May update on my 10 Goals for 2010...

Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. Yes!
2. Run a half marathon. Done! And I'm planning on signing up to run another one in September.
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. Stalled out... still only 7 pounds down.
4. Take a class, any class. Not yet.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. Still doing okay. I was getting antsy in the middle of the month without working out regularly, but started doing some yoga, which helped.

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month. Sent her a Mother's Day card.
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family. I didn't have any May birthday cards to send, but I got Adam to send one to his sister and brother-in-law, so that counts. :-)
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it. My Ma fitness goal was to do yoga 15 times. I think I did it about 7. I was terrible about working out in general after I was banned from wearing contacts.
9. Clean the apartment once a week. I think we did okay with this.
10. Read two books a month. Only one, again. I read my first graphic novel, Blankets.

As of yesterday, I can now check off my 101 in 1001 goal* of running a half marathon! Woohoo!

Aside from some strong wind gusts (including pretty much the entire last mile, where I think I may have been moving backwards at some point), the weather for the race was perfect. 50 degrees, slightly cloudy, no humidity. I didn't even finish my entire water bottle and I felt fine! I brought two packets of sports beans with me and probably only ate one of them (I combined them, so I don't know exactly), but I never hit that "wall."

The first half of the race went great. I ran with my friend Carolyn and our half split was 1:09:25, which was 10:36 pace. Right around that time, my knees started to feel really tight, and at about mile 7.5, I had to stop and walk. Carolyn went on ahead and finished the whole race without walking! (Yay Carolyn! You rock!) I knew I was going to need some walking breaks in order to finish (they usually help my legs recharge and I go faster during my running intervals than I would if I ran straight through), so my goal was just to finish in 2.5 hours.

I kept alternating running with a few short walk breaks until I got to mile 10. By that time, my left knee felt really tight. It felt okay while I was walking, but when I tried to run (or, more accurately at that point, to shuffle), it did not feel good. I finished the 10 miles just two minutes slower than I ran the GW Parkway Classic two weeks before, so I was pretty sure my goal of 2.5 hours was within reach... I just needed to cover the last three miles in about 13 minute pace.

By this time, I was definitely walking more than running, but I tried pumping my arms during my running stretches as much as I could to go faster. I wasn't feeling completely exhausted, which surprised me... it really was my knee that was holding me back. I'd try to jog a little bit for a few minutes at a time and then basically power-walk in between. But when 17 minutes had passed and I hadn't seen the mile 11 marker yet, I figured I didn't have a shot at making my goal. There was no way I'd be able to run the last two miles at a fast enough pace to make it. I started extending my walking intervals.

And then...

I happened upon the mile 12 marker. (Note: neither Carolyn nor Adam had seen the 11 marker either. I'm guessing the wind had knocked it down.) But by then, I'd slowed down enough I knew I really couldn't do it. I think if I'd seen the mile 11 marker, I may have been able to push myself fast enough to make it in under 2.5 hours, but I ended up crossing the finish line at 2:32:35. I may not have met my time goal, but I did finish a half marathon and did it in under 12 minute pace. (Actually, prior to running the GW Parkway Classic, my goal was just to go under 12 minute mile pace... I didn't move up my time goal to 2.5 hours until after I did that race at sub-11 minute pace.)

I don't think my knees are seriously injured (my right one was tight and sore by the end too), but just a little overworked. I think it's a stabilizing muscle issue, not tendons or ligaments or anything serious. I'm going to give my legs some time off, and I'm going to train a little differently for my next half marathon. (Yes, I definitely plan on running another one.) In the training program I used, the longest training run was 10 miles. The theory is that the excitement and adrenaline will take you the rest of the way, and yes... I finished, which was the point, but I wanted to finish stronger than that. The training program was for beginners and really is intended only to get you to the finish line, and encourages walking. Next time, I am going to try a more advanced training program that has longer training distances and some speedwork. (Uhhh, I also didn't do any of my training runs between the 10 mile race and the half marathon, except for one 5K race... I'm sure giving my legs that much time off didn't help matters either.)

Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 2:32:35
Pace: 11:39/mile (sub-12!!!)

* I also checked off another 101 in 1001 goal this weekend... I made a perfectly poached egg! On my first try! I used the technique I found on Beth's blog:

1.) Fill a large pan with sides full enough to cover the eggs and add vinegar to the poaching water.

2.) Bring the water to a boil and then down to a simmer before putting the eggs in.

3.) Crack the eggs in a dish and then pour into the water, don't crack them directly into the water.

4.) Leave the eggs for 3-4 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon.

Perfectly poached eggs! And so simple!

Here's my April update on my 10 Goals for 2010...

Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. Yes!
2. Run a half marathon. Running one in FIVE days!
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. Down seven pounds so far.
4. Take a class, any class. Nope.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. I reclaimed my brain this month.

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month. I sent one on April 1. I didn't send the extra one to make up for missing March though.
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family. Ugh, no. I looked for a good card for my uncle at CVS, but they were all terrible! I stocked up on some cards for upcoming birthdays when I went to Hallmark a couple weeks ago.
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it. My April fitness goal was to strength train 3 times a week. BIG FAT FAIL. I think strength trained, oh, maybe 3 times total. Terrible.
9. Clean the apartment once a week. We were good in the beginning of the month, but then missed a week's worth of cleaning.
10. Read two books a month. Only one -- The Glass Castle: A Memoir

Here's my March update on my 10 Goals for 2010...

Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. Yes!
2. Run a half marathon. Currently training for one.
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. Lost about five pounds!
4. Take a class, any class. Not yet. We're considering signing up for dancing classes.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. This seems like a silly goal to discuss each month. I think just being conscious of trying to do better has been making a difference.

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month. I missed it by one day... sent a card on April 1. I plan to send another this month to make up for it.
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family. Yup!
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it. My March fitness goal was to run 50 miles throughout the month. I just made it... ran 50.61 miles!
9. Clean the apartment once a week. Yes, and we've been keeping it clean for the past week or so, as we've had friends staying with us.
10. Read two books a month. I finished up Middlesex and The Help.

Here's my February update on my 10 Goals for 2010...

Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. Yes!
2. Run a half marathon. Currently training for one.
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. No weight loss this month, but no weight gain either. So there's that.
4. Take a class, any class. Nope.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. I think I am still doing fairly well with this.

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month. Yup, a thank you card for my early birthday present.
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family. Sent out my mom's birthday card at the end of the month for her March 8th birthday.
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it. My February fitness goal was to run 50 miles throughout the month. Unfortunately, I fell short. I was having a lot of trouble getting motivated to exercise this month. I only ran 34 miles. I think I'm going to aim for 50 again this month (I'm more motivated now that race season is almost upon us!).
9. Clean the apartment once a week. I am pretty certain we did this. Maybe not a total thorough cleaning each time, but we picked up and cleaned the kitchen and bathroom. And we bought a fancy new vacuum!
10. Read two books a month. Fail, again. I finished one (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) and got halfway through two others (Middlesex and The Help).

I've been chronicling my workouts over here for the past couple months (although, admittedly not doing a very good job of writing much about them in detail lately). I've been working on increasing my speed and today I ran an 8:26 mile! That is huge for me! For a long time (years!), the fastest I usually run is a 10 minute mile, so I am really happy that I was able to increase my speed so much in such a short time. I needed to take a walk break after that before finishing the rest of my workout, and I walked a lot of my fourth (and final) mile because my legs were tired, so my overall time for my run today wasn't all that great. Now I need to work on being able to run faster, for longer.

I wrote about my 10 Goals for 2010 here. I'm planning to provide monthly updates as to how their going, starting... now!

Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. Not yet, but I am getting faster! This month, I ran a 9:01 mile.
2. Run a half marathon. Took the first step... I signed up for one!
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. Headed in that direction. I lost four pounds this month (although two of them were "holiday weight".)
4. Take a class, any class. Not yet.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. I think I'm doing a fairly good job with this. The biggest stressor of 2010 is going to be wedding planning and so far it's been mostly stress-free. We had to deal with some family issues, but at least Adam and I are on the same page and can present a united front for why we want to do things our way. Also, the process of finding a venue and photographer was pretty painless.

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month. Check!
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family. Got my friend Sarah's card out the last week of January for her February 2 birthday.
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it. My January fitness goal was to work out four times a week, which I did. (Even though I had to get up super early on January 30 before driving up to NY to do it.)
9. Clean the apartment once a week. Alas, this did not happen. I think we did clean it three times total, but not once a week. I've already got the first week of February down, though!
10. Read two books a month. Fail. I read 500+ pages of a 600+ book. I need to finish that one, and then hopefully read two others for February.

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a wonderful night, whether you were out partying until the wee hours of the morning, or were nice and comfy in bed hours before the ball dropped. 2009 was a fantastic year for me, but I hope 2010 can be even better! But it won't be without a little work, of course...

I am a resolution girl. I know lots of people don't bother, or give up within a few weeks, but I love goals, challenges, plans and lists. Annual (or monthly) resolutions are, understandably, right up my alley.

I've decided this year to come up with 10 goals for 2010, five year-long goals and five monthly goals. My five year-long resolutions are things I've wanted to accomplish for quite some time, but I just haven't tackled yet. The kind of things I keep pushing off until "later" or "sometime" or "eventually." Things that in my head, I claim to be working towards, but in reality I'm not doing much about. My five monthly resolutions are geared toward self-improvement. I'm hoping to develop habits that will bring who I am now more in line with the person I'd like to be.

Five Year-Long Goals:
1. Run an 8:30 mile. -- done!
2. Run a half marathon.
3. Get back to my law school graduation weight. (The stress of unemployment and two bar exams packed on the pounds, but it's been 2.5 years since my last bar exam and only excuses since then.)
4. Take a class, any class. Cooking, art, photography... something.
5. Handle stress and anxiety better. (This one is sort of wishy-washy and impossible to really measure, but 2010 has the potential to become quite stressful and I need to be proactive about not letting it get to me.)

Five Monthly Goals:
6. Send my grandmother a card or letter every month.
7. Remember to send birthday cards to friends and family.
8. Set a monthly fitness goal and accomplish it.
9. Clean the apartment once a week.
10. Read two books a month.