Resolutions vs. Goals

It's that time of year again! Time to look ahead to the new year. Everyone resolves to be a better version of themselves. It's important to start the new year off on the right foot.

Do you make resolutions? Or do you set goals?

Resolutions? They're usually pretty loose. This time of year so many people make resolutions like: "I want to lose weight" or "I want to get in shape". The thing with resolutions...there's never an end point. I read somewhere that only 10% of people who make resolutions actually keep them.

I'm a goal setter. If you're a regular reader, you probably already know that. The thing I like about goals is that they are objective and measurable. Goals are achievable. You do it, it's done.

I set 5 big goals at the beginning of 2015. Let's see how I did. 

-Stay injury free. This was a huge, open goal. But totally measurable. Was I injured? Or not? I can honestly say that I ran 99% of this year injury free. Now I'm dealing with plantar fasciitis. I'd consider it a minor injury. I worked really hard with my coach Becky to strengthen my muscles and prevent any major injuries from happening. I don't know that I could have prevented PF. I consider this goal a win. I'm still running, after all...

-Run a sub-4 hour marathon. I did not achieve this goal. As hard as I trained for my 3rd Chicago marathon, prior to running the race, I revised my goal to finish under 4:30. During marathon training, I did not have one confidence building long run the entire summer. Instead of disappointing myself and letting all that hard work go to waste, I finished Chicago strong at 4:25:53. This in spite of struggling with a migraine and some shortness of breath. I paced myself well. Am I disappointed? Well, 4:00 is my BQ. But in light of how my training went and how I felt during the race? I was really happy about my finish time. But I won't lie. I still would love to BQ. This just wasn't my time.

Chicago Marathon 2015

-Run a sub-2 hour half marathon. Done. In fact, I ran 4 of them this year! In March, I was supposed to run the Sarasota Half Marathon, but ongoing mama drama forced me to defer that race and stay home. Instead, I found a local half, the Get Lucky 21k on the same day and signed up. Not only did I hit my goal of a sub 2 half, I PR'd that race and got 2d in my AG with a time of 1:52:08. The heat training I did for Sarasota clearly paid off.

Get Lucky half marathon Chicago 2015

There were a few more halfs.

There was the Great Western Half, where I finished at 1:55:37 and got 2d in my AG again!

Great Western Half Marathon 2015

In September, I ran the very hilly Alpine Runners Half marathon as a warm up to the Chicago marathon and finished 1:55:58. No AG award here, but not vomiting was a win for me.

My partner in crime this year, Sara with me at the Alpine Runners Half Marathon in September

And in November, I summoned up that post marathon fitness and ran a last minute Schaumburg Half Marathon, finishing strong with a 1:52:32. Clearly there are some fast old ladies out there because I came in 6th in my AG. No matter. I was thrilled with my finish! Training? What's that?

Schaumburg Half Marathon

-Manage the mama drama. How do you measure this goal? This seems like more of a resolution, now that I look at it. 2015 was rough for my husband and me, from the parenting perspective. Parenting teens is not for the wimpy. After some really, really bad months last winter with my oldest, we seem to be heading in a positive direction. He graduated from high school (early!) in December and is starting at the local community college in January. He's kept a steady job for most of the year. And we're talking again. A lot. My youngest son is staying the course, with a few bumps in the road, but nothing that we can't handle. I'm hoping for a much smoother 2016 in the mama department. I'm booking my plane ticket to Sarasota if that means anything. I've got some unfinished business to attend to.

-Grow my blog. Oh, my. 2015 was a great year for my blog. I've connected with some amazing master bloggers who have readily shared advice and guidance. I've had fun watching my readership grow. I'm still all about writing quality content and interacting with my readers. That has been really fun for me, and I've been able to meet more bloggers this year! I've met Susie from SuzLyfe!

The Suz and me at the Chicago Marathon expo

I also got to meet Zenaida Arroyo and Emily from Out and About.

At the CARA Lakefront 10 miler: Erin, Marcia, Sara, Me, Zenaida, and Emily

Also Kim from Running on the Fly who I am hoping to run a race with in the summer of 2016. Iowa, anyone?

Serving up the donuts for the ultra runners at Christmas in July: Kim, Michelle, Penny, Maggie, Teri, and Karen

There have been more giveaways and relationships with product vendors. The book club hasn't gone crazy with readership but I've really enjoyed the author interviews, and some of them have been my most popular posts! I was thrilled to have a response from almost every author I've reached out to.  Oh yeah, and I got my own domain name! 

One other goal I set was my mileage goal for the year. Tiffany from Thoroughly Thriving started Run This Year a few years ago. This was the first year I participated, and in January, I set a goal to run 1252 miles (2015 kms). Normally, I set a goal to run 100 miles/month, so I knew this would be pushing it for me. But I thought it would be fun. I'm not done yeat but I am really close--as of today, I have 4 miles to go--and even though my foot is not happy about it, I am thrilled to be able to say that this goal is a done deal. This is the last year that Tiffany is hosting Run This Year and I'm glad I was able to participate. The support was amazing.

The best part of 2015 was all the amazing support I received from the running community via my blog and social media! I truly believe that all the success I had on the road was largely in part to all of you. As I've said all year, it takes a village to train a runner...

What's next? I'll share my upcoming goals for 2016 on Friday!

What do you think about goals vs resolutions? Do you set goals? Make resolutions? Did you meet your 2015 goals?

I'm linking up with DebRuns for Wednesday Word! Today's word is resolutions. Of course! Check out what everyone else is saying.

I'm also linking up with Julie at Running in a Skirt for the The Best of the Blogs! This is a good one..

And at Wild Workout Wednesday with Angelina Marie, Annmarie, Nicole, and Michelle!