2015 New Year’s Resolution Check In and 2016 Goals

January 1, 2016 - 5 minutes read - 1000 words

As 2015 draws to a close, I wanted to check back in on the resolutions I publicly made last year. Most were running related, and I made some good progress, while others were more wide ranging and I did well on some there as well. So let’s check in on those I made last year.

Increase Speed - My PR in 2014 was a 1:54:00 at the Runner’s World half, and I aimed to best this, possibly even get down into the 1:30:00s. While I didn’t get quite there, I did set a PR at the Brooklyn Rock n Roll Half of 1:44:00. That’s just under a 8:00 pace which is amazing. I don’t think I did the math on getting into the 1:30:00s. I was able to do a 5k at a 7:30 / mile pace which was something I wouldn’t have thought possible. Because of the number of halves and trying not to push too hard before the Philly Marathon, I didn’t quite get to the goal, but I’m happy with what I did do. I’m hoping to focus on speed in the spring of 2016 and possibly get there.

More Marathons - I completed the incredible event of my first Marathon ever in NYC in 2014. In 2015 I completed the Belfast marathon in the spring and the Philly marathon in the fall. While I didn’t beat 4:00:00 on either, I did improve in both. I let my head get to me a bit in Philly, so next year I will focus on a single marathon and once again try to beat 4:00:00.

Core work - This didn’t happen. Sorry Shaun T.
More runs with friends - Some of my more memorable runs this year were those I did with friends. I did a 15k with my wife and John and Rebecca, a 10k with a team of 6 or so, a 5k at work with a team, two training runs with the cool folks at the Infatuation before marathons, and something like 5 races with Rebecca. I still don’t love talking while running, but I’m getting better at it.

Eat Better - Weight-wise, I’ve done great this year. Even when taking breaks from running, I didn’t really gain weight, and even dropped a few pounds a few times. Still though, after not running for a few days, I feel huge. I think I definitely did better with this this year, but I still want to get better, especially at work. No more mint chocolate chip cookies.

No regular working at home at night - I started off pretty good with this, then got really bad, working almost every night and on weekends. In the fall and early winter though, I got a lot better with this. I still check email and spend time responding every night, but I’ve gotten it much more in control. While I don’t like spending 15 minutes sitting in the car when getting home reading emails, it has at least provided a good buffer between work time and home time.

Get rid of cable - After 4 years of promising to do so, we finally pulled the plug. We still stream almost every Devils game, stream food network on weekend mornings while making breakfast and coffee, and started watching football non-stop on Sundays. But best of all, we stopped watching TV most nights after work. Sadly this has mostly turned into phone or book time, but I do think we are at least less zoned out at night.

Keep reading at a voracious pace - I’ll finish the year just under 100 books in 2015, pretty similar to last year. I think I largely accomplished the goal of reading fewer junk fiction books with a good balance of non-fiction genres like business, managing, and more life related stuff like Wild and running books. On to another 100 in 2016.

Keep traveling and exploring - 2015 continued our great trend of travel and exploring the areas around us. We started with an international trip to Belfast for the marathon, had an amazing trip to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro with some of the best food I’ve ever had, and got in a great long weekend trip with Hershey to Portland Maine, a huge surprise highlight of the year. We also got around NYC a bit more with more visits around Manhattan, Governor’s Ball, Brooklyn, and even upstate again. Somehow, we also managed to get more time in at home as well and had some more relaxed weekends with football and getting house work done (mostly). If we can keep up this great balance, it will be a miracle. Next year, I’m hoping to make it to Chicago for the marathon, up to Quebec for a long weekend in the winter, and hopefully much more exploration around us.

Be more present - I think I got a little better through conscious attempts to keep the phone down, but need to get a lot better with this. Especially with cable gone now, I tend to zone into the phone or kindle at night now. Our walks and frequent weekend trips have helped, but there’s a lot of room to go in 2016.
Keep up the writing - I wrote nearly 30 blog posts in 2015. I’m pretty happy with that.

New for 2016

I’m not really setting any new resolutions for 2016. I’m pretty happy with how 2015 went, so rather than any big new declarations, I want to focus on getting better with those I didn’t quite hit the mark on in 2015. Speed over quantity of runs for races and focusing on a single fall marathon are my running related ones. I have a new team at work for 2016, so I want to focus on getting up to speed quickly there and making an impact. Putting the phone away is my biggest home life one, and beyond that I just want to continue our awesome year into the next.

Non running related:

New for 2016