Goals - looking back and looking forward

A few years back I stopped making "resolutions". It seems like I would always ramp myself up the last weeks of the year, only to be let down once January got here. I always had these hopes of how much better my life would be. Of course, the resolutions were always the same - lose weight, be more organized, pay off bills, be nicer. I never do any of that stuff anyway! I finally decided that if I wanted something different in my life, I would make the change today, no matter what the date was. No more waiting for January 1st. If you want something different, something better, why wait a single day to get it.

Nowadays, I look at the new year as a marker. It is a time to look back over a period of time and review things. It is also a time to think about what I want in the coming year. I usually put down some goals for the year. Here are my goals for 2010 - let's see how I did...

1. Continue to promote our businesses and a healthy lifestyle to our customers. We are promoting some events in 2010 - a half marathon, a 10k/5k, two triathlons. I want to do more of that. We are also getting our triathlon coaching certifications in January.

We did this! I feel that we touched more people this year than ever before. We got our coaching certifications in January and trained a group of people for their first triathlon this summer. We promoted a half marathon, a 2.5 mile parade run and a triathlon - not as many events as I had planned, but I am thrilled with the ones we did. We met a lot of new people and saw our customers achieve some amazing things.

2. I want 2010 to surpass 2009 as the fittest year ever! August will bring the Ironman Canada. My goal is to spend all year training for this event and to complete it under the time limit, be safe, feel good and be happy with my performance.

Without a doubt, this was the fittest year ever!! 4 marathons and an Ironman. Sometimes it even surprised me!

3. We have two marathons before the Ironman, one in April, one in June. I want both to be better times than my Portland time in October (5 hours 14 minutes).
We actually did 3 marathons before Ironman - two were under 5 hours and 14 minutes - my best time being 5 hours and 4 minutes. The other was 5 hours and 17 minutes!

4. Spend time with our pets every single day.

This was a tough year with the pets. We said goodbye to Wookie and Gus. I was able to spend a lot of time with them and with the other pets. I love our animals so very much and feel so blessed to have them in our lives.

5. I would like to make a trip back east this year. Its been too long since I've been back there and I miss it.

This didn't happen. Maybe next year.

Now...what's on the list for 2011 (how can it be 2011?)

1. Increase my speed. I want this to be the year of the sub-5 hour marathon. I start training in January for that. I would also like to complete at least one Half Iron distance triathlon in under 7 hours, dare I say - under 6:30.

2. I really want to work on my swimming. I want the fear and anxiety to lessen this year. I completed the Ironman swim this year. I have that on my swimming resume now. I really want that to help, I want to draw on that accomplishment when I am feeling scared or anxious. I know that I will speed up if I calm down.

3. I want to win my age group at the Girls and Dudes Triathlon in July. Last year I came in second, by 10 seconds. This year I want to win.

4. I want to end 2011 with the same feeling of accomplishment I have at the end of 2010.

5. Give all my love to my pets every single day. We lost two of our fur babies this year. I loved them every minute of every day as their time drew near. I want to give that same kind of love to the rest of the pets. I don't want the mundane things in life to be more important. If they want my attention, I will give it to them.

There are many other things I want to accomplish this year, but these 5 are the big ones. This has been a good year, I look forward to more of the same in 2011.