient.

9. Get a PR for a marathon.  I'm planning on doing the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon in April and also the Chicago Marathon again in October.  I'd love to PR for both but especially for the Chicago Marathon since that was the first one I did last year!  My goal is to get as close to 4:30 as possible.  Ultimate goal is to break the 4:30 mark.

- YES!!  I PR'd the Chicago Marathon by about 9 minutes!  As much as I didn't get closer to 4:30 (official time was 4:44:54) and I was slightly disappointed about that...I'm just so happy that I did manage to have a good marathon with a PR.  With some changes, next fall's marathon will be mine!  (Not Chicago btw).

6. Another goal which shall remain nameless....this is for me only...I know, it's like a cliff hanger!

- Um...probably not a good idea to leave a goal nameless...I can't remember what this one is!!  Let's just say I accomplished it then!  Haha!


I also listed that I wanted to do a triathlon.  I did accomplish this goal but not the way I wanted.  I did an indoor triathlon in February and was signed up to do a sprint triathlon in August ...when I dislocated my shoulder 3 weeks prior and therefore, couldn't compete.  But the indoor triathlon counts.  And I placed 2nd in my age group (first ever age group award).  I'll list this as a success.

I saw a bunch of February goals too that I listed.  Ugh.  I wrote about my iron in that post and how I'm constantly tired and my arm gets numb.  WHAT WAS MY PROBLEM!  Why did I not pay attention to this more and waited all the way until May before finding out that my iron was so low I almost needed iron injections!  Note to self:  listen to your gut.

Interesting.  Some goals I didn't accomplish but they are things that can always be worked on.  I strive for progress...not perfection.  And what turned out to be a crappy race season in the beginning of the year (due to injuries, the excessive heat, etc)... turned into a pretty great race season by the end!

PR'd...
4-mile run (11/22/12...Poultry Predictor Turkey Trot)
10-mile run (11/10/12...Chicago's Perfect 10)
Full Marathon (10/9/12...Chicago Marathon)
Half Marathon (9/9/12...River Run Half Marathon)


...Hm...Looks like there is room for another PR.  What do you think?  PR in September. PR in October.  2 PR's in November.  Missing December...

Again, there is always room for improvement, and as I said in my last post...I'm working on it.  Life would be pretty uneventful if you had nothing to work towards!

(I also desperately need to update my upcoming races list!!)