November Goals

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Yesterday I glanced at the calendar and realized:

I have a lot of crap to accomplish this year before my marathon!

February seems like a long way off (although next week is my half marathon!)...to me anyway. But the calendar brought it all back into perspective, which is a good thing. I function rather well with goals and to-do lists. It's so satisfying to accomplish something and then cross it off a list. So satisfying.

To help jump start myself this month in preparation for the rest of the year, and the following year, I created a check list. Many of them are on-going but that's OK. I want to at least be thinking of them and acting on them.

1. Try more hairstyles -- Obviously not marathon related but also important to me. Read my post Week 23 Hair for more detail.
2. Try different gym classes -- At first the gym membership was mainly to get my mom to the gym. She's one of those I-have-to-go-with-someone-else-or-I-won't-go people. That's fine, however, I'm enjoying going to the gym now as well! There are a lot of class offerings that I want to try. So even if my mom isn't interested we are going to have to go solo. To ease her into the transition I scheduled us up for a pilot class: Pilates. It's on November 10th and I'm really excited because I've been wanting to try it for awhile. Since it's a pilot class we will be given special attention. There are only 6 people to a class and we get 30 minutes.
3. Re-incorporate Fartlek -- I need to find a track! The same problem I've had since moving to the States. There are a few near me so I need to make more of an effort to incorporate them into my routine and my schedule.
4. Vegan recipes -- The first vegan recipe I made (with no help from online searches!) really inspired me. I am committed to this vegan challenge and motivated to find more vegan recipes. I made a new one last week and will post it to the blog on Thursday so check it out! There's also a cookie recipe I can't wait to make. I now follow a few vegan "experts" on twitter and have bookmarked a few recipe databases for vegans. Check out: peta.org and vrg.org (Vegetarian Resource Group) if interested.
5. Go out more -- Yes, the hubby and I are in a rut. We need to get out more.
6. Stretch -- This is something I always promise myself and I'm good for about 2 weeks and then I get lazy. This week in preparation for the half marathon I'm not doing any running. I'm going to the gym and doing some cardio in classes or on the static bike, maybe elliptical, and STRETCH. I want to have refreshed legs come Sunday. After the half marathon I'm still going to stretch because I'm sick of having tight legs all the time!
7. Foot exercises -- Also been lazy in this area. All the exercises I'd like to incorporate into my regimen are written down and organized. But I haven't done even one. I haven't even put them on the blog! So this month I'll share with you all what I plan to do from now until the marathon.
8. Tapering -- This part of marathon training is a mystery so I need to start researching it.  I've already decided to start tapering January 29th 2012.
9. Energy -- I am super curious about all the gels, jelly beans etc. that marathoners out there use to stay hydrated and fueled during their runs. I want to try some of it to see if it works for me. Mainly because I don't like the feel of water slushing around in my stomach when I run. So I usually don't drink anything, which is a bad practice.
10. Winter gear -- I went running at 7am on Sunday as part of my last "mock run" before the half marathon. I wore some shorts over leggings, a moisture-wicking shirt (that also maintains your body's temperature) and a long-sleeve shirt over that. I WAS FREEZING! Mostly my fingers. I couldn't finish the last 2 miles because I thought my fingers were going to fall off. Never again, so I need to get some winter running gear. I got injured around the end of November last year so I have no experience running in colder temperatures. That long run was learning the hard way.
11. STAY INJURY FREE AFTER THE HALF MARATHON! -- Self-explanatory. :)

So those are my goals. Let's see how these 4 weeks pan out.

Do you have any goals for the upcoming month? The end of the year? Tomorrow?