Quarter One Goals 2019

January 15, 2019

In addition to monthly goals, I like to set quarterly goals to make sure I’m keeping myself on track. A few years ago I read a book called the 12 Week Year, which suggests dividing your year into 12 week chunks to better get things done. The idea is that you try to do less in less, more focused time. The original idea is that you take 12 weeks and then a week of resting. I prefer to do it in quarters, which is 3 months.

I broke down my 2019 goals into smaller chunks for this. These are the goals I’m hoping to accomplish through the end of March, at which point I’ll come up with new goals and start again!

Goal 1: Manage my money well.

— Hit emergency fund goal.
— Pay taxes and use any refund to pay off credit card debt.
— Reduce debt to less than $500.

Goal 2: Finish novel draft.

— Sketch out rough novel plan.
— Identify a writer’s group to join for support.

Goal 3: Maintain a thriving online presence.

— Hit my goal of 100 newsletter subscribers.
— Get published on another website.
— Polish portfolio site to best represent me.
— Blog 3 times a week each week for the whole quarter.
— Write about my 2018 concerts, my 2019 word of the year, and three “deep/feelings” posts.

Goal 4: Love others well by showing up for them.

— Schedule hang outs with friends.
— Send 12 cards or letters to people I love.
— Celebrate people well for their accomplishments and just because.
— Give good gifts.

Goal 5: Live with less to experience more.

— Participate in a Contentment Challenge in February.
— Give away 15 books I won’t read anymore.
— Organize the clothes in my drawer (possibly try the KonMari method for clothing.)

Goal 6: Develop heart healthy habits.

— Get back into running with a 10k race in mid-February.
— Eat vegetables every day.
— Simplify meal prep with recipe lists and follow through with meal prep on weekends.

Goal 7: Explore new places + things.

— Have two adventure days (three if I can swing it.)
— Do 4 things from my list of 111 things to do in Los Angeles.
— Blog about each of those things.
— Try two new-to-me restaurants.

Goal 8: Read 100 books in 2019.

— Read 30 books.
— Blog books each month.
— Post a quarterly wrap up of my book thoughts + feelings.
— Hit 450 followers on my bookstagram.

Goal 9: Record my memories creatively.

— Try to stretch my bullet journal to last through the end of the quarter if possible.
— Keep up with the One Little Word project.
— Organize photos twice monthly.
— Craft either through Project Life or a possible other scrapbook project.

I’ll check in again the week of February 10th, the midpoint of Q1, to see how things are going and how I can adjust from here.

Do you set quarterly goals? How about monthly?

2019 Goals

January 14, 2019

As an enneagram 3, goal setting is my absolute + forever jam. I’ve been using the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets to help me set goals for a few years now. (My 2018 goals are here.)

Here’s what I have for this year.

Manage my money well.

What this looks like for me: paying off debt, hitting my emergency fund goal, starting a longer term savings fund, and continuing to use You Need A Budget (that’s an affiliate link, FYI, and if you use it you’ll get a free month). It looks like learning how to invest and figuring out how I can start saving for retirement. It looks like spending money only I have and being smarter with my money. It looks like saving for a trip. It looks like being able to give people gifts and make donations to causes I care about.

Finish novel draft.

What this looks like for me: finally doing the damn thing! Hoping to start on this in Q2.

Maintain a thriving online presence.

What this looks like for me: keeping up with blogging on a regular basis, getting published on another website, keeping up with writing my newsletter and getting more subscribers, and telling my story.

Love others well by showing up for them.

What this looks like for me: making more time for others through hanging out with friends, sending them cards just because, and letting them know I’m thinking of them. It looks like volunteering and being there for people.

Live with less to experience more.

What this looks like for me: purging my stuff, donating it, and buying less in the first place. It looks like doing a Contentment Challenge. It looks like sharing the wealth, hitting up the library, and shopping in thrift stores.

Develop heart healthy habits.

What this looks like for me: becoming healthier mentally + physically. Committing to November Project. Running more. Stretching more. Getting a half marathon PR. Training myself to be ready to run another marathon. Eating in ways that fuel me in the long term. Eating more whole foods. Going to therapy.

Explore new places + things.

What this looks like for me: visiting new places in California. Doing 15 things from my book of 111 things to do in Los Angeles. Having more adventure days. Saying yes.

Read 100 books in 2019.

What this looks like for me: Reading 100 books! I talked more in depth about my specific goals here.

Record my memories creatively.

What this looks like for me: keeping up with my bullet journal, Project Life, and my 1 Second Everyday video. It looks like creating for myself.

I’ve already started on some of these goals, and I’m excited to see what this year brings!

12 Bookish Resolutions (aka 2019 Reading Goals)

January 11, 2019

After not quite meeting my reading goals for 2018, I’m excited for a fresh start to set some new reading-related goals for this year!

This year, I will…

Read 100 books. I’m back with a second attempt at this goal. I know it’s doable if I keep up the pace of reading.

Read 60 books I own. Like many book lovers, I’m incredibly guilty of buying new books in favor of reading the ones I own. I’ll be moving some time this spring, and I don’t want to move alllll those books again.

Participate in the RAD Reading Challenge. I love Rachel’s blog and I’m excited to participate in this with her.

Read at least 10 books from the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge list. I want to say I will complete the whole list, but I’m not sure that’s realistic with my other goals! But the secret goal is to complete the whole list.

Keep tracking my reading and to-be-read lists. I’m going to do this this year with Goodreads and a (yet-to-be-created) spreadsheet. This will help with my next goal, which is…

Read 75% books by women and people of color. I had this goal last year and I fell behind on the data aspect of this, so I have no clue how I did.

Keep up with book club. I started a book club in the fall of 2017, and life events have kept me from going the last few months. I want to get back to it, because I love it.

Get my monthly reviews up on the blog in the first week of the month. Last year I wasn’t great about this, and it led to a backup, which for me leads to inaction.

Post quarterly reading updates. I love writing reviews, but I also want to write deeper thoughts about a few books I’ve especially loved over the last quarter.

Keep posting on my bookstagram. I’m loving the community over there, and I want to focus on interacting with people who love books as much as I do! It’s so fun to have people to talk about books with, and I get lots of ideas for books to try

Use the library more. I want to check the availability at the library first instead of deferring to online book shopping.

Stop reading books I’m not loving. I’m awful at this because I feel so guilty and I want to be able to count the book in my yearly book goal. That’s dumb and life is short and I should only be reading books I love.

What are your bookish resolutions for 2019?

My Favorite Books of 2018

January 6, 2019

I read 78 books in 2018, more than I’ve ever read before. Some books I loved, some I hated, and some were fine but forgettable. Today, I’m sharing the ones that have stuck with me. They may not be the best books of all time or ones that will win any literary awards, but here are ones I can’t stop thinking about and hope to reread one day.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

This list is in no particular order, but this book absolutely gets the top spot. This book has everything: it’s the saga of one man’s life growing up in Ireland, picking up with him every 7 years to see what he’s up to. It shows how Ireland’s cultural attitudes changed over time and how Cyril adapts to them. It stuck with me because it’s gutting and heartwrenching, but so, so good.. It made me happy and it made me cry. It’s one of those books that only comes around once in a while.

Beartown

This book stuck with me because it’s like Friday Night Lights, but set in Sweden instead of Texas, and with hockey instead of football. It’s the story of how one small town’s obsession with its youth hockey team is a positive force for so many, but ultimately destructive in other ways. It’s about family and growing up and becoming an adult. The emotion in this book is unparalleled. I loved it.

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

This book about the Golden State Killer was published after the author’s death, and shortly after that, the killer was captured. This book stuck with me because it’s like a cross between a novel and a textbook: the depictions of the killer breaking into houses are so vivid from people’s memories that it was easy at times to forget these things actually happened. It’s the first true crime book I’ve read in a long time that I wasn’t able to stop thinking about.

The Great Alone

I have recommended this book to everyone I know. Kristin Hannah is incredible. This book is about a teenage girl that moves to Alaska on the whim of her father, a Vietnam vet who struggles with PTSD. Everything is fine at first, but then it gets closer to winter, and trouble strikes. This book stuck with me because evokes such specific feelings. I felt the cold of Alaska, I felt the stress of being in that situation, and I felt stressed right along with the characters.

The Immortalists

This book, a story of four siblings who visit a fortune teller to find out the date of their deaths, ripped me apart. It stuck with me because the siblings all approached their lives differently after the meeting, some in healthy ways and others in healthy ways. It made me wonder if I would want to know the date of my death if I had the opportunity. I feel like I wouldn’t, but I can see how knowing would make me concentrate on what I really cared about. It’s helpful to remember that any day COULD be the last day, and I should be living in a positive way as if it is.

The Best of 2018

January 5, 2019

Instead of doing a typical “year in review” post, I’ve decided to instead recap the best of each month of the year. To do this, I went through my monthly highlights on Instagram and wrote down the very best things!

(Here’s my 2017 recap.)

the best of january.

I spent the first day of the year in San Diego. I woke up early and went to visit November Project San Diego, which was my first ‘traverbal’ and so fun, even if my parents were hesitant about dropping me off at 6 am in a park on a foggy morning. The Patriots made it to the playoffs. I ran my fifth half marathon, this time with my friend Mallory.

On the blog, I talked about my 2018 goals and word of the year, as well as my reading goals.

the best of february.

I saw The Killers in concert on the first of the month and Dua Lipa the following week. I started cycling classes. I had feelings about doing the damn thing, aka making it work in LA. I read a lot of books, saw Black Panther, and started watching Queer Eye.

On the blog, I wrote about my February reads and recapped my favorite books of 2017.

the best of march.

I turned 25 with a really fun celebration. I went to a lot of movies. I ran a marathon! I tried to go home but my flight was cancelled for a snowstorm on the East Coast. I had extra time in LA as a result. I worked at the Irish Film Festival in Boston, and I got to hug my dog!

On the blog, I wrote about what I was currently loving and about planting roots.

the best of april.

I celebrated one year in Los Angeles! I saw Victoria Beckham while I was getting ice cream. I went to Disneyland. I decided to move in with my now-roommates.

On the blog, I wrote about finding adventure where I am right now and what I was loving.

the best of may.

I saw Taylor Swift in concert with Bri and stayed up all night after the fact to watch the Royal Wedding. I saw Bleachers in concert. I read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies.

On the blog, I answered questions for bookworms and talked about my struggles with anxiety.

the best of june.

I voted in my first California primary. I did two workouts on Global Running Day, one in the morning with November Project and the second with Lululemon. I went to Pride. I ended the month in Santa Barbara visiting my friend Sarah.

On the blog, I only wrote about the books I read in May. Slow blogging month!

the best of July.

I got a fun freelance gig. I saw The Goblet of Fire at the Hollywood Bowl, with an orchestra playing the film score. I saw Harry Styles Live on Tour two nights in a row. I flew to Philadelphia, where I got to hug my friend Sara, and then made my way up the East Coast. My second stop was New York, where I stayed with two different friends and decided that California was still where I wanted to be living for now. My last stop was home, where I saw my dog, hugged my family, and went to the beach.

On the blog, I started my weekend update series (would love to bring it back!) and wrote about what I was currently loving.

the best of august.

I saw Niall Horan in concert three times in one week: once in Irvine, CA, and twice at the Greek Theatre (my fave) in LA. I ran a lot. A picture from my bookstagram was featured in a post on Buzzfeed. I went to Disneyland three times in one weekend, since my pass was about to expire. November Project did Hell Week, which involved five straight days of workouts. I saw Panic! at the Disco in concert. I saw my friend Mallory again. I flew to Denver and saw Niall Horan at Red Rocks.

On the blog, I wrote about Playing With Matches.

the best of september.

I went to the Getty Museum with Bri. I ran a 5k race, my first official race since the Marathon in March. I hiked a mountain, and thought I would maybe die in the process. I had my first Adventure Day, which involved seeing Needtobreathe in concert. I went to a book swap, and came away with a bunch of books. I saw Bastille in concert. I started marathon training.

On the blog, I shared a weekend update and then another one.

the best of october.

I went to Malibu Wines with friends. The Red Sox made the playoffs and then won the World Series against the Dodgers (while in LA!) so that was very fun for this Boston transplant. I got a new job at Athleta and made good use of the generous discount right from the start.

On the blog, I wrote about the story behind my arrow tattoo, shared my November Project story, and wrote about attending a screening of the movie First Man.

the best of november.

I voted in the midterm elections and got a long overdue haircut the same day. I got a massage due to some back issues, and contemplated making it a regular monthly thing (still haven’t bit the bullet, but hopefully!). I ran a turkey trot and got to see my friend Mallory again. Had a surprise welcome home party for my friend Molly.

On the blog, I tried something new for the format of book posts.

the best of december.

I started the month with a new job at the LA Marathon and put my LA marathon dreams on hold as a result, since I now have to work that weekend. I saw Picture This in concert the same day I started the job. I caught up with friends over coffee dates and dinners. I started a newsletter, Three Things on Thursday. I went to Ireland for Christmas and New Years, my first time in the country since July 2016.

On the blog, I shared my November reads.

I’m excited for what 2019 will bring!

#HarreadPotter: December 2018 Books

The two books I read in December were Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Both were great. That’s a boring blog post, so instead I’m going to talk about my experience of reading all seven Harry Potter books this year.

For years I intended to read the series in its entirety but never quite got around to it. Truthfully, I’d usually get stuck on the first or second book. Those are the ones I’d read the most, and definitely the quickest reads, which is why it’s ironic that I’d get stuck there. I just didn’t want to read them for the 15th time, and I’d stop.

But this year I kept going and pushed through, and it was totally worth it.

In re-reading the series, I got to rediscover the characters I grew up with. I was seven when I read the first book. I don’t think it needs to be said how important the Harry Potter series has been to my development.

I learned that my favorite book is no longer Order of the Phoenix but rather Goblet of Fire or Deathly Hallows. I learned that the comments made after the 2016 election about how the books are alarmingly applicable to current times are true. I learned that I still want to be Hermione when I grow up. I learned that this series is as applicable to me now at 25 as it was when I was 10 years old. I get different things out of it now, but I love it just the same. I hope it’ll be as applicable in another 15 years.

I know I’m romanticizing a book series, but it’s something I can’t help. It’s part of who I am, and I’m happy for that to be the case.

I won’t be doing another reread in 2019, but if you’re on the fence about doing one, I definitely recommend it. My practical tips:

Start early, and keep going. I ended up reading the last two books in the last two weeks of the year. I was reading the last one on the car ride home on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve. I made it in the end, but I’d have preferred to avoid that if possible.

Plan it out. If you’ll need to borrow the books from a friend or a library, give yourself plenty of time to get a copy. You don’t want to be stuck on December 29th looking for the last book.

Don’t read them all in a row – or do! There’s no right way to go about doing this. Maybe you want to immerse yourself in the world, or maybe you want to sprinkle the books in amidst your other books for the year. Whatever way you choose, I hope you enjoy the ride!

Coffee Talk 01

January 4, 2019

I’m taking a page out of Kristin‘s book and updating you on current events in a coffee date format. I have so much to catch up on and this way is fun. I have plenty of posts in the pipeline – including lots of posts that would traditionally come at the end of the year! – and a catch up post is a great way to get started.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I had the very best time in Ireland over the last two weeks. I was ready to come back, but man do I miss it. I haven’t relaxed so much in a very long time. I got to see almost all of my family, I sent a lot of nights catching up with people over drinks and a lot of mornings catching up over tea, and we had the best weather. My granny always says that my dad gets the really good weather when he’s there, and I’m starting to think that there must be some truth to it.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I started a newsletter! I’d love for you to sign up HERE. It’s called Three Things on Thursday, and in it I share three fun things I’ve learned, read, or watched recently that I think you should check out. I’ve wanted to do a newsletter for a long while now, and it’s so fun to actually make it happen.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I fell short of my 2018 books goal by 18 books, and I’m strangely okay with it! I can identify some of the reasons I didn’t read as much as I wanted to, but at the end of the day it just didn’t happen, and that’s fine. I can tell you that I’m shooting for 100 books again this year, in an attempt to redeem myself. I’m on my third book of the year already, which is progress! Stay tuned for more thoughts about books.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that my roommate Bri and I watched the Reputation tour video on Netflix last night and relieved seeing Taylor Swift live last summer! I’m listening to it again now as I type this. We saw her in May (I’m planning to write a post about 2018 in concerts, because I went to a lot) and she was incredible. The tour video is great, PLUS she sings All Too Well, which is one of my absolute favorite songs.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that my mantra for 2019 is ‘less useless shame.’ This is something I’m already putting into practice. For me it’s about caring less what other people think and putting worries aside to do whatever I want. It’s not about being perfect, but rather about not feeling bad for being myself. I’m trying to become a person who allows herself to feel things fully and does what she wants, and this is helping, four days in.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I’m reading a great, sad, heart wrenching book right now: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. My friend Rachel recommended it to me. I keep thinking that the title is “Beautiful Ruins” and I have literally no reasons for that. (I actually think that’s a different book entirely.) It’s set between two time periods, and one in 1985 Chicago and the other in 2015 Paris. I’m only halfway through, but I definitely recommend it so far.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I finally decided that I’m going to do a 6×8 album for Project Life in 2019. I had grand dreams of completing a 9×12 album, because that’s my favorite layout, but I just don’t think it’s realistic. The 6×8 album is the one that I’m most likely to complete. It’s a smaller, more manageable size, and I’m going to make the most of it. Project Life is something I’ve always wanted to blog about, so I’m hoping to make this happen in 2019.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I bought AirPods yesterday with my Christmas money. They’re definitely an investment, but I already feel like they’re worth it. They connect instantly, the sound quality seems great, and somehow they work well when you’re on a call even though they’re nowhere close to your mouth. I think my favorite thing about them is that I don’t feel the need to be attached to my phone. I’m trying to get better about putting my phone down and being a bit more unplugged. I’m hoping this helps. I already can see myself using them while I cook or clean or read, and I won’t need to be attached to my phone.

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that I’m really excited about my goals for 2019. Oddly, this is the first January that the first of the year hasn’t felt like a big old restart button; it just feels like I’m carrying on with my regular life in a new month! Not sure what that means but also not really into trying to analyze it. Just gonna roll with the punches!

If we were on a coffee date, I’d tell you that this is my first weekend off in two months (barring vacation, obviously). I get both days off from the store and I am thrilled to get to sleep in and take things a little bit slower. December especially was an incredibly hectic month, so two days at home is just what I’m looking for. What are you up to this weekend?

November 2018 Books

December 14, 2018

So it’s pretty clear I’m not gonna meet my reading goal for this year. To be honest, I’m surprisingly okay with it. 100 books in a year was an ambitious goal, and I hoped I’d meet it, but unless I want to read 24 books in the two weeks, it’s not happening. My hope for December is to read the last two Harry Potter books, and if I read anything extra on top of that, it’s great.

If you had asked me my favorite Harry Potter book a year ago, it would’ve been Order of the Phoenix. Now that I’ve reread it, I cannot tell you what I was thinking for all those years. This is a good book, but it’s fairly boring a lot of the time. It perfectly captures what it’s like to be 15, and I absolutely understand why Harry is so angry throughout the book, but I just didn’t want to read it. If we’re totally honest, this book is the reason I didn’t get through many books this month – I just felt like I was reading it for so long. S

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling

This is a first person recollection of Addie’s life growing up in early 20th century Boston as the daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants. She’s being interviewed by her granddaughter for a school project and telling her granddaughter all about her life. I borrowed it from my mom, who thought I would like it. It’s a cute read, and I loved that I recognized a number of the places mentioned. Critical reviews on Goodreads have mentioned that numerous historical events have been sanitized, and I sort of agree with them, but I also thought it was just a fun book. It’s definitely sad at times, but overall I loved how hopeful it felt, and how it showed that women throughout history can be the same despite all our differences. (Cheese alert much?)

I wrote my senior high school thesis on female bullying in literature. This book feels like the opposite of that. It’s all about how female friendships shape our lives. In some cases they’re stronger than our relationships with our significant others, more enduring and solid, and this book did a great job of conveying that. It’s a bit more research-focused than I was expecting, but I found I really enjoyed it. This book had me texting my friends with goosebumps on my arms to tell them how much I adore them.

Text Me When You Get Home by Kayleen Schaefer

I don’t want to say too much about this book; I think it’s better if you just read it. Briefly, it’s about a young man who wants to be a published author but is a terrible writer, and all the awful things he does to get to the top. Parts of it flat out shocked me because of how ruthless he is. I picked this immediately from Book of the Month when I saw who the author was – you may recall that I deeply loved The Heart’s Invisible Furies. This book is different, and not quite as engaging, but still really interesting. Also a lot shorter, if that’s your thing 🙂

A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

I bought this for myself for my birthday in March because I wanted to buy a book that would make me laugh. This nearly qualified. It’s not laugh out loud funny but it’s definitely worth a read, ideally if you can get it at low cost. My favorite parts of this book of autobiographical essays were the ones about how weird moving to Los Angeles and seeing just how damn hard Anna had to work to get where she is. And yes, she was the best friend in Twilight.

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick

In total this month:

Total number of books: five
Number of fiction books: three
Number of nonfiction books: two
Books by people who are not white dudes: four
Total number of books this year: seventy six

October 2018 Books

November 29, 2018

Ridiculously late with this post, but for the sake of continuity and my desire to keep up with reviewing, here are all the books I read in October! I’m obviously once again trying a new format – I can’t seem to decide how I want these posts to look. Maybe the only constant is that they’re constantly changing.

One of my main reading goals for this year is to finally complete the Harry Potter reread I’ve been intending on doing for years. This was the furthest I’ve made it in a long time, which feels like a victory. My childhood copy of this book split into three parts because one, it was so heavy, and two, we read it so frequently. It always feels difficult for me to review the Harry Potter books objectively because they feel like such a part of the fabric of my life, but it’s safe to say that I still really like this one.

I’ve read a number of Backman’s books (I read A Man Called Ove last December and Beartown earlier this summer) and this was by far my least favorite. It was fine as a story, looking back, but it just didn’t grip me like the others did. It’s about a woman who separates from her husband and, terrified that she’ll become isolated and no one will notice she’s dead when she eventually dies, decides to get a job that she has to show up to every day. She ends up moving to a run-down town to care of kids, inadvertently becoming a soccer coach in the process. You’ll like it if you enjoy books that are character driven or set in small towns.

Ugh. I swear this book halted my reading for over two weeks just because it took so. damn. long. to read. I read the book jacket and expected one thing, and what I got was a different thing entirely, though not in a positive way. I just didn’t enjoy it whatsoever and I really don’t recommend it. It reminded me of Jodi Picoult in that there was a drama and a mystery and it was very focused on the town’s issues, but her stuff is much better.

I liked this book! I preordered it last year and finally got around to reading it. I always thought it was more about actual books, but instead it’s about viewing people through the lens of different personality tests. If you know that you’re an INFJ and an Enneagram 3 and a [insert personality test of your choice here], you’ll like this book. If you’ve always wondered what the heck those tests are talking about, you’ll like this book too. If you’re in the first camp I don’t think you’ll learn many new things, but you’ll like having your feelings confirmed.

I thought this was a nice book. It was various writers sharing their thoughts + memories of Paris. I studied abroad there nearly five (!) years ago, and I like to say that I’m gonna be emotional about it forever. This collection of memories made me miss my time there a lot. I also don’t think it was anything particularly special – I’d be much more likely to recommend A Paris All Your Own, which I apparently never blogged about.

I read this after watching the movie earlier this year. It was….fine? I felt like I learned much more about Orthodox Jewish culture from reading this book rather than watching the movie. I have complicated feelings about sexuality and religion and the depiction of them in media. This was a good story and it made me sad and I learned a lot and I was left feeling a bit “ok now what?” at the end, so make of that what you will!

In total this month:

Total number of books: six
Number of fiction books: five
Number of nonfiction books: one
Books by people who are not white dudes: four
Total number of books this year: seventy one

Marathon Monday 04

October 22, 2018

This week was pretty good, barring a few issues. I’m beginning to remember that marathon training is really just about going with the ebbs and flow. There might be a perfect week and there might be a horrible week, but most weeks are going to be somewhere in between. My biggest realization this week is that I think I’m going to cancel my gym membership. It’s $50 a month and the most I ever use it for is one yoga class a week, if that. The classes I want unfortunately aren’t conducive to my schedule, and I’m not in a place where I can waste $50 a month. It’s just not worth it financially. I might look on Groupon for some cheap yoga classes and work in yoga that way.

Week Four

Monday’s plan: 40 minute run + yoga
What actually happened: I ran to yoga, but I wore the wrong type of pants for running and they kept falling down! So it was a walk of 2.25 miles instead. 

Tuesday’s plan: Rest day due to other commitments
What actually happened: Rest.

Wednesday’s plan: November Project
What actually happened: November Project! We did a hill running workout with some core. I ran 1.61 miles.

Thursday’s plan: 50 minute run
What actually happened: I used the treadmill for the first time in a long time and remembered how much I hate it. I ran/walked 2.85 miles in 50 minutes.

Friday’s plan: Rest day
What actually happened: I got to sleep in and rest.

Saturday’s plan: 6 mile run
What actually happened: 6.10 mile run in 1 hour, 24 minutes. For parts of this I felt like I might die, and other parts felt good. This is the longest I’ve run in 7 months!

Sunday’s plan: Yoga
What actually happened: Another rest day. I had to pick up my roommate from LAX at the time I’d hoped to go to yoga and there’s no classes in the afternoons on Sundays, so this didn’t happen. (This is when I realized it made sense to just get rid of it.)

WEEK FIVE’S PLAN

Monday: 45 minute run
Tuesday: Track run ~45 minutes
Wednesday: November Project + maybe yoga
Thursday: 50 minute run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 4 mile run
Sunday: Rest

I feel like this series is starting to get a bit redundant but I’m going to keep up with it as a training log. It’ll be fun to look back on and I hope maybe 2 people find it interesting. Shout out to Hannah who left a comment last week to say she was loving it, which made my whole day.