Mid-January, I shared a few of my goals for this year. For today’s Working On Things, I’d like to report on where I’m at with them so far. As a former teacher, I feel like I can put my training to good use and give myself a grade for each goal.
1) LOOK at my kids in the eye: I reminded myself of this one more lately. I have been realizing that the older I get, the more introverted I am. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to do a better job of getting out of my head with my kids. Reminding myself, “Look at CJ,” when she’s talking to me, or “Get down to RG’s eye level,” if I’m trying to better direct/re-direct/discipline with him, or “Look at his eyes!” while pushing Baby D in the swing–all those little reminders really have gone a long way to helping me focus on what matters most in the constant energy and work that is running a household with small children, and that’s taking a few seconds to really connect with my kids. Grade: B-.
2) Get better at MOMMY TIME-OUTS: Yeah, I kind of forgot about this goal. I have felt the past few weeks that we are starting to “get things down” with the three-kids thing. It’s still throwing me for a lot of loops on the daily, but I’m not feeling that constant fight-or-flight chemical surges in my blood every half hour or less like I was for the majority of the last eight months. So, my own “tantrums” have gotten better. I’ve done some “deep breathes!” lately when I really wanted to fly off the handle, but I’d like to see some more leaving the room and taking a real time-out when I feel the shaky hands or grinding of teeth. Grade: C.
3) Be a better GIRLFRIEND TO MY HUSBAND: Brad and I have been going on more regular dates, and we’ve also been putting more effort into talking and sitting on the same couch after the kids go down. The last few weeks, we’ve started to rent movies off of amazon prime for an at-home date when the kids go down. Finally, we text a little more during the day, even if it’s just to text something funny one of our kids said or to see how each other’s day is going. Grade: B+.
4) Run a MARATHON for fun, not for time: I’ve looked into a lot of races, but most are either on Sunday (which I’m not totally against–gasp!–but not eager to do) and the Saturday races are trail marathons that involve a minimum of 2,000 feet elevation change. Um, no. I did find one that is in October, on a Saturday, and while it is a trail run, it involves a 800 ft. elevation loss. Um, yes! Sign-ups don’t start until July. To be honest, I already want to chicken out and am coming up with a lot of excuses. To quote the Bachelor, half-marathons are my jam. I enjoy training for them and they aren’t near as hard on my body or my family, given it takes less time and effort to train and complete them. I’m still feeling darn “skurred” of the 26.2… Grade: D.
What goals have you been working on? How would you grade yourself?
Do you have any trips to Utah planned? There are always tons of races and they're usually on Saturday if you really want to make a go of the marathon.
I've done one marathon- which will probably be sufficient for my life- but I trained for it in Ohio and then ran it in Utah. I was worried about the elevation change, but with so many miles under my belt, it didn't really matter since I wasn't too worried about my time.
My last (and first) marathon was in St. George! We actually have considered UT, but it also entails timing it when we can all go out, including Brad. Brad only gets 10 days off a year, so that's limited us to major holidays. This year, it didn't seem to be in conjunction with races. To be honest, I did terribly at St. George–the elevation change almost killed me!