I'm MAD fired up for #NOEXCUSES 2015

Hey 2015, it’s me, Wendy from Taking the Long Way Home!  (nickname, spirit animal, real name, blog name) Marcia from Marcia's Healthy Slice tagged me to play along...

This year I would like to stay injury free, be more positive_, and slow down the aging process.

It would also be super duper awesome if I also did spend more time with my boys this year. It’s not a resolution, though, just a reminder to myself to try and have the best year yet because time marches on.

The thing I am looking forward to most this year is running a sub 4 marathon and a sub 2 half marathon.

I’ll use the one thing that truly gets me out of bed in the morning which is_coffee_to help me get up, get dressed, (verb) and get after my #NoExcuses 2015. Speaking of excuses (ahem), my very favorite excuse is work and I have used it to get out of doing everything and anything on more than a million occasions.I vow to move my body and be more healthy this year even if it means I have to get up earlier.

Even if my alarm clock gets eaten by the dog in the middle of the night, I’ll still get up. 

I will stop blaming the husband for eating the rest of the Ben and Jerry's Karamel Sutra when everyone knows it was really me.

My job  are not the reason I make excuses. I will show my job [same as before] who’s boss this year and get my run [type of sweaty activity] on

I know that run [type of workout] is better than no run. [noun]

I will reward myself by drinking wine. 

#NoExcuses 2015 has just begun and already I am imagining myself a winner. I can’t wait to rock a Zeal Hoodie (article of clothing) from Augusta Active. I can’t wait till my sweaty friends are jealous of how fresh, clean and awesome (adj) I am between workouts with help from ShowerPill body wipes. I can see myself rocking dealifts [yoga pose / workout move] in new Own the Course top [article of clothing from Actio926] from Actio926 and looking fit and fly while doing it. And of course, I’ll be taking my workouts to the next level and improving mycore strength [noun] with my new ActivMotion Bar to help me train for my next  half marathon [distance] race with Sasquatch Racing.

Oh, and let’s not forget how amazing my hoodie [article of clothing] will smell in my / during my race [favorite type of workout] after washing with some WIN Detergent. And lastly, I’ll keep rocking my 2015 with clean eats and nutrition from Beaming with Health!

*****Tag, Tweet, shout-out, call, text, fax or email 3 friends to take this survey and share how they will have a #NoExcuses 2015. Remind your friends to simply fill in the underlined/bold parts!*****

I'm tagging Karen, Sara, Penny, and Michelle!

Welcome 2015! Goals, plans, and stuff...

This is the time of year when everyone posts their list of New Year's resolutions. I've never been much of a resolution kind of gal. If that were the case, I would never have run that Chicago marathon last year. I had a couple of halfs on the agenda for the year, but that was it. After I bombed my first marathon, I always said I would never do another marathon. But as this year moved forward and I got stronger and more confident, I decided to go for it.

And that's kind of how I live my life. I've never been much of a planner. When I went back to school to be a nurse practitioner, it was something I'd been thinking about, but never really made big plans to do. But when I decided to do it, I jumped in with both feet and never looked back. Same with the marathon. I won the entry, and said, what the heck?

Worked out pretty well for me, didn't it? I had been training anyways, so it wasn't like I just went from the couch to the road....

Anyways, on to 2015. I have some ideas and things I'd like to accomplish. I do. I just haven't worked out all the details. But here goes nothing...

1. I'd like to stay injury free this year. Don't laugh. This includes continuing to work with Becky and my weight training. I'm convinced that the work she gives me--the heavy lifting, the HIIT--that is what kept me injury free and contributed to the success I had on the road this year. I'm going to stick to the relatively low mileage that I always do because it seems that everytime I ramp up my miles, I start to hurt. 

Hopefully not with my eyes closed!

2. I'm going to run another marathon. It was pretty funny, besides this picture, after I ran Chicago, my husband (who isn't always supportive of my running) made a comment about "the next one". I almost fell over. Who is this man? But when asked, he commented on the training I did, that I didn't complain about having a tough time, that I didn't get hurt, and that my training didn't interfere with any family activities. Ok, then! I'd like to do Chicago again, if I get in the lottery this year, and I'd like to best my finish time. If I don't get into Chicago, there's always Fox Valley, Milwaukee, and Prairie State. Dare I even hope for a sub-4 hour marathon? Ok, it's a goal. Wouldn't that be something? A girl can dream, right?

3. I feel the need...the need for speed! Along those lines, I'd like another sub-2 hour half marathon. I've had a few. The last one was in the fall of 2013, a spur of the moment half that I signed up for the week of the race. See how that lack of planning worked out for me? Regardless, I'd like another one, and I need to get my head around the whole heat and humidity thing, because those summer and Florida halfs aren't bringing me speedy finish times. Hopefully, as I continue to get stronger, that will be less of an issue for me. We'll see.

4. I need to do a better job of managing my mama drama. I write this as my 17 year old is pondering his options for New Years Eve. This year showed me that raising teenagers is way more difficult than running a marathon. I have to keep reminding myself what good boys I have. Even when they do stupid things. Remind me of this the next time I'm sitting in a courtroom with one of them. I'm working on getting my husband on board with shouldering some of the worry and disciplining.... this is a work in progress. He needs to stop waking me up in the middle of the night to share his angst with me. Deal with it, mister man! I will say that running really helps me manage my stress, though. And so back to #1. I can't not run. It's my therapy.

5. I want to continue to grow my blog. I love to write. Can you tell? As a matter of fact, I was a journalism major in college before I changed my major to nursing. Writing is such a great outlet for me. I wish I had more time to spend writing. Blogging has also introduced me to some of my new running friends, many of whom I've met and spent time with in 2014. I hope to meet more of you this year!

So what's up, running-wise, for 2015?

So far,  I've registered for one race, the Sarasota Half Marathon. I've got a couple local spring halfs in consideration: Great Western Half marathon, Springfield Half Marathon. There's that awesome CARA Lakefront 10 miler in April.  I'm looking at running another late summer/early fall half and a fall marathon. I don't want to run too many races, because I don't want to risk injury. Plus I'd like to continue to work on speed. I wouldn't mind doing that Fall 50 in Door County, as a relay. Anyone interested?

Quality over quantity.

Regardless of my goals, what I really look forward to the most is more running!

What are you planning for 2015?

I'm linking this post up with the DC Trifecta for Friday Five! 

And with Jill Conyers for her Friday Blog Hop!

And with MCM mama, My No-Guilt Life, and Run the Great Wide Somewhere for Tuesdays on the Run!