2020- Goals for The Year

Happy New Year! I hope you had a safe and happy start to the new decade. I cannot believe that we’re now in 2020- doesn’t that seem so futuristic?!? Our wedding plans are in full swing- we’ve settled on the location, date, I have my dress, we have our DJ, we will be finalizing cake choices this week, finalizing flower options tomorrow, registry will be complete shortly, and picked out our photographer! We also have a dinner tasting at our venue tomorrow night to decide on what our two entree options for our guests will be (we most likely already know what they will be, but it’s going to be fun to go test it out!).

I have almost all of my races for the year planned out and am so excited to be getting a RUNNING COACH at the end of the month! I’ve decided that this is the year of ME- more confidence, more goal-setting & crushing, more following my gut, going into things with less hesitation. I’m putting my head down, working hard, and know that I won’t always have these opportunities (I am getting older too- yikes! 30 is just around the corner!).

SO, here are my unfiltered goals for the year. I keep them written in my planner so I can easily look back at them, check-in, and keep track of what I’ve accomplished!

Fitness Goals:

• Run a 100 miler (cat’s outta the bag on this one!)

• Run a sub 1:40 half marathon (carrying this one over from last year)

• Run a sub 3:28 marathon (carrying this one over from last year)

• Do 10 unassisted pull-ups in a row

• Check off one new race state

Hobby Goals:

• Read 25 books (for pleasure)

• Grow my blog to a larger audience

• 2k followers -> twitter & instagram

Life Goals:

• Become more social -> join a running group!

• Get married! YAY

• Speak up more & research when unsure of something -> nursing school has really helped me with this one already

Money Goals:

• Begin saving for building our own house (someday!)

• Begin saving for a new car

• Start retirement fund (I know, I know…totally behind on that one!)

School Goals:

• Above 3.5 GPA for Spring & Summer 2020 Semesters

• Pass NCLEX 1st time & become an RN (September)!

• Get a job in a critical care unit

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-What are your goals for the year?

-Where do you keep your goals written down and how do you like to separate them out?

-Anyone have experiences with running coaches?!? ONLY good ones I HOPE!

2019- 40 Photos Wrapped In Packages of 10

Happy almost New Year! I thought it would be fun to conclude the year with sharing some of my favorite moments from 2019 in the theme of 10’s (10 pictures, 4 themes, 40 photos total)- you’re still with me right? If not, just roll with it and enjoy the photos!

10 of my favorite experiences from the year:

• Getting 2nd female OVERALL at a 5k and a 2+ minute 5k PR.

• Getting to run and be in a podcast with former Editor-In-Chief of Runner’s World, David Wiley!

• Seeing this memorizing waterfall in Oregon with my mom.

• Checking off another 4,000’ here in New Hampshire that I hiked

• Setting a date for our wedding and getting to explore the outdoors with Alex this Fall.

• Going to my first RED SOX game!

• Having the strength, courage, & pure grit to decide to go back to school.

• Running 50 MILES through the heat, mud, rain, and hail

• Going to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival with my mom in Oregon!

• Collecting these medals (AND cowbell!) this year!

10 unexpected things that happened this year:

• PR’ing my half marathon by 5 minutes in March after running 7 miles beforehand.

• Running 28 miles ON MY OWN for a training “run”. Yeah, that was awesome and hard and totally exhilarating.

• Just how good Tillamook creamery ice cream really ice (you HAVE to visit their headquarters. So delicious)

• Getting 3rd overall female in a last-minute entry trail 5k (signed up that morning) the week before my 50 miler.

• How badass it feels to run in a sportsbra. Yeah, I did that more than once this summer ; )

• How incredibly humbling it is to go back to school and just how dang SMART nurses really are.

• Just how stunning the Pacific Northwest really is. I want to go back ASAP.

• How heartbreaking it can be to not perform to your potential at a goal race and also how really challenging it can be to run when you go to a big goal race by yourself.

• I realized that being close to family is so important and to cherish those memories we are fortunate enough to make.

• You can really actually wash your running shoes and they won’t disintegrate. That was a great lesson to learn after my 50 miler.

10 Lessons That I Learned This Year:

• How really great swimming is for you.

• How imperative it is to not give in even when you’re struggling. Keep going. Keep pushing. Keep pursuing your dream.

• How integral it is for me to slow down in the mornings. Journal. Stretch. Meditate.

• Just how dang hard pull-ups really are.

• Exercise is exercise. Get outside. Get active. Move your body. You’ll feel better for it.

• A challenging run = growth.

• Stop and smell the roses during your run (or kiss puppies). You only get one life.

• Diets are important, but also eat a darn donut every once in a while.

• It’s OK to be proud of your accomplishments and show off those muscles- you’ve earned them.

• Work hard. Stay humble. Practice gratitude. Know your potential and keep pursuing your goals no matter what others think.

10 photos from the year described by one word.

• Peaceful.

• Happiness.

• Quiet.

• CUTE.

• Grit.

• Distracting.

• #20

• Breathtaking (that’s one word- just roll with it)

• Rewarding.

• Love.

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-What are your favorite memories from the year?

-Give me 10 things that you accomplished this and describe them each with one word (no description!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The time is now!

It’s funny to look back a year ago and see how incredibly consistent I was with blogging. Now, I’m much more like a two times a month blogger at the moment 🤣🤷🏼‍♀️I am happy to report that I’m FINALLY done with the semester & it feels amazing. I had one class -Med Surg- that literally took 15+ hours of work per week (not including the 3 hour lecture). It was insane and I’m so so happy I’m finally done! No more of these views for awhile…

I’m also back to running on the trails! I got in my first few snowy runs of this season last week and they were so much fun. I love the sound of breaking trail in the fresh snow.

I’ve also ~surprisingly~ been swimming at least once a week since the beginning of this month! I normally get in around 1/4-1/3 of a mile. It’s certainly not far or that long, but I’ve really felt how much looser I am post-run when I can follow it up with a swim.

I’m also starting to create my 2020 goals and am so excited to almost finish two more of my 2019 goals this last week. I’ve got to get in 3 pull-ups (unassisted) and finish 1 more book to hit 20 for the year. I’m able to do 2 sets of 5 pull-ups with the band (haven’t tried to do any without the band yet!!) and am halfway through my 20th book of the year. PS finally got my hands on this one and it was so good.

I’m also just beginning to finalize my races and goals for the new year! It’s the year where I also enter into a new age group?!?! 😱Only a few more months of being in my 20s! I’m excited/nervous/in awe of how quickly they went by. I love some good bucket list items for a new decade- so let me know if you have any good ones!

I’m also excited to be working on some new ideas for my blog and this space for the next year! Let me know if there are any posts you’d be interested in seeing or if you have any ideas- I’d love to help make them a reality! For now, I’ll leave you with this photo of Regal Brady- all dressed up for the holidays.

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-What ideas do you have/want to see for this space in 2020?
-How was your holiday?
-Anyone else enjoy adding cross-training to their schedule?
-One thing I should put on my bucket list as I begin to enter into my own new decade?!?

Life Updates Lately, Discount Codes For You, and How I'm Building Back Up

It’s been a MINUTE. I have been so busy and am super thankful that today was a snow day. I ~finally~ feel like I’m almost caught-up on life lately. It has been a whirlwind since the beginning of November. Let’s start by saying that we finally got a wedding date- June 6, 2020! So a lot of my time has honestly been spent putting together our website, ordering save the dates, and invitations. We’ve got a lot already planned, but it’s taken up so much of my free time! Cheers to finding the perfect venue and getting married in 6 months!

I am also officially obsessed with this coffee! Anyone else tried it? I might need to stock-up before it goes away.

We’re all decorated for the Holidays over here! We put our tree up the day after Thanksgiving (the earliest we’ve EVER done)! Who else has their tree up already?

I also feel like this almost all the time right now. 2 weeks until finals!

Brady is still trying to poison himself over here- this time with red berries from our Holiday decorations.

I also started back up running a few weeks ago (YAY)! I’m not going to lie, it was really challenging to get out the door the first few runs. I was super sore after my first 3 miler back (hard to go down the stairs sore) and then it slowly started to feel easier. It felt so good to be back to my old running routes, but my brain definitely had a hard time adjusting back to the ‘longer duration’ activity mode. I had to keep pushing through the tough parts to get miles in the first 5-6 runs, then it started to ‘click’ again. Perfect timing for my Providence Marathon training to start back up again after the New Year! I also really missed the morning sunrises.

I found that when I wasn’t running I was a bit more anxious, had less energy, and missed the daily structure that running gives me! I filled my time with a lot of yoga (jasyoga is my favorite platform!), barre on-demand videos (I used the free trials!), and doing strength work at the gym. We also started eating mainly plant-based a few weeks ago, which helped take my mind off running and I think it helped me ease into the diet. I don’t think I would have been able to switch my diet and be in crazy-intense marathon training right now! My goal for the next few weeks (probably until the end of the year) is to get between 30-40 miles per week. This week, my plan is to run 6 days a week with each at 5 mile increments, along with 3 quality strength training sessions (normally around 30-40 minutes). I’ve also reached out to a run coach to get some insight into what I can improve upon in my training for the future!

PS while you’re here, come sign-up and run the Providence Marathon with me! The swag that you get for both the full and half marathon looks AMAZING!

There’s also still time to sign-up and train for the Bahamas Marathon happening in January! We were planning on going, but with the wedding date set we really need to focus on saving funds for that. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to go because I’ve always wanted to run on an island!

Figure Friday: How To Glide On Ice Skates

I’ve got another instructional video up for you for Figure Friday over HERE. Discussing the importance of gliding on ice skates and also some tips/tricks to help you glide on your skates! All about gliding is here:

Gliding is an important skill to learn. It helps you progress towards stopping while moving, one foot glides, forward swizzles, forward edges and turns while skating, and helps set you up for better balance while on the ice.

Don’t forget to check out the video HERE.

We’re off to Massachusetts for the evening to babysit Alex’s -almost- 2 year old nephew tomorrow (Grayson)! Cheers to being the “fun” aunt and uncle and feeding him with lots of sugar before his parents come home… (….just kidding…..mostly!). Also very much looking forward to stopping by the Kittery Outlets (well mainly just going to the Lululemon outlet is a treat for me!).

I’ve also got two exams on Monday morning, so you better believe that I’ll be doing a whole lot of studying as well.

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-Are you a fan of outlet shopping? What’s your favorite?

-Three things you’re doing this weekend?

-How are you on ice skates? Awesome? Terrible? Need some practice?