My 'Year of Reduction'?

I normally do an annual review and set goals for the coming year.  I never got around to it at the end of 2012 because of a bad cold that kept me from doing almost anything more than I absolutely had to, plus this introspection is hard for me to do while I have a house full of guest staying with me for the holidays.  So I'm a little late in getting around to it but you'll see more about this in the next few days and weeks.

From one of my favorite bloggers, JD Roth at More Than Money, I found a link to Chris Guillebeau's The Art of Non Conformity and his guide to doing an annual review.  I plan to take some time and follow his approach - its not just setting goals but doing a meaningful plan to accomplish them.  And as he says, people tend to understand what they can accomplish in a year.  Planning can make it happen.

His review consist of a Review of the Prior Year - looking back what worked, what didn't work, and Outlining of Goals and Focus for the New Year, and finally Make Decisions in Support of the Goals and Focus.  My question mark on the post title is because I'm jumping to the Year's Focus already - year of reduction - without having done the other steps.   He warns that it is better to work through the process and see what goals you are excited about before you set your focus and push goals to fit it.

So I'm knowingly jumping the gun, but I'm expecting I'll develop goals for health (with weight loss being a reduction), goals for decluttering (ie, a reduction in stuff), possibly a reduction in mortgage debt (obvious reduction goal).  These are areas that have been on my mind and active in my todo lists so its reasonable to think this will dominate my goals for the year.

The other key goal, that doesn't fit so well into this theme, is working with Zeus.   Things have improved tremendously between us this year, but there is still so much to go.  Let me be up front about this - the problem is more with me than it is with him!  He is a very sweet and well behaved dog.   The problem is he is a dog.   And dogs take time and effort that cats do not.  I don't yet know how to live with a dog and still do the things I want to - for example, today the Ice Age Club was hosting a snowshoe hike through Laphem Peak State Park - something I would love to have joined.  But it was from 11 am to 2pm with socializing / bring your own lunch afterwards - so I would not have been home till about 3pm and then needing to leave almost immediately for a Rose Bowl party.  If I had a cat pet, then no problem.  I could have easily make these times work for me.   With a dog, not so much.  At somepoint in between those I need to feed him and walk him.  And actually getting out of the house this morning was delayed by two walks cause not all the bathroom business got done on the first walk.  It's not overwhelming and certainly other people have much bigger problems (in life and with their own pets) but its inconvenient and I have not yet adjusted my thoughts and actions to take living with a dog into account.   Some of this is my own doing - I haven't trained Zeus to go out by himself and I don't have a fence installed to allow it.  So I envision some goals and major actions on my part to make this better for both Zeus and me.   It needs and deserves some focus - this is the area that is keeping me from being happier.  It brings me down often so need some serious review and planning for 2013 to be better, especially because this has long term impact as I expect Zeus to live another 10 years or so.

Another potential goal that doesn't quite fit into a year of reduction is to blog post more - I'm thinking 50 post this year. Fifty sounds like a lot - last year was only 39 and a good 10 of those were directly related to the New Mexico trip and storing directions and links.   I feel compelled to have a goal like this to help push me to get both more open about sharing things and also to help maintain good writing skills.   I have that vague ideal job of being a movie critic so posting more seams to moving in the right direction.

Guess I will have to go through the process and see where my focus and interest really lay - because while I started with the what's been current on my to do list - with all those reduction items, at first glance I think I'm more focused and excited by these last two goals which don't fit the year of reduction. 

Running Update

The running update.....!!!!

In a nutshell, my goals and status update:

First goal is to be ready for the BLS Fun Runs
Overall summer pace goal is to be a 9+ minute miler by the last of the fun runs.
--- I have attended 3 of the 4 fun runs - a pretty good percentage for me.  I'm conscientiously  trying to keep my schedule open to attend these but things do come up that are outside of my control.  And I have run most of these; some years I have walked more of the runs than I runs I run.  I have been starting early so that I can finish with the crowd instead of being a straggler.  Overall I'm happy with the results and progress that I have been seeing.  Tonight is the Holy Hill Fun Run which I have been looking forward to attending.

Second summer goal is compete a long distance race. 
 -- The Ice Age Half Marathon in May had mixed results for me, overall very good and it really does deserve its own post.  I finished 6 minutes faster than last year and that is with losing my keys and spending significant time and (at least mental) energy looking for them!
-- Time to start making some plans and select a long(er) distance run.  I'm not sure if I want to do another trail run (I know Laphem Peak has a couple longer events in September and October) or if I want to do a street run which would be faster.  

 Third running goal is to run with Zeus.
 -- Sad update - the vet found Zeus has a heart murmur which explains a lot of why he tires out so quickly, pants so hard after even a small exertion effort, and has the poor appetite.  No decision on what treatments, if any, are needed.   But it does make it very unlikely that he will ever be able to run with me or even hike with me - the sad thing is those are two of the key reasons I wanted to get a dog in the first place. 

Good Day

It has been a good and productive day today!  I haven't accomplished this much in a single day in a long time. Felt the need to post it just to help me remember it and use it to motivate me on that tougher days.

I also created a few systems and/or checkpoints so that this productivity can continue.  It is always easier to keep something going than to start it from scratch.

Update: I probably should have pointed out that Zeus was at the Doggy Office.  As I thought about why I was so productive a light bulb went off and duh, Zeus was gone for the day - there was no need to keep him entertained, take him on short bathroom walks, etc.    

2012 Summer Running Season Goals

Had another successful run this morning.  Still short and many would not see the success I see, but like beauty, success is in the eye of the beholder.  I had three runs this week; just like I planned.  None of the runs were more than 1 1/2 miles and all of the outings were less than 30 minutes.  A lot would claim that was 'nothing' but to me each outing was longer and farther, and consistent pace even with basically doubling the mileage each run.  This is the first week back at it since about last Spring - yes there were a few running efforts last summer but they were few and far between. 

I'm not upset about this slow start because it has shown great progress and it is very similar to how I started out running.   Back when I lived on Lake Harriett in Minneapolis I started by running from my apartment to the Band Shell, then a few outings later made it a loop - running to the band shell and back. This continued for weeks as I increased the distance to my turn around point: the band shell, end of band shell's parking lot, first dock, second dock, rose garden, and finally the canoe rental storage  By the time my turn around point was the canoe rental storage it was more than half way so the combined there and back was more than all the way around the lake - but it took me weeks before I was ready to run that full lake circumference!  And the first time I ran all the way around the lake I felt like Rocky when he runs up the Philadelphia steps.

I'm pleased with my restart and its time to make some goals for the season.

First goal is to be ready for the BLS Fun Runs.....what does ready mean?  it means being able to run feeling comfortable and confident for the 3 miles.  Okay...so what does comfortable and confident mean?  it means feeling good with running/jogging the full distance without need any walking breaks (with exception for a couple of the hills), it also means being able to finish the distance in under 35 minutes  The BLS like to claim that there is more than enough to go around, but in reality there is not enough bottles of water or the special food (ie, ham roll run, etc) for all the slower runners.  The faster people take more than one so there is often not enough left to go around.  My goal is to be fast enough to make those BLS fun runs be my dinner.   My starting pace is slow enough to affect getting things at the fun runs, so my immediate goal is to shave 2 minutes off my starting pace in time for the April fun runs.  Overall summer pace goal is to be a 9+ minute miler by the last of the fun runs.

Second summer goal is compete a long distance race.  I have the Ice Age Half Marathon in May, but my expectation is that I will hike that more than I will run it; although this year I would like to add some running to the course.   I'm open to counting this as any run of at least a 10K.   There are a couple 10 miler races in Chicago that look interesting, and there is always the BLS Cudahy Classic 10 miler.  Or another half marathon could be a good fit in September or October.   I'd even consider a full marathon if the time limit was long enough to have me walk parts of it.   Ultimate running goals include a full marathon but I'm not sure this is the year for it because once again I'm starting my spring running over almost from scratch.  The full marathon may have to wait for a year that I'm RAW (Running All Winter).

Third running goal is to run with Zeus.  This will take time and practice to get us to a mutual pace - he is a sprinter and I can go longer (but slower) distances than he can sprint.  He also has to learn to run and not stop at every interesting leaf or mailbox!

Right now these are my personal plans for the running season.  Simple and doable, but still challenging.   I promise to give an update at the end of each month through October.  Let's see how I do.  Good luck to all your running goals for the season!

Breakthrough!

It's really not that big of a deal but I think it may have a big impact on how I'm able to keep the house as I want it and in general to be able to better keep up on things.

This week for the first time I was able to put the dog to bed in his crate for the night and still be able to work in the family room and kitchen.  This may not sound like a lot,  but normally once I put Zeus in his crate for the night, I've always felt like I needed to vacated that side of the house and limited myself to the master bedroom.  I could watch TV or read, and sometimes I took the laptop in there with me.   But overall it limited me from getting things done and organized and it seamed like so much was piling up and not getting done. Which added a lot of stress to my life.

So far both nights have been where Zeus was at the Doggy Office during the day and extremely tired those nights.  I'm not sure how well this will work on regular nights when he is not in a deep sleep.

This change helps 'integrate' Zeus into my life, rather than being an 'imposition'; which as much as I love him I often felt that he was a imposition because he takes sooo much more time and energy than Wally ever did.  Wally was an energy boost for me; Zeus is often an energy drain for me.  I do think this will change as he leaves the puppy stage and is a well trained dog.  But for now, often it is hard and this breakthrough helps me see light at the end of the tunnel!