2016 Goal Update: April
I'm simply blown away that I am writing an April recap. I'm either getting old or having fun that time is flying by so fast...maybe both? See my original 2016 post here.
-Run at least one race every month: Done! I did the Garden Spot Village Half Marathon, in the snow no less, this month. I really do not like snow or winter period but I somehow enjoyed running in the snow. I was a negative Nelly for about 5 minutes when I woke up on race day but decided to make the best of it, layer on as much gear as I could and have fun. I managed to stay relatively warm and decently dry for the most part, the last 3 miles got a little cold and wet, but it was so much fun. Very peaceful with several inches of April snow falling as I ran.
-Save money, pay off debts, own less: Another month, another chunk of debt gone! The tax refund came and went almost simultaneously, no chances to even miss it. I also got a letter from one of the student loan companies I paid off earlier in the year confirming that I no longer owe them any money and do not have any active accounts with them! Happy to sever that relationship. One day this month, I was in a cranky mood on my way home and I stopped at a shoe store because truly, I am in need of shoes. My feet are about a full size smaller than they were at my heaviest and for some reason, buying shoes, which used to be my escape has been so darn stressful so I've just avoided it. Well, now not only are most of my shoes a size too big they are wearing out. I bought two pairs of shoes and walked out of the store and thought maybe I'll go to another store, that might make me feel better. But what was I going to do? Spend more money, buy more stuff...nope that was not going to make me feel better. So I stopped for an unsweetened tea and went home. I turned on some music and had a mildly productive yet relaxing afternoon around the house and in the kitchen. Proud of myself for not making it an afternoon of shopping when it was purely an attempt to cure a cranky mood. I'm getting rid of lots of stuff that doesn't add anything to my life too. I had two upholstered arm chairs in my bedroom that were handed down to me. I never really wanted either of them, they just kind of ended up at my house. They are currently posted online for a few bucks and they are soon going to become free if no one takes them in the next couple of days. If you ask my mother, she would say the best way to convince me to clean my room is the promise of a trip to the store to buy organizational solutions. Seriously, the promise of a new Rubbermaid bin can make me do a lot but this year I've been reminding myself of this quote from the blog 'Becoming Minimalist' (great blog!) "If you have to buy stuff to store your stuff, you might have too much stuff" Refreshing if you ask me but maybe that's just me thinking of my old pack rat ways. So I've really resisted buying stuff to 'organize' my stuff. However, I have recently been looking for a solution for my running clothes which have seemingly taken over my closet. My running clothes are important to me and accessed almost daily and therefore deserving of a workable and easy storage solution. I have been brainstorming the last few months and I came up with this solution:
I'm still settling in a bit...that's nowhere near all of my running shoes. I've been using it for a week and in that time I've both gotten stuff out of it and done laundry. It's nice to have everything so easily available when I'm about to workout...also more difficult to find excuses not to work out when its right in front of me! I put away a load of laundry yesterday and it didn't make that process any more time consuming. I like to solution overall and I think I'll tweak it as I go to make it better.
-Start my days earlier and be more mindful of how I spend my time: I have been consistently starting my days earlier. Still not quite early enough for consistent morning workouts but still earlier. Some days I am better than others at being mindful of how I spend my time. Overall though, on average, I'm far more mindful than before I set this goal, so I'll call that a win.
-Get back to more regular food logging: Current logging streak on My Fitness Pal - 103 days!
-Buy more local produce: Again, no real progress here.
-Write/post more: I am maintaining on this goal. I still want to do more. I've recently started being more specific with scheduling my blogging time. I used to just write 'Blog' on my calendar for Friday night. Now I am more specific. I decide which specific post I'm going to work on and put that on my calendar or I decide I'm going to brainstorm and write that down. It works better than sitting down at my computer and having no idea where to start.