Goals for 2012, plus a mid-month progress update.

This is going to be a long post, apologies in advance. Perhaps you can go get yourself a cup of tea before you settle down to read it, haha…

Okay, so below is my list of goals for 2012 - there are 15 of them, and while not all of them are Fitness Challenges, I think they all work well together in my becoming the person I want to be, and each will assist with either my getting fitter, my getting more confidence, or both. So here's the full list. I'm going to update my progress on a monthly basis, too – so although we’re only halfway through the month, I think now would be a good time to do an update, to let you see how the first couple of weeks in January have gone.

1. Complete the Moonwalk Marathon in June 2012

I started my training for this on January 8th, taking a 10 mile leisurely stroll around the city, with a book in hand. People have questioned my ability to read while walking, but I’ve been doing it for years, and I really like it. Of course, my pace is pretty slow when I do that as I'm not exactly concentrating on the walking, but this far away from the Moonwalk, I want to build up distances before I build up speed. I’m pretty pleased with this 10 mile walk – but I do need to structure a better training plan the closer it gets to the full 26.2 mile thing!

2. Complete the Glasgow Women's 10km in May 2012

Well, I signed up!! Paid my money, and told various people – so there’s no backing out. See my updates below on the running I’ve done thus far in January…

3. Run 5km in 30 minutes (start of 2012, PB was 37:52)

I ran 5km on the 1st of Jan, and it was wholly uneventful and took 38:07. I wasn’t feeling much love for running, or belief in my ability to get faster, after a number of really bad runs the following week, but then I did my first parkrun 5km this weekend, the 14th. This national scheme of free timed 5km runs has been on my mental “to do” list for a while – in Edinburgh it’s ran on a pretty flat course. I’ve been a little concerned about coming last, though, so have been hesitant to actually turn up until this week. The weather was perfect, albeit freezing cold, and the course route is pretty flat, so I knew I would do a decent time.

Having never attended the parkrun meets before, I joined the "first timer or visitor" talk before the start, then made my way to the back of the group, and off we went… I ran the whole of the first 1km, and then had a nice steady run/walk pattern going for the rest of the time. I was very close to the back of the group - the route is a 'there and back' course, and when I was at about 1.5km, the first runners passed me on their way back (i.e. they were at 3.5km), and a minute or two later, one of the runners passing said "Well done!" to me. I'd never seen the guy before, but I thought it was really cool that he was cheering me on, while still running his race. I think that speaks to the general atmosphere at the parkrun event.

I did a wee sprint finish at the end, and recorded a 36:37 PB, knocking 75 seconds off my previous best from 3rd Dec!!! The 'official' time was a few seconds more, but I started at the very back of a 350+ crowd, so it took time for me to cross the start line.

It’s going to take a lot of work to get the 30 minute 5km, but I think if I regularly include this parkrun route in my training, which is flat and fast, I'll keep mega-motivated. To get to 30 mins by December, I need to take about 36 seconds off each month. Scary times…

4. Run more than 750km over the year

Well, I made a pretty good start. 5km on the 1st, for example, was my idea of cementing the importance of physical activity in 2012. In the first 16 days of the year, I’ve ran 31.5 km – 20.3 km of this is outdoors, and 11.2 km indoors. I could definitely have done more, but I think it’s going okay, really. It’s going to build, anyway, the nicer the weather gets, and the more 10km training I do as we get into Spring.

5. Lose 38lbs, and maintain it (start of 2012, weight 179.5lbs)

This one is proving thus far to be an epic fail. I just can’t get my head around the healthy eating aspect yet. I really need to focus on this, and not rely on all the exercise I’m doing.

6. Get a promotion, or get a new job

Yeah, it’s on my To Do list…

7. Focus on my work

It’s really hard at the moment; not something for me to go into in this public-facing journal. I met with my career mentor last week. He's given me a LOT to think about, which I think will be incredibly useful for me, but initially it made me feel a bit raw and miserable. I actively dislike being made to think about my flaws and how to overcome them, because - well - it's thinking about my flaws, and I don't need any more excuses for self-criticism.

8. Move to a new flat, be it rented or bought

Also on that To Do list…

9. Participate in 12 new sporting activities (for 'new' either never tried, or not done for many years) - while these 12 activities are not set in stone, I anticipate they'll include ice skating, attempting a climbing wall, bagging a munro, a spinning class, swimming, kayaking, and more...

This is the 'biggie', to help me address many of the other objectives in the list, and to help me build my confidence. Depending on how this challenge goes over the year, I might claim parkrun as a ‘new thing’, haha, but regardless, I made a good start on this goal, which is all about pushing myself to try things I would normally steer clear of, by going ice skating yesterday.

The local ice rink does a tuition session for 45 minutes on a Sunday, then you get 45 minutes of time to yourself on the ice, and it's remarkably cheap, so my friend Claire and I decided to go along. The class (split up into ability levels, so we joined the complete-and-utter-beginners) was basically us moving from one line to another, doing slightly different things with our feet. It was slow, steady, and we had about 3 tutors whizzing around giving us guidance.

I felt upset about halfway through the class - I'd managed to stay upright, but I was REALLY slow, clumsy and uncomfortable on the ice, and some of the more challenging things, like skating slowly backwards, were just really tough for me. I was feeling such a bloody loser, and I had to give myself a bit of a talking to - "You're staying upright, you're doing well for someone who hasn't been on skates for so long! Stick with it." and made it through the rest of the session okay.

At the end of 45 mins we got our free time, but so did all the other people from the different classes, so as we went round this big ice rink, there were people whizzing around, doing swanky circles and turns, and I didn't want to hold on to the side, so I tried to stay about 3 feet away and just keep moving. I felt completely overwhelmed by it all, and had my head down, shuffling along. After 1½ times around the rink, I noticed a group of guys stood in my line of travel, and tried to move out a little, but just then I lost my balance, and with a huge THUD I crashed heavily to the ice. I banged the side of my bum, and my elbow, as I fell. One of the tuition team almost immediately appeared at my arm to help me stand up, and asked if I was okay. I said yes, and felt a lump rise in my throat. I tried hesitantly to make it to the side, and awkwardly try to brush off the ice from my legs, bum, and arm, without falling over again. He came with me, and was cheerfully telling me about how last week he'd fallen, in front of all the students, so "it happens to everyone, don't worry!" and all I could think of was how quickly I wanted to get off the ice and take my boots off. I felt tears pricking my eyes; it was only 15 mins into the 45 mins of skating time, so I saw Claire waiting for me, and told her I was going to stop, but she should keep going round for a bit.

I was so incredibly disappointed - I wish for just one second I could try something new and NOT fail at it, and also I wish that I had the mindset that stopped me getting so upset by things like this. So, it was my first time on the ice in maybe 20 years - of course there was a good chance I was going to fall over, that's not failure, that's just part of learning to ice skate! Of course, I don't think like that. I feel upset that every other bloody person can pick things up better than I can. I'm also REALLY upset that at the first real sign of failure, I upped and ran (not literally... slowly shuffled to the exit), completely reverting to type. Will I never change, despite all my efforts?

I'm going back next week.

10. Blog more consistently about my fitness challenges

Yes, well, we’ll count the first post of 2012 being on day 16 as an epic fail, won’t we? *facepalm* I really do intend to do better, though.

11. Do much less inner city driving (this is hard to quantify as I don't know how much I did in 2011. It just felt like a LOT)

I’ve been failing at this, too. The weather’s not been great, but that’s no excuse. I've driven 133 miles in 16 days; I've not been outside of the city at all, and I live within easy walking distance of work and supermarkets! Shameful. I'll get better.

12. Be completely ready for Christmas before December 15th

This is an interesting one, because every single year Christmas ‘surprises’ me. I really want to be properly organized in plenty of time, and decorate my flat nicely, send out proper cards, make my own Christmas cake or Christmas pudding, make/get thoughtful presents in plenty of time and wrap them beautifully, and so on… I suspect I need to start work on this in the summer, maybe June/July time.

13. Spend time with awesome people who make me happy, instead of wallowing alone at home

To be fair, I actually enjoy spending time alone, but sometimes I’m hyper-aware of the exciting things that my friends are out doing, some of which I turned down invites to, and it can get a bit miserable. However, my plan for the ‘new things’ goal is to do the activities with friends, so really, it’ll automatically address this one. I don’t want to start going out to the pub every weekend, or eating out in restaurants 3 nights a week, because I can’t afford it, and it’s not good for my weightloss, so the more activity-type things I can do, the better. (See also #14 below.)

14. See films, go to gigs, read books, go to the theatre - stop THINKING about doing those things while watching crappy reality TV shows, and just do it

Well, I saw the second Sherlock Holmes film at the cinema last week (fun, but predictable) and have seen The Social Network, Precious, and Salt from my rental membership. I think Precious was the ‘best’ out of the 3, though they’re all very different films, and I say 'best' because although really good, it's a fairly harrowing subject matter. I actually thought Mariah Carey was pretty great in it, though.

Books…? I’ve half-read bits and pieces, nothing of note. I have, it must be said, failed to stop watching crappy reality TV shows...!!!!! Gah! I need to get some culture in my life. Theatre! Opera! Museums! Art Galleries! Music!

15. More important than any of the above, stop eating meals in front of the TV.

I managed this for one day. One. Day. Must try harder, because I’m not kidding when I say it’s the most important objective for this year.