Monday, December 15, 2014

Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New, Ring-A-Ding-Ding!

If you've ever watched THE APARTMENT, then you know that is a quote from Shirley Maclaine's character, Fran Kubilik.  Which, while not being a true "holiday movie" is a movie I definitely look forward to watching during "Winter Break".

This has been a year of ups and downs, bright spots and down times...but I can honestly say that the goals I set for myself on January 1st, 2014 were pretty well accomplished.  Mostly.  No, one of them was an epic fail...but the fact is that I set out to do something this year and was reminded on a fairly regular basis to do it.  And that gives me hope that I can continue to improve myself from a physical, mental, spiritual, and relational status moving forward into 2015.

I have suddenly become a podcast junkie and listen to them on my walks to and from work (see progress on Goal #1 below)...and two of them (Fat 2 Fit Radio and No Meat Athlete Radio) have specific podcasts dealing with goal setting.  Particularly at this time of year given that people will set New Year's Resolutions, they will hog the gym equipment for the first two weeks of January and then go back to their old habits.  But not McPeak!  I actually formed some great new habits this year as a result of my goal setting, and I am even more excited to spend the next couple weeks reflecting on how I can be my better self in 2015.

So, in no particular order, here is my progress on the 2014 goals:

1.  MOVE DAILY - An Epic Win!  Thanks to my in-laws, Larry and Janie McPeak, I have a Nike Fuel Band that "forces" me to do this every single day.  Knowing that at 45 minutes after the hour, both my phone and left wrist are going to light up insures that I'm out the door and "Winning The Hour".  I have a reputation on campus for doing my hourly "McPeak Walks" and I probably only drove to work 10 times during 2014.  You want stats?  Okay.  In 2014 I earned 1,260,610 Nike Fuel.  My average calories burned was 773 per day; average steps were 15,370 per day; average hours won, 7 per day; and I hit my Nike Fuel Goal 76% of the time from January 11th til today.  I received 544 achievements (Trophies!!) and had a 112 day "get to green" streak!  So clearly I have formed a new habit of MOVING DAILY and feeling pretty damn good about it!

2.  52 MOVIES IN 52 WEEKS:  An Epic Fail!  As of December 15, 2014, I have seen a total of....29 movies.  You can see how the movie-going dropped off in late summer/early fall, which could be a testament of the weather changing, my training amping up, or changes in the weekend events.  About two weeks ago this "epic fail" was really bumming me out.  If you'd asked me in 2008 how many movies I'd seen in a year, it would probably be in the hundreds.  But I'm not bummed about it any more.  As my dear friend Crystal Collins says, "I think this is the most accurate representation of how your life has changed.  And not that there is anything inherently unhealthy about movie watching, but you've had to prioritize and you've chosen to prioritize the running."  TRUE THAT!  So thanks, CC (who will probably be one of three people who actually read this entire blog post, LOL)!!

3.  NO RACE REPEATS IN 2014:  An Epic Win!  I had a great time this year competing in events that were new to me.  It was important to me to expand my race horizons and get to know different courses and have different race experiences.  My 2014 race calendar looked a little like this:

January 11, 2014 (my birthday!) - Southern California Half Marathon (with Amy Graves Fujimoto)
March 2, 2014 - Snoopy Coaster Run 10K (also with Amy!)
April 5, 2014 - Santa Anita Derby Day 5K (with Molly Conroy Ungerecht)
May 4, 2014 - OC Half Marathon (with Amy and Crystal Collins)
October 12, 2014 - Long Beach Half Marathon (with the hubby, who did the bike run)

And in ten days I will race once again with Amy at the Operation Jack Half Marathon.  This time we'll be celebrating HER birthday!  A nice, balanced race year with four half marathons and a 5 and 10K race.  I'm SUPER proud of my race year - it's been a lot of fun!!

4.  20 AMAZING YEARS WITH CHARLES MCPEAK - Another Epic Win!  Not that marriage is easy - it's NOT.  He and I work very hard on our relationship.  We are two very unique individuals and we come with baggage, each of us.  I've learned this year that I can't be complacent in my marriage.  Each year we get older, each year we realize different things about how we communicate.  I've learned that I'm not a great listener.  And this is something I want to improve in the weeks and months to come.  But improvements aside, no one could have celebrated 20 years together in a more fun way than we did, with our rental house on Catalina and spending time with our favorite people!  So many thanks to Bryce, Corey, Molly, and Lyle.  What a great anniversary week we had with all of you!!

There's alot I wanna get done in 2015.  I want to PR in a race.  I want to weigh 130 pounds.  I want to declutter my mind and home.  I want to learn more.  I want to be a better friend and life partner.  Which of these ideas will make the list?  We shall see.  But I'm a proud woman right now - I think 2014 was a banner year!!







1 comment:

AMY said...

I love that we got to run so many races together! Definitely a great feature of 2014!!!