chimesblog

I rock.

Although I don’t know if I could ever re-run this time or recreate it in any way shape or form, but I did it.

Hit the treadmill hard today with intentions of at least shaving some time off the 25:50whatever I previously held as a 5K PR. Cranked it up cuz another somewhat-elite runner was running next to me (and he didn’t have headphones…probably a real elite runner).

Here’s where it gets tricky though.  I put the incline at 0.  Yeah. totally cheating.  So now I’ve got to see if I can do this OUTSIDE where it counts, but there’s too much ice/snow on the ground right now to think about speed. Plus, treadmills are good for keeping track of speed and pacework, so I figure I’ll get some use out of them…hell, I’m putting a 10th of each paycheck into a savings account to BUY my own treadmill by this time next year (i hope anyway).

Also, it got kinda sketchy towards the end. I was rocking and hauling ass until the last 1K…then I got a major major MAAAAJOR case of painful gas (which I get when I do speedwork, which is why I’m NOT a short-distance runner — mostly out of respect for other people). I wasn’t about to stop on account of that.  I decided that the guy next to me who was the only one in the place NOT wearing headphones could deal with it — he was obviously a runner… he would understand.  I let ‘er rip.  Fortunately for him it was just the loud kind of fart, not the smelly kind.

Anyway, I got one of my goals for 2009 covered. I’m going to keep trying to break that and try to break it outside of course. I should sign up for a 5k to see what I can do in a race setting. I’m excited now!

thank you, Alexi Laiho, for being so hot and rocking at guitar. You pushed me through ANOTHER speedwork workout.

oh, and for anybody who’s interested, I’ve been listening to Children of the Bodom, In Flames and Dethklok during these runs.  I’m hoping to add more COB and some Death and Amon Amarth to the speed collection.  Also, Alexi Laiho is the lead guitarist of COB, in case you were wondering. He’s pretty talented and probably the  best looking guy in the entire genre of metal (unless you consider NIN to be metal…which I don’t, but if you do, Trent Reznor wins).

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I don’t believe in resolutions because I never fulfill them. Usually my resolutions are something without substance or a real goal in mind (such as “in 2009 I resolve to lose weight and eat healthier”).  To achieve anything I have to have a set goal with a set deadline.

A while back I read an article in Self magazine about goals and how to set goals you’ll actually achieve. I cut out the little list thing they put in the article and filled it out.  It had you set goals for every day, each week, in the next few months, by the end of this year, in 5 years and within your lifetime. I hung it up on my fridge as a reminder.

I can’t remember all my goals (I’m not at home right now) but I know I achieved most of them. It’s nice having the “every day” and “every week” goals because I can revisit those frequently to see how I can change my lifestyle to achieve them. I think my every day goals included “be outside”, “do some sort of exercise”, “eat a healthy meal” and “take 10 minutes for myself”. I think I’ve been doing pretty well on all those.

My weekly goals included “visit Kasey” (since he’d been doing most of the visiting), “run 4-6 times”, “take time to pamper” and I don’t remember the last one. Again, I’ve been doing pretty well with those.

My longer-term goals included “run a marathon” (check), “redo personal portfolio website”, “apply to grad school”, “take GRE” (check), “earn an MFA”, “get a tattoo”, “get married” (under the “before I die” category), “pay off student loans” (under 10 year category) and “get a new car” (under the 3-5 year category).

Anyway, I think my list needs some revisiting. So here I go.

Every day I’d like to…

1)  Do some sort of exercise and STRETCH.
2) Be outside or appreciate outdoors/the environment
3) Recycle/reuse something
4) take 10 minutes just to breathe

Every week I’d like to…

1) Run 4-5 times, crosstrain twice
2) Cook a healthy meal for myself (and actually eat the leftovers)
3) Visit Kasey and do something for him to show I care
4) Take time to pamper (take a bubble bath or do a pedi!)

By the end of 2009 I’d like to…

1) Be able to run a 5K in under 25 minutes
2) Have run another half marathon and marathon (EDIT: and do the half in under 2 hours and the full in 4:30 or under…or do 3 halves and get a PR each time if my injury won’t let me do another marathon).
3) have finished my personal portfolio/website
4) apply to grad school and start my program
5) have saved up enough to buy a treadmill for 2009-10′s winter
6) read and finish at least one book

In 3-5 years I’d like to…

1)  have finished my MFA
2) buy a new car
3) move somewhere new and exciting (Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Boston…who knows. NOT Alaska.)
4) Still be a runner … maybe do a triathalon.

In 10 years I’d like to…

1) have student loans paid off or mostly paid off
2) be teaching at a University
3) buy a house or some sort of real estate
4) still be a runner, and do that triathalon if I haven’t.

Before I die I’d like to…

1)  get a tattoo
2) run an ultramarathon (only 30 miles though!)
3) get married/start a family
4) get an iPhone (haha. how petty this goal is, but I think I’ve got all the goods covered elsewhere)
5) finally learn how to play that bass that’s been collecting dust for 4 years.

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I’m super close to 1000 miles for this year on Iowa State’s Rec Milers.  That means I get another intermural champion shirt… w00t.

this year

I checked my goals on Nike+ and I’m ahead of both my goals for this month. Awesome.

2 runs ahead of my goal for runs under 9:14/mi

8 runs ahead of my Run More Often Goal

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