Old Year, Old Goals, New Year, New Goals

I don't believe in resolutions. I think resolutions are "quick fixes" that people say they are going to do, and then they forget about them and have the same resolution year after year. "I resolve to lose weight. I resolve to make more money. I resolve to do this or do that." And come the following year they still have the same resolutions. It is why gyms see an increased number of enrollments in January.

I make goals and I try to achieve them.

In 2010 I made a goal to run a 5K. And I ran FOUR!

I started in March not being able to run 60 seconds. Now look where I am! In January I had no idea that I was going to go on this journey, so I wonder what journey I will go on THIS year!

My goals for 2011:

I am going to run a 5K in under 40 minutes. I just can't seem to break the 40 minute mark!

I am going to run a 4 miler and a 5 miler.

I am going to run a 10K.

And here is the big one... just planned last night and I have it picked out. I am going to train for and run the Hershey Half Marathon in October!!! I am so excited! The only thing that I can think of that will prevent me from doing this is a goal I've had for a while... to get pregnant. But I am going full steam ahead to run this half! I am so excited that I've made this goal!

I also want to start changing my eating. I am going to transition into clean eating over the next few weeks and try to cut down to 30 carbs a day, making sure the carbs I'm getting are good carbs. Even the husband is on board with this one (finally)!

Obviously I really want to get a contract teaching position and that is a HUGE goal for me this year (not that it wasn't in 2010). I pray that next Christmas will be MUCH happier than this Christmas.

I know this post is a few days early. I wanted to write it while I remembered. I hope that everyone has a HAPPY and HEALTHY 2011!

What goals did you complete in 2010? And what are YOUR 2011 goals?

Merry Christmas (Eve)

I know I've been a bad blogger and I haven't updated lately. It's been a very difficult month for my family and we just want to move past the holidays. I don't want to get into it on here because it is very personal, but prayers are appreciated.

However, I didn't intend for this to be a sad post. I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Be prepared for me to come back! I have a whole bunch of updates about races I've run, as well as new goals to post about!

For now, enjoy our family Christmas picture:

We are wishing you and your's a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Second 5K

I ran my 2nd 5K yesterday! It was the Hershey Halloween Hustle and I ran with my friend, Steph. I was sick the whole week leading up to the run, so I didn't get to get in my normal runs like usual, but I feel like I still did pretty good, all things considered. It was a COLD morning (30's), but it wasn't too bad of a race. The whole first half was up a hill, but it was beautiful. It was on a paved trail through the woods, next to a stream. We had to walk for a tiny bit, but for the whole run we maybe walked .1 of the whole 3.1 miles. If the first half was up hill, that meant the 2nd half was downhill! It was a GREAT second half. We were nice and warmed up and it was a beautiful run. We didn't beat our time from last time, which we were disappointed about, but we still are proud with how we ran. I am really looking forward to my next one, which is Thanksgiving morning!Here we are at the start. See the kid in the blue shirt behind us? He beat us. HAHA!

Coming up to the finish!

Jeff tried to be creative and get just me running in the picture.

FINISHED!

I am WOMAN, hear me ROAR! Haha!

Aww! :) I'm so glad Jeff was able to come watch this one! He was excited to see me run.

I've been a bad blogger!

My only excuse is that I've been crazy busy, but I come with a peace offering... pictures from my FIRST 5K!

Yesterday I ran my first 5K. Honestly, it wasn't my best run ever. Wednesday I ran 4 miles without walking once. And I felt like I could have gone more. Yesterday's 5K I had to stop and walk a couple of times. I was so mad. I can do it and I can't believe that I had to walk. I came in at 40:32. My goal was to come in around 40 or less and run the whole thing. I did the 40 part, but the running was disappointing. But I still ran pretty much all but .25 miles of the race, so I need to be proud of myself because in March I couldn't run 60 SECONDS without dying.
So here are some pictures!:

My brother in law is on the left, I am in the middle and my friend Steph is on the right. This was also Steph's first 5K and she did great! If it weren't for me, we probably would have ran the whole thing!

Here we go!

Action shot! This was not quite a mile in and already I was suffering. The whole race was up and down hills. The hills were TERRIBLE! I run a lot of hills around my neighborhood, but I also run down hills too. It seemed like this race was purposeful having us turn and run up another hill instead of down the hill. It was rough!

Here we come to the finish!

Here we are! Finished and tired!

We decided to go out and celebrate at an awesome crepe restaurant. YUMM! The guy in red is Steph's fiance, Craig, who was my husband's roommate in college and then Craig, Jeff and I rented an apartment together.

When we were freshened up and changed (and after we said goodbye to my brother-in-law) we went to a corn maze and pumpkin picking patch.

Inside the maze we had to find letters that spelled out TRACTOR MAC. We found all of them and got a free piece of fruit!

AND we made it out of the maze alive! :)

We grabbed a wagon and our free apples and went pumpkin picking.

Look at all of those pumpkins! We got 5 and our friends got 6 pumpkins.

What a fun fall day! We headed home and had stuffed chicken breasts and mashed potatoes and corn for dinner! YUM! It was overall a great day and I am proud I did my first 5K! I can't wait to do more and show myself that I can do better!

When I Said I Do...

I meant that I will,

forever and ever.

Be gracious and true,

devoted to you.

That's what I had in mind,

When I said I do."~Clint Black

I missed posting about it yesterday because I was taking a hiatus from my computer because yesterday was my anniversary!

Happy anniversary to the love of my life! I am so happy to be married to you! 9/22/07!

I love to run

I really do... I go back and forth, but I really love to run. And I would love to win this necklace to show people how much I like to run and to keep me motivated to run. You don't want to enter because of course you want me to win it, right? Ok, well enter at your own risk.

Day 11- A photo of you recently

This is a picture of me take by my husband on Needles Highway at an overlook taking beautiful pictures. Probably one of these: