Happy 2013!

Happy New Year!

Cookie and I went out for our first run of 2012 this morning.  It was a grey day with a few flakes of snow in the air, but not too cold at -4C (25F).  This past week I've been fighting off a cold and taking the extra sleep in the morning rather than running before work.  Cookie felt the effects of not running all week and was in this position for most of the afternoon:

It is at this time of year that most people look back at their goals from the year before and set new ones for the year ahead.  I'm having trouble doing that.  For one thing, I know I didn't come close to hitting my mileage goal in 2012.  I signed up for a half marathon but didn't run it.  In fact, I didn't run a single race all year.  I didn't run much at all last winter, and after a few stops and starts in the spring, built slowly all summer.  I think my longest run of the year was 10K last January!  I'm not really sure though because I rarely blogged, only sometimes logged my miles, and wore my Garmin only when I felt like it.

That's about all I want to dwell on 2012.  Moving on!

But moving on to what?

Good question.  These days I'm pretty comfortable with running 5K, but am a lot slower than I was.  We've been out snow shoeing every weekend, and I put my ski pass to use for the first time on New Year's Day.  (Ever tried skijoring?)  I've been doing yoga at least once a week for the past couple of months, and until the temperature dropped at Christmas, I was doing well at getting up and heading out for a pre-work run in the dark 3 days a week.  I've also signed up for a once-a-week, 5-7K, after work running group starting this month.  After starting a new job last month, I feel like I'm getting into a bit of a routine, and it's good.

But what's next?  Here's the next segment of my non-plan plan:

Step 1:  Start building my long run towards 10K.

Step 2:  Evaluate the following options in mid-February:
            a)  Stay at 10K for long run distance and work on speed
            b)  Build mileage for a half marathon in May.

I am just going to take this year month by month.  No long term plans...yet.  I do want to get back into the habit of blogging and tracking my miles.  I don't like that I don't know how far I went last year. And I do want to run at least one race this year, but I'm not ready to commit to a distance.

I also want to get my money's worth out of my ski pass.  I'm hoping I like the guided night ski this week and will continue to go at least twice a month until the end of the snow.

Last but not least, I want to keep snow shoeing in the winter and hiking in the summer with the BF and the dogs every Sunday.  I think we made it out 48 of 52 weeks last year.

I feel like I should have some long term eating/living goals for the year, but I think I'm going to take those month by month too.  With starting a new job in December, and it being my first job in an office away from home in over five years, I've realized how easy I had it for meal planning for so long.  And by that I mean, that I didn't really meal plan, because I could take a 20 minute break mid-afternoon each day to run to the store and get that night's supper.  Then when I was off work, I indulged in making more complex meals, baking my own bread, making pasta from scratch, and lots (and lots) of desserts.  It was nice having all day to get dinner ready, but those days are over.  In January, I want to develop a habit of making a weekly menu, and doing a weekly shopping trip.  I know it sounds basic, but old habits are hard to break!

The only other thing I really want to focus on this year is my friends.  Most of my friends, the ones that know me the best, live in a different time zone.  You wouldn't think 3 hours would be a big deal, but it is.  Over the past couple of years, I've found that I speak with my friends in Ontario less and less, and I miss them.  This year I want to speak to one friend a week.  I'm going to tell you who I talked to in my weekly update.

Yes, I want to read more, maintain work/life balance as I settle in to my new job, eat healthier snacks, be kinder to others and myself, save more money, blah, blah, blah.  But I'm taking it one month at a time.  We'll see how this goes.