Three Things Thursday, Goals Edition ...

I've always been the type of person that does well with goals. I attribute that to the fact that I tend to see them as endpoints with a predetermined route. They are not suggestions. Or wishes. Or dreams. Instead, they are my finish line and I just need to do the things along the way to make it there. And although I have many goals for 2011, they all fall into one of three categories.

Personal:

• Clean up my diet - I lost 70 pounds in 2004 and other than during pregnancies, have maintained quite well. But, my diet sucks. (Seriously. I ate 48 600-800 calorie cupcakes in 2010). I am a notorious calorie counter. I know how much I need each day to maintain my weight, but I often use up those calories with low-quality foods (i.e. sweets). And I am done with it.
• Eat no more than 25 cupcakes - This really goes with the first one. I know I can't go cold turkey from cupcakes, so instead, I am cutting my quota in half.

Financial:

• Pay off our consumer debt by the end of the year - As I mentioned before, J and I have gone to a cash only budget. It has been working and is helping to show me that all the things I thought I NEEDED were really just things I would LIKE to have.
• Spend $0 on clothing - A few months ago, I whittled my wardrobe down to 35 items (running gear excluded). And have LOVED it. I have everything I need and I have zero unused items. (And we all know I have more than enough to run in ...) Because of this, I feel like I can make it a year without spending anything on clothing. However, this is not to say, I won't get any new pieces. I probably will, but they will either be given to me or purchased with a gift card.

Running:

• Run 2,000 miles - This one seems kind of daunting, but not impossible. In 2009, I ran 921 miles. As of this morning, I have run 1797.87 in 2010 (and I have 10 more on the schedule). I figure if I managed to add 880 mile this year, I can surely add 200 in 2011.
• Run a sub 1:55 half marathon - I should have this one in the bag, but it is going to be more of a mental challenge than a physical one for me. All of my current PRs from the 5K to 10 miles put me under this time. I just need to believe I can do it.
• Take 30+ minutes off my marathon - I have yet to have everything go right on marathon day and my PR reflects it (4:49), leaving me to believe that shaving a half hour or more off my time is not only possible, but realistic. I mean, really. 5K PR puts my goal marathon time at 3:43:24 and my half marathon PR puts it at 4:04:43. It's going to come together in 2011.

2010 goals: accomplished

2010 was a pretty big year for me and my family.

I became certified as a running coach and started my own training business. I was also fortunate enough to travel quite a bit for races, toeing the line in Bermuda, Florida, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Indiana, Illinois and Washington. We went to Disney. Twice. J ran his first (and second) half marathon. Dizzle and Doodle each ran their first race, a mile and a half mile, respectively. Dizzle also started kindergarten and lost two teeth. Dilly learned to walk and talk. Simply put, 2010 didn't suck.

When the year started, I put in place a few goals to keep me motivated throughout the year. Here's how they turned out -

• run 1000 miles - accomplished on 8/14, as of this morning I sit at 1787.87 on the year.
• run a 2 hour half marathon - accomplished on 9/26 at the You Go Girl! Half where I was paced by Tall Mom to a 1:58:02
• run a sub-25 5K - accomplished first on 5/29 at the Autism 5K (24:09) and again last Sunday (22:55)
• run a sub 7:10 mile - accomplished, sort of. I never did the mile time trial I wanted to, but my last mile of Sunday's 5K was a 7:08. I'm counting that.
• eat less than 50 cupcakes - accomplished, as of today I have had 48 cupcakes this year. It scares me to think of how many calories that adds up to or how much cash I spent on them (they run $3.25 each).

Not too shabby, right? Now I just need to think of some goals to help make 2011 even better ...

untapped speed ...

On Sunday, I was supposed to run my last race of 2010 - a 5K. I was super excited for it. After a fantastic 8K PR in November and a strong base established, I was primed to run fast. Plus, the 5K is a distance that I LOVE, but never seem to build into my race schedule.

So, I was all set. Uber-cute outfit picked out. Mental game on point. And despite running 24 miles in the two days prior, I felt strong. I was going to crush my PR (24:09). But then, it snowed.

And for the first time in a VERY long time, I wasn't a "runner first, logical thinker second." J didn't want me to drive to the race (honestly, the roads were bad) and I actually listened to him - taking my first DNS EVER.

I was totally bummed. I wanted, no, NEEDED to know how fast I could run. So, I put on my uber-cute outfit and hit the treadmill for my own Christmas 5K.

I set the treadmill incline to 1%. I hit the button for the pace I was hoping to run (7:30) and I was off. The first mile was comfortable, so I pushed it a little. But still, mile two seemed to fly by, so I sped up again. And when I finished, the display looked like this ...

Yeah, that's right. 22:55 (7:23 pace). A 1:14 improvement over my 5K PR from May. And then I started thinking that maybe Mel's right. I might have some untapped speed in me after all ...

our Disney Christmas ...

Like I mentioned before my little hiatus, J and I surprised our girls with a trip to Disney for Christmas. When we loaded up the car early on the morning of the 15th, they didn't really know what to expect and we didn't really know how they'd react, so we videotaped it. Personally, I think the reaction we got was pretty funny. Dizzle freaked. Doodle cried (not because she was so happy, but because Dizzle figured it out first). And Dilly barely even noticed. Typical.

So, do you want to see it? Thought so. (Note: When Dizzle's guesses that we were going to see Katye, she meant Katye from Long Legs on the Loose. And watch the video of the end. The last thing Dizzle says makes me laugh every time.)



Good stuff, right?

Once we arrived in Orlando (we were also joined by my mom and sister, Angie Pants), our "relaxing" vacation became anything but. We spent almost every waking minute at the parks getting our fill of rides, shows, attractions and unhealthy foods. It was magical.

Over the course of our nine day trip we ...

swam.

ate things like this (I did manage to run 37 miles to counteract these indulgences).

went on safari.

traveled by boat.

waited.

posed.

kept our kids up WAY past their bedtimes.

reconnected.

goofed around.

played.

played.

and played some more.

took the best family portrait ever.

Every second of our trip was amazing. Well, mostly. Those two days when Dizzle had a stomach bug and was puking here and there, kind of sucked (and yes, I am a horrible mother and filled her up on Pepto and Motrin and made her suck it up. And be honest. You'd probably would have done the same.)

Anyway, this trip reaffirmed a few things for us.
1. There is no question that Dizzle and Doodle are adrenaline junkies. They LOVED Tower of Terror, Big Thunder Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Expedition Everest.
2. Dilly proved that she is an endurance athlete in the making. Her 23 month old legs WALKED the vast majority of the time.
3. J and I are big kids. We had as much, if not more fun than the girls.
4. I am done with giving the girls "things." I would MUCH rather give them these experiences. To show them the world and create memories that they will cherish for so much longer than some gift they unwrap on Christmas morning. And I know that if they really thought about it, they'd feel the same. Trust me. I saw their faces when they saw Cinderella's castle light up ...

oh, to be five ...

Most little kids are thankful for their mom and dad, their pets and maybe even their favorite toys. But not my kid. Here are the four things Dizzle is most thankful for ...

Yup, that's right.

FLOWERS. BUTTERFLIES. THE SUN. OUR HOUSE.

Apparently, Dizzle is borderline hippie and I just didn't know it. I mean, if she wasn't going to choose her family as her favorite thing, couldn't she at least have chosen her running shoes? I'd get that choice ...

All joking aside, I am very thankful for the things in my life too. And I am especially thankful that this time tomorrow we will be en-route to Disney. We are about to surprise our girls with the ultimate Christmas present and will be making memories to last a lifetime. Memories that I will share here. Eventually. Like after we return ...

So, until then, may you all have a Merry Christmas!

some days being a parent stinks ...

Disclaimer: If you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip this post all together. Don't say I didn't warn you ...

Note to self:

A: Do not allow your three-year-old to ingest 12 or more ounces of Egg Nog while shopping at BJ's.

B: Do not tell your child to "deal with it" when she says, "Mom, my tummy hurts. And it hurts more when you push on it."

C: ALWAYS have an extra box of baking soda on hand, because y0u never know when ignoring A and B will lead to this ...

Thanks Doodle. At least you kept most of it on the hardwoods ...

5 miles ...

For the first two years of my running, I think I had a mental block. I averaged 10 minute miles on my training runs whether I was running two miles or 20. I can't be sure why that happened, but looking back on it, I am starting to suspect it was because I "told" myself that that was the pace I could run.

But about eight months ago, I started to "run slower, to run faster." I found the proper pace zones based on my PRs at the time and I stuck to them. I built my mileage base. I stopped running every training run at the same speed. I became more deliberate in my training. And over the course of months, I saw myself (and my training posse) get faster.

The other day, G and I were talking about how "9 minute miles are the new 10 minute miles." And how without us even realizing it, we have managed to up our game. Obviously, we realized that our times were dropping, but we hadn't paid attention to how far we had come since this time last year (kind of like someone who loses a ton of weight, but they don't "see" it because the loss has been gradual for them).

Yesterday, we ran our five mile loop. The same five mile loop our group runs twice a week. When we finished, my Garmin read an average pace of 8:51. And we talked THE WHOLE TIME. All I could think was, "8:51? That's nuts. There was a time in the not so distant past when 8:51 would have been 5K race pace for me."

That's when I decided to go back and see the progression of pace over this five mile course. And here's what I found ...

On 9/8, we averaged 10:12
On 10/5, we averaged 9:49
On 10/26, we averaged 9:40
On 11/30, we averaged 9:19
and on 12/9, we averaged 8:51

And the intensity remained the same ...

So, what does this show me? Well, two things. First, that if you want to improve, you need to be deliberate about your training. And second, if you want to improve, you need to BELIEVE that you can improve.