Resolution Time!

I took the time to look back at my resolutions for 2011, and I actually feel better about this past year than I have in a long time.  Among the things I set out to do was to read the entire New Testament in the first 75 days of the year (done, never missed a day) and to run more consistently, but without a set mileage goal (but with the understanding that 500 was the baseline).  The running is a point of great pride--As of today, with 5 days still to go, I not only have run 729 miles in 165 runs, I am on pace to break my previous all-time log record of 744 miles and 169 runs, set in the year 2000.  This has been the most consistent I have ever been, and has paid off with good racing; I ran an-age-adjusted personal best for 5k this October.  Imagine that!  Run more, longer, and more often, and race better.  Who would have guessed?  I also put on paper (pixels) the audacious goal of trying to win a state championship in track.  We did it, and in dramatic fashion.  As a matter of fact, in just a little over a year we've won back-to-back-to-back titles (cross-country in fall of 2010, track in spring of 2011, cross-country in fall of 2011).  Obviously, a great deal of that has to be credited to the athletes--I'd never even set such a goal without a terrific roster.  And even more credit goes to my friend and co-coach Hugh, who is XC/distance coach.  It's his kids who have done the heavy lifting in terms of scoring.  But my satisfaction level is quite high.  I don't know if I've ever worked harder on a track season, and the payoff was amazing.  As a bonus, one of the results of all this success was a complete renovation of our track facility which I've been wanting for nearly a decade.

However, not everything was smooth sailing.  I intended to blog more (and didn't).  I intended to spend less time online and more reading "real" books.  That was a non-starter.  I wanted to be more thoughtful about my use of time while I was home, but instead spent too much time online or holding down a sofa.  All of those were related--the things I did best were functions of discipline and consistency.  The things I did worst were those in which I showed the least discipline and most auto-pilot.  I'll also add that after my initial 75-day Bible reading success, I had spotty results in my daily devotions, and my prayer life has been just a mess.  I've been getting up at 5:30 daily with the intention of having my quiet time, but have managed to spend up to an hour and a half reading "news," most of which is the same opinions rehashed over and over.

So, here's the plan for 2012:

• I'm going back to my old Day-Timer (actually a Franklin Covey planner), and having a daily period of planning, prayer, and study.  I also want to journal.
• I'm cutting back on the web-surfing.  I've already deleted a bunch of bookmarks that were on my "daily" list.
• I'm going to "discuss" less on facebook and message boards.  If I want to write out my thoughts, I'll do it here.
• I think having my Nook is going to help me read more that's not online.
• I want to keep up the momentum I've gained running.  With only two years of 700+ miles in the past 13, it seems a stretch to plan on a third, but I'm putting it out there. 
• I want to spend more time and effort managing our family budget.  (We do really well on this, but often "wing it."  With my oldest starting college, I'd like to be more hands-on.)
• I want to have more frequent and more intentional "date nights."  Ann and I started doing some of this recently, and it's been great.
• We're also going to try to defend that state championship in track.  It'll be even harder this season, and after this year's graduation may become impossible.  But the bar has been raised.

That should be about enough.  Anybody else have big plans?