Goals for 2018

I've always been a goal person. The more manageable and specific, the better. This year, I sprang for some Powersheets. I heard many good things about them and even had a small discount code so I jumped on board. I loved the pre-work even though I didn't get through all of it until nearly the middle of January. The pre-work phase was incredibly worthwhile so I'm glad I stuck with it. It helped me discover my word of the year - thrive.  

In an effort to keep myself accountable, here are some of my 2018 goals...

#1 - Continue my health journey through both exercise and meal planning.

I started making a conscious effort to focus on my health in late October last year. Our townhouse has a finished basement room that was perfect for at-home workouts. I knew I needed to really make my health a priority after Chris and I had signed up for a couple of races and I could barely manage the training runs. I decided to start small with the 21 Day Fix program. I already had the DVDs and portion containers. I made steady progress and managed a clean week just after Thanksgiving. That week was a turning point for me because I really focused on the meal planning aspect of healthy living. I completed another round of 21 Day Fix during the holidays and moved forward with 80 Day Obsession in mid-January. I will finish Phase 1 of that program tomorrow. I feel great. I'm really looking forward to winter going away so I can get back out there for some runs.

#2 - Read 40 books (and the Bible from cover to cover).

I love to read. Now that I have to drive everywhere, I am also really loving audiobooks. This year, I am participating in Mia's Read the Rainbow Challenge and Erin's Book Challenge 8.0 from January-April. For Erin's Challenge, I used only books that were on my shelves at home. After packing them up and moving them up and down stairs, I figure I owe it to myself to read them. Additionally, I've committed to reading the Bible from cover to cover by completing a small portion every day. I have made that commitment before, but gotten side tracked in the Spring. I am determined to make it a reality this year.

#3 - Have at least two date nights a month.

Chris and I started this tradition a couple of years ago. It is nice to have something to look forward to each month. We each pick one date night a month. It always turns out to be so much fun.

#4 - Complete the outstanding photo books and/or scrapbooks.

Again, I lugged all the scrapbook stuff with me to Ohio so I better make use of it and start crafting! In all honesty, my only excuse in the past was not having the space so it's now or never. Plus, I really enjoy making them.

#5 - Build New and Strengthen Old Friendships.

Moving to a new place at any point is a difficult thing to do. I left behind some really solid friendships in New York. I am determined to continue to build memories and foster those relationships. At the same time, there is a whole new landscape full of friendly faces to discover here. And, I'm be remiss to discount all those friends in cities near and far. I really want to make a conscious effort to be a good friend as I navigate this transitional time in my life.

#6 - Stay involved in networking and volunteering opportunities.

If there is anything I learned from my year of unemployment, it is the power of networking and volunteering. I made a vow to myself that I would continue those practices when I started a new job so I don't want to loose sight of that commitment to myself. Plus, I really like volunteering and connecting with people in the process.

What are you focusing on in 2018?

Andrea :)

Five on Friday!

It's FRIDAY!! It been an eventful week that spanned ALL the emotions. For now, I'll leave it at that. Today, I wanted to share a few tidbits about the happenings of my week/month.

{ONE}

A few weeks ago, Chris and I ventured over to New Jersey to watch his cousin play in a collegiate soccer game. The weather didn't really cooperate with us that particular day, but despite the drizzling rain and cold temps our team was victorious!  And Myles Jordan even scored the first goal of the match! It was great to watch him play.

{TWO}

Loving is a beautiful love story that finds justice at its core. Fortunately for me and Chris, Richard and Mildred Loving (alongside their ACLU legal team) fought the good fight for many years and finished the race in 1967 with a Supreme Court decision that makes our marriage legal today. As Hillary reminded us in her concession speech, "please never stop believing that fighting for what's right is worth it." Needless to say, I highly recommend that everyone watch this movie.

{THREE}

I've volunteered for organizations that assist under served students in the past, but I recently became involved with Let's Get Ready. This organization provides low income high school students with free SAT preparation, admissions counseling, and other support services needed to gain admission to and graduate from college. Services are provided by volunteer college students who serve as role models and mentors. We are hosting our annual benefit next week. I'm excited about the opportunity to see how it all comes together after the hard work and effort our committee put into the event. If you have interest in learning more about the event, click HERE.

{FOUR}

This month I am co-hosting an instagram challenge. Find me @alhadventures - I invite you all to participate! It has been a lot of fun getting to know others by using #novemberphoto2016 on all our posts. Please join us for some photo fun the rest of November!

{FIVE}

I'm going to DISNEY WORLD!! I'm actually just going to be there for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, but I am super excited to have my niece and nephew show me all their favorite rides. I have never been a major Disney fan, but I can honestly say I am stoked to have the opportunity to experience it with my two favorite kiddos! It should be a blast!!

What is going on in your life this week/month?

Andrea :)

My +1 experience

After an EXTREMELY early morning and roughly 6 hours on my feet, I'm thinking that the +1 part of the 9 + 1 qualifying requirements might be the worst part.  Let me start at the beginning....

Since my roommate and a couple of my friends were signed up to run the NYC Half, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get my +1 volunteer experience out of the way early and perhaps be able to cheer them on in the process.  I carefully reviewed the list of volunteer opportunities to find that many of them required a VERY early morning arrival time.  I purposefully selected the position (start marshal) that had one of the later start times of 6am.  It was hard enough to convince myself that getting up at 5am to make it to Central Park by 6am would be worth it, but imagine the sinking feeling I had when I got a "Volunteers must report at 5am" email from NYRR the week of the race.  NOT good.  Oh, and did I mention this particular race happened to follow the single most insanely celebrated holiday in NYC - St. Patrick's Day?  I mean, seriously, you would think we were in downtown Dublin.  Nevertheless, I lived to tell the story...

On race day, I woke up around 4am, got ready, and packed a little backpack for the adventure.  I hopped in a cab around 4:40 and headed to the park in the pitch black dark.  A little spooked, I head to the volunteer check-in and promptly received my volunteer vest and emergency info card only to wait and wait and wait and well, let's just say if I had shown up at 6am I wouldn't have missed a thing.

some of my fellow volunteers as we finally began to take our stations

Around 6:15am, we took our posts as start marshals.  I settled on the 8,000-8,999 corral because I thought my friends might be close to that area.  I guessed correctly because I eventually saw them both on their way to the start.

standing watch at my post around 7am

You may be wondering what exactly does a start marshal do?  I wondered the same.  Mostly I just answered runner's questions about how to get to the baggage drop, which corral they should line up  in for the start, and other various questions.  I was overjoyed when the runner began to arrive because I began to feel useful as a volunteer for the first time in 2 hours.  Everyone was amped up and it was fun to see the excitement on all of the runner's faces.  Once the race got under way, our responsibilities shifted to making sure all the fans were out of the loop where the runners would be passing through just adjacent to the starting corrals.  We had roughly 20 minutes or so before the elite runners came through that area.  At this point roughly 1/3 of the nearly 20,000 runners hadn't even made their way to the start so that was also a bit of a challenge to some extent.  I was able to snap a few pictures of the simply stunning elite athletes as they closed in on their 6th mile and headed out of the park.

Top two male finishers - Kirui and Merga.  Both finished in under an hour.

Top 2 female finishers - Firehewot Dado and Kim Smith. Dado is behind Smith here.

Third place finisher - Kara Goucher.  All three women finished in under 1:10.

These elite runners are phenomenal.  I was totally stunned seeing them as they passed by my post.  It was a true inspiration.  Once they passed, other runners began to steadily pass through the area while the rest of the runners eventually made their way to the start.  We stayed busy taking apart barricades and picking up trash for the next hour or so.  One spot where we were disassembling barricades was particularly picture worthy...

We were finally dismissed around 10am.  I was more than ready to get out of there at that point.  It had been a long day already and it wasn't even noon.  While the overall experience wasn't my favorite and I think I would have rather run the race, it was good to be on the other side of the fence for a day.  I doubt I'll make volunteering at NYRR races a regular part of my schedule, but I am glad to have had the opportunity to work such a great race.  And I think I was even inspired to put my name in the hat to run it next year!  Upon signing out we received a t-shirt, but I was most thankful that I was #1) not volunteering at the water stations and #2) done with my +1. 

Note to self: Never volunteer to work a water/Gatorade station.

After scurrying past this mess, I headed off to meet my half marathon finisher friends, Reba and Amanda, for brunch at The Odeon in Tribeca.  We had a great time, especially after Jake Gyllenhaal walked in the spot.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snag a pic.  (Please don't be too disappointed, Jordan!)  However, I did capture my delicious (yet pricey) french toast.  It was terrific!!

Now, if I can just power through 8 more races, I'll be on my way to the 2013 Marathon!!  I am signed up for several races in April and May. I'll keep you posted.

Andrea :)