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!