July Goal Update!

Goal: Train for and run the following races: Jaeger Run for Pride, Dash for Donation, Emerald City quarter marathon, and the half at the Columbus Marathon.
Status: Successfully ran the Jaeger Run for Pride.  Race recap is here.  I actually don’t know if I’ll get to the Dash for Donation because of my new work schedule.  I already registered for it, unfortunately.  We’ll see if I can work something out. I am also considering the 5 or 10k at the Giant Eagle MultiSport Festival, but I haven’t decided yet.

Goal: Strength train 3x a week.
Status: I win this time! I win! I officially went back to the gym a week ago today. So I was in Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  That’s four days of strength training, including one day with my trainer.  I also did cardio all of those days, sometimes once at the gym and a short run later in the day. I cannot tell you how awesome it is to be lifting heavy things again.  I started out light, but I am already making progress.  I am also more actively using Fitocracy… find me here.  I am still a little frustrated that I can’t log everything I do because they don’t list all of my exercises.  All of that is besides the point: GOAL ACCOMPLISHED, at least for this past week.

Goal: Write every day.
Status: Ugh. At least I’ve been reading more…

Goal: Read at least one book a month.
Status: I finished  Storm of Swords in record time.  The last A Song of Ice and Fire book took me forever to read.  It was like slogging through a nightmare of awful things happening.  This third book still had awful things (give up all hope for anyone you ever liked), but it went a lot faster. Once finishing that, I started The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I have seen part of the movie, but would like to read it before finishing the rest.  So far, so good.

Goal: Budget! Budget! Budget!
Status:  Because of my recent job changes, I have worked extra hard to stay on top of my budget. I didn’t do too badly in June, really.  I overdid it a little with the purchase of my new running shoes and some other miscellaneous clothing that I needed, but other than that, I have ended up in a pretty good spot.  If I made no income for July, I could still pay my bills and buy groceries, etc without dipping into my savings, so I think I’m not in bad shape at all.  Any income I make will be helpful and relieve stress, but at least I know I can do it regardless.

I will say also about budgeting that I think I have made a small breakthrough thanks to YNAB (who, by the way, came out with a new version that is AWESOME). I took another one of their free classes and it really got my brain on the right track, as in: look at the budget first. Thanks, YNAB!

Goal: Try something new once a month.
Status:  So for June, I quit my job.  I am coming up on the end of my two weeks of summer FUNemployment, which is a sad thing.  I am onto bigger and better things though, so I am super excited about that.

Goal: Gratitude.
Status: Did a little bit better. If you’ve been following my Twitter at all, you may have seen some #gratitudeproject tweets pop up.  I was especially grateful for my family and friends and all their support.  It has been really awesome.  I am going to continue with this goal since I think it’s been helping my outlook on life.

Goal: Actively work to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.
Status: This links directly into gratitude, I think.  Since I’m starting a new job and starting school next month, I think that it’s time to get myself mentally prepared for the coming inevitable ups and downs.  I was so long in a bad situation that I need to make sure that I’m going into the new ones with a good attitude.

Here’s to July!

May Update!

Goal: Train for and run the quarter marathon at Cap City and the half-marathon at Nationwide.
Status: Cap City COMPLETE! Full race recap to come! I have already chosen at least two other races for the next couple of months as well.  I’ve got race fever!  I am still hoping to do the half in October, but I’d like to know that I can actually do it before I register.  Walking part of 6.55 is one thing, but 13.1 is another.

Goal: Strength train 3x a week.
Status: As of last week, I was told by my physical therapist I could slowly get back into some “gentle gym time.” I’m hoping to go either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Goal: Regularly donate to charity and start volunteering.
Status: Did my first volunteering activity at Planned Parenthood!

Goal: Write every day.
Status: Completely neglected except for what you see here. Ugh.

Goal: Read at least one book a month.
Status: Slowed down on the reading trend.  Happened across Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. So far, it is really good.  Now I just need to take more time to read it.

Goal: Save money/budget reboot!
Status: This tied into the April edition of Something New. I will be giving a follow-up on that shortly.

Goal: Try something new once a month.
Status:  For April, I tried to live like I did three years ago. This did not go as planned. It’s strange to think about how different things are in such a short period of time. May’s something new takes place on Thursday. You’ll have to check back for it. 🙂

Goal: Gratitude.
Status: This is my new goal for May. I am going to post at least twice a week in some form (Twitter, Facebook, or on the blog) something that I am grateful for. I have been thinking about this a lot lately.  Some days recently haven’t felt very inspiring (so to speak), so I think this will help put some things into perspective.

Happy May!