Goals for 2016

Happy New Year! I'm am welcoming 2016 with open arms and an open mind. The past couple of years have been tough for me in so many aspects of my life--a few things that I've shared on my blog, and a few things that I have not. While there were a lot of great things that happened in 2015, I am glad that the year is over, and I really look forward to what 2016 has in store.

I know that New Year's resolutions are cliche, and the chance of actually sticking to them is slim; but as a goal-setter, there is something so fun about starting the new year with a clean slate. I love to write goals for the new year!

Last year, I had the following goals:

-Run the Detroit Free Press Marathon
-Run a half-marathon each month
-Cut out most processed foods
-No ice cream at home

Since 2015 ended up being "the year of the never-ending stress fracture injury", I wasn't able to complete my running goals. In fact, I actually had to drop out of several races that I'd registered for because of my stress fracture.

I started the year very well with cutting out processed foods. However, I gained several pounds while I was eating "clean", and I had really hoped that I'd have been able to lose weight. I've experimented several times over the years with clean eating, and it just doesn't work well for me--physically, I have a hard time with weight loss; and mentally, I'm just not happy. So, when I started counting calories in August, I didn't make any foods off limits, and I ate whatever I wanted while counting the calories. I am much happier, and I was able to get back down to my goal weight rather quickly that way. So, while I failed at my goal of cutting out processed foods, I am happy with the way it worked out.

I did stick with the "No ice cream at home" goal, though (at least from what I remember). If I did have ice cream here, it was from a single serving container, so there wasn't any sitting in the freezer. Most of the time, though, if I wanted to eat ice cream, I would go out and eat it.

I guess one out of four goals is pretty good! The running goals were out of my hands, because of the injury. If I hadn't gotten injured, I probably would have met those.

Now, on to 2016...

I've been thinking hard about this, and here is what I came up with:

-Cook one new recipe each week. I've already created a Pinterest board with 52 recipes, so I will choose one each week to try. They aren't all "healthy" recipes--just foods that sounded good and I wanted to try.

-Get in 7,000+ steps per day, for at least six days per week. I'm using an app called Momentum on my phone to track this. On the days that I run, it should be fairly easy; but on my rest days, getting in 7,000 steps is tough!

-Continue my binge-free streak. Currently, I am 150 days binge-free!

-Do my best to PR my 10K. If not in the spring, then I'll try again in the fall. It's going to be the most challenging goal I've ever set for myself, but I'm willing to work hard to do it. I won't be upset if I don't actually set a new PR as long as I try my best. I don't want to look back thinking that I could have done it if I had given a little more effort during training.

-Finally, I want to maintain a weight of 135 pounds or less. I've been doing well with maintenance for the past month, staying between 130-133, so I'm happy with that. If I could do it through the holidays, I can certainly continue to do it. Summer is the most challenging time of year for me, so again, I will do my best.

So, there they are, in black and white--my goals for 2016. I don't have anything standing in my way right now (injuries, excess weight, etc), so I am looking forward to working on my goals! Anyone else have goals for the new year?