The Year-End Reolutions Post

Even though I barely blog anymore, one thing I have done pretty consistently for the last several years is post my new year's resolutions.  Not only does it provide at least a semblance of accountability, it also is fun to go back and evaluate from one year to the next.

This past year I resolved to read the Bible through again, and I was successful in that.  That is somewhere around 11-12 "full" readings, not counting partials.  This year I want to continue the discipline of daily reading, but I am tired of the "whole Bible in a year" format.  I intend to begin this year with a 90-day plan through the New Testament, and after that I may re-evaluate and do some other directed study.

Another goal I set last year was to build on my record-setting year in 2011, when I logged the most miles I have ever run in a calendar year (745).  This year I actually eclipsed that.  I have 797 in the books with a day to go, so I intend to shuffle at least once around my block and make it a cool 800 in 2012.  The driver of all those miles is my plan to run the Charleston Marathon in January.  It's not much of a "resolution" to check off a goal three weeks into the new year when all the work took place in the previous one, but I do intend to set a new personal record, hopefully under 4 hours, in that marathon.

This coming year I emphatically DO NOT intend to continue marathon training.  I really don't enjoy it.  But now that I can run 15 miles pretty easily (and 20 with difficulty), my running goal in 2013 is to make a 10-miler a weekly or bi-weekly occurrence, in the hopes of running some age-adjusted personal records from 5k through the half-marathon.  Since I will be 44, that makes me the oldest in my current age group (40-44), so any hopes to win age-group trophies may be postponed until 2014.

I resolved last year to try and win a repeat state title with my track team. We did, in pretty convincing fashion.  (A great deal of that has to do with having amazingly talented kids and the best coaching staff we've ever assembled.).  I think it is possible to three-peat; even though it's hard to resolve something that depends so much upon the performance of others (not just my own team, but all the others, too), that's going to be the goal.

Probably the main thing I want to do in terms of habits is to make better use of my early morning quiet time.  I already get up at 5:30 daily, and have close to an hour before anyone else in my house is up.  But too often I spend the whole time "reading the news" online.  I managed to use technology (a Nook) last year to do a better job of reading books instead of blogs.  This year I have an iPad, and hope to use its calendar and task list features to do better in time management.

There will also be some less-dramatic health-related goals.  As I get older, my vital signs look more and more like those of my family (not the best genes), in spite of my running.  So I intend to eat and drink more good stuff and less bad stuff.  I've also got a couple of personal goals involving priorities at home.  But that's pretty much the list.