Its that time of year when I reflect back on the goals I made for myself as a fresh new one is about to reveal itself. My 2017 goals and results:GOAL A: Arrange my schedule so that Ironman training takes priority. This is a real struggle for me, as I feel selfish putting myself first. I did pretty well at this up to IMCHOO. It did mean frequently rearranging my schedule to accommodate weather, vacations, Lou’s travel, and out-of-town guests, but I’d call it a success. My training immediately after IMCHOO took a nose dive partly because of my reaction to what happened there and partly because of the temporary work assignment. Since post-IM training wasn’t part of this goal, I’m going to call it met.
GOAL B: Do more workouts with friends and my triathlon club. I did only three events with them last year. I didn’t do as many as I had hoped at the beginning of the year, but I did more than the previous year, so I’m calling this met.
GOAL C: Spend one afternoon a week writing somewhere other than at home. I did this exactly zero times. I let everything else take priority over my writing, and got very little of it done this year. Although I failed miserably at this goal this year, I’ll be setting one similar for 2018. My characters are itching for me to get back to them.
GOAL D: Go to lunch, dinner, or happy hour with a friend at least once per month. I had a 50% success rate with this goal in 2017. The times I was able to get together with friends for purely social reasons was rewarding, so I may set it again next year, but be more aggressive about pursuing opportunities.
In addition to the goals above, here’s a little recap of what kept me busy in 2017 by the numbers:
455: Miles walked or hiked
2,288: Miles bicycled
638: Miles ran
84: Miles swam
40: Hours strength training
48: Hours volunteering
86: Books read
Here’s what kept me busy by the calendar:
February through forever: Training and playing with our new puppy
February: Vacation to North and South Carolina
March: Vacation to NOLA
April: Vacation to Poland
May: Kendra visits and Vacation to Cancun
July: Races in MA and NY; begin working part-time on temporary work assignment
September: Ironman Chattanooga; begin working full-time on temporary work assignment
December: Vacation to New Mexico and Texas
Now that I’ve reflected on the past year, and reaffirmed what’s important to me, I’m ready to set S.M.A.R.T 2018 goals. In no particular order, they are:
GOAL A: Read two books per month.
GOAL B: Surpass the 2017 miles in all disciplines and number of strength training hours.
GOAL C: Return to volunteering when the work assignment ends (est. early February).
GOAL D: Become an Ironman.
GOAL E: Complete the “Writing Great Fiction” course.
GOAL F: Finalize the first “Jersey” chapter book and send it to an illustrator.