I’ve written before about my goals. So when I sat down
tonight to articulate in black and white the goals for 2017 that had been
forming in my mind as 2016 came to a close, I took a moment to revisit my
previous goal declarations. Some of them are still out there waiting for me…
like swimming 2000m “unassisted” in the pool in 50 minutes. Some are goals I’ve
achieved and set year-in and year-out …like that marathon-a-year thing. And
some I look back on fondly as I remember how hard-fought they were… like that
sub-2 hour half. Oh yes, I finally crushed that goal. It was in the 18-month
blog silence, after missing three times by seconds… yes, SECONDS… I knocked that monkey off my back with a
1:57:39 at the Vancouver Rock’n’Roll Half in October 2015. I should have posted
about it… about the emotional turmoil race morning where I ducked between two
buildings on the way to the start, to cry, sobbing to the hub “I keep telling
myself that my worth as a person isn’t dependent on whether I can run this
under 2 hours but… but… but I just don’t believe it!” Oh yeah… I was in fine
form. Anyhoo…
The 2017 List
1.
Post on the blog at least once a week, every
week. An intention declared in my last post, when I turned the lights back on
here. I’m going to stop writing them in my head. I’m not promising that they’ll
be interesting, funny, or insightful… but there will be something!
2.
#17in17. 17
new experiences in 2017. I’ve set a similar goal before, focused on new
experiences in the year, but never this many. Last year, a good friend was
pursuing a goal of 50 new experiences before her 50th birthday. I
joined her for many of these… some terrifying & crazy… like trapeze school.
Yes, I’m serious.
3.
Ride >= 8000 km
No, not in one go! Normally I set a run
mileage goal but after an injury plagued last year, I’m inclined to set myself
up for success by focusing on bike mileage instead… something maybe a little
less likely to land me on the injured list right out of the gate. Last year I
rode 6144 km, which was a big jump over 2015 (4530 km). Well, this girl’s got a
new bike and she’s not afraid to get out on the road with it! Just kidding…
that was tough talk. It’s snowy and cold outside. But between the road and my
Kickr, 8000 km is the goal.
4.
Read 25 books. According to Goodreads, I read 11
books in 2014, 17 in 2015 and 22 books last year (short of my 30-book goal).
You can follow what I’m reading on Goodreads… currently Siri Lindley’s book “Surfacing”.
If you’ve got any must-read recommendations, I’d love to hear them. My
favourite read of 2016: The Choices we Make (Karma Brown).
5.
Continue my streak of running a marathon at each
age of my post-40 life. If this is going to be a 2017 goal, then I’ll need to
run that baby between June and December of 2017. I’ve got my eyes on the
Honolulu Marathon in December. (On an unrelated note, I’m also hoping for a visit
from the money fairy.)
6.
100 hours of yoga. 55 hours of yoga in 2015. 82
in 2016. I think 100 hours is totally doable, especially without the time
burden of Ironman training this year. Shout out to Believe, my epically
fantastic yoga studio. A beautiful space and wonderful teachers with enough
yoga variety to host you on your mat, no matter what you’re needing.
7.
Master crow pose. I’ve been wanting this for a
while. Not enough to actually do the work and be intentional. But that’s
probably just because it was waiting to help round out my 2017 list at 10
goals, right? #Believe.
8.
Crack 25 minutes in a 5K. I wanted to avoid
focusing on outcome goals (and yes I know mastering crow pose is an outcome
goal) because man, they can really eat at me. I don’t want to find myself
crying before every start line because I think I’m going to fail and make my own
“people who suck” list, but… I also want to push myself. To feel hungry for
something. And this something means I have to get back to the run shape I was
in before the 5-calf-injury-year (yeah I didn’t write about that either) and find
12 seconds over 5K. I’m up for it. And I’ve got 6 5K races already signed up
and waiting. Oh, and just in case you’re on the edge of your seat, this is more
likely to happen at the 6th than the 1st race. You might
want to get a snack.
9.
Really, actually train, with focus and see where
that takes me. I’m not sure I’m articulating this very well. I’m really good at
following my training plan and checking the boxes next to the workouts. Yup,
did it all. I have not been so awesome at listening to my body. If it tells me
it doesn’t want to do something, I will usually tell it to stop trying to be a
slacker, and I do the workout anyway. Even if it means running on a calf that
was torn that morning. Hashtag stupid. And I have shied away from sessions where
I feel “less than”… like coached swim workouts, where I felt self-conscious for
being the slowest person in the pool, electing to swim on my own, without the
watchful eye and needed instruction of a swim-coach on deck. This year, I will
listen to my body and try to train smart (I’m experimenting with an app called
HRV Training which I’ll post about another time), to avail myself of
opportunities that can make me a better athlete (no matter how scary), and to
make the hard workouts HARD and the easy workouts easy. And then there’s the
whole sport fueling thing. I’m going to pay attention to that too.
10.
Give meditation a go: at least once/week for 20
minutes. I’ve tried meditation a time or two and honestly have joked that for
me, it’s facilitated napping. But there’s so much out there espousing the
benefits of meditation that I’m going to be approach it this year with an open
mind and a willing heart. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Another 17
hours of sleep this year? Not a terrible thing.
