New Year's Resolutions

2012 is finally upon us. I know some people don't particularly enjoy making new year resolutions because they usually aren't kept etc. but I LOVE them. Honestly, I love any sort of goal or to-do list. I carry around a planner everyday that has daily to-do lists as well as goals for the month (yes, I am sort of obsessed with crossing things off lists). So, this time of year is one of my favorites. I figure including my goals for 2012 in the blog will be an interesting way to keep up with meeting them.

1. Run 2 Full Marathons.
These are already planned out. I've already registered for the Fargo, North Dakota Marathon in May but also plan to run in the Chicago Marathon with Kathryn in October.

2. Run 4 Half Marathons.
My goal is to run a half in each season of 2012: winter, fall, spring, summer. Should be pretty easy to meet this goal as well.

3. Cut Out Meat.
I don't want to label myself completely as a vegetarian, but I will be making conscious decisions not to eat meat for the next year. For many health and personal reasons this has always been a goal of mine and now cooking for myself and living on my own, this seems like the best time to make a serious attempt.

4. Read More.
This is probably my favorite goal. Ever since I moved out to Omaha I've had so much more time for reading and I am loving it. This habit will definitely continue.

5. Drink More Water.
I just want to be more conscious about drinking water. I really don't drink anything besides tea, coffee, and water these days but during the day at work sometimes I forget how important it is to stay hydrated, especially when I'm training for all the races.

6. Budget.
Right now I do pay close attention to my bank account but do not have any sort of planned out budgeting system. This is a very important skill that I want to acquire so I'm doing some research on the best way to better plan out my finances.

7. Walk Colby More.
Living in a city, I feel really bad about how hard it is to get Colby out to really stretch her legs. My plan is once a day to take her on a walk that is at least a mile long - enough to get out and move some. This also tires her out so much so she (and I) sleep better at night.

8. Focus on My Core.
Lately I have been reading articles that talk about how important a strong core is to a runner. I have never hated my stomach so ab work has never been something that I made a habit, but that is going to change. I plan to do some sort of ab workout every day that I have running planned (and since I will be doing a lot of training in 2012, it will be a lot of core work).

There they are, my 2012 new year's resolutions. Hopefully as the year goes on this blog will be able to show how I am working to reach each of these. Now its hanging out and doing exactly what Colby and I have done all day: be lazy.