Happy New Year's!

Happy 2015!

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I rang in 2015 with Michael and his parents, including a great NYE feast of ham and potatoes. After a delicious brunch with them this morning - while watching some late night TV clips Michael's mom had saved for us - we took off for my parents' to watch the MSU bowl game. Holy cow - you couldn't make up a more exciting football game than that! What a great note to begin 2015 on.

I know almost everyone else's posts recapping 2014/getting ready for 2015 have long been up, but I really wanted to embrace the last few days off work by stepping away from the computer.

I was going to post a recap of my 2014 numbers, but I couldn't figure out an easy way to pull the data off RunningAhead. Maybe this is for the better, since I now can't pass any judgement based on the cold, hard numbers. What's really important is that I completed six marathons in six new states in pursuit of my 50 States goal (which is the whole reason I started this blog after all!).

I have another six marathons lined up for 2015, and I'm really excited to continue to travel the country. Right now my general outline for the year is to finish up the training cycle for Myrtle Beach using RLRF and then maintain that fitness through about mid-June. That's about when I'll need to start a training cycle for the Newport Marathon in October.

It will require me to work around the Hatfield-McCoy and Missoula Marathons, but my current thought is to use those as long training runs. I'm hoping to net a nice PR at Myrtle Beach, but either way, I'd still like to try to be even faster at Newport.

I'd like to sprinkle in some other races throughout the year, but marathons are still my main goal, so it will necessitate a bit of pre-planning on my part. I would definitely like to run a half at some point, since I'm already in shape to PR and should (hopefully) only get fitter as the year progresses. I'd also really like to try an aquathlon (swimming then running) and maybe even do another sprint tri. Maybe I'll even bite the bullet and invest in a road bike - we'll have to see!

It cuts out the tri sport I like the least!

I realize none of these are really "resolutions," and I'm not sure if I'm going to set any this year. I don't mean to be a vague-blogger, but I will probably have some major life changes happening in 2015 (which I will share as soon as I can), so I think it would be better for me to focus on being flexible and my main training goals, rather than spreading myself too thin and then feeling like a failure.

These changes will all be positive, just to be clear!

That being said, I have come up with a few goals for 2015:

-Finish all six planned marathons

-Complete this reading challenge

-Blog at least three times a week

It seems a bit silly to only set these three relatively simple goals for the year, but 2014 taught me it takes a lot of intention to do things while working full-time, as opposed to when I had all the freedom afforded by a college student schedule. This means I've identified three things I want to focus on outside of work (running, reading, and blogging) and is more positive than negative.

I have other, more minor "goals," but on further reflection, they are more like simple habits I want to form and would work better in a monthly challenge format. I don't have a challenge in mind for each month yet, but I've decided January will be oral hygiene month. (And I promise it's not just because I have a dentist appointment in a few weeks!) It's really gross, but I sometimes don't brush my teeth before bed and usually skip flossing. I'm hoping this will be an easy habit to form to get some momentum going into this new year.

With any luck that momentum will propel me to success in everything else!

Did you set resolutions for 2015?

How did you celebrate New Year's?