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Kristen’s Goals for 2012: Mix It Up!

New Year Dog

Rudi thinks my goals should include taking her for more walks. And feeding her more bananas with peanut butter. Credit: Kristen Seymour

Oh, I love the start of a new year. It just feels refreshing, like, even if I fell out of my good habits at the end of the year (I admit nothing), it’s all good—I can start over, no harm, no foul. Unless you’re the button on my jeans. There might’ve been a little foul against that.

Now, I’m with Jenn in that I’m more of a goal-setter rather than a resolution-maker, but I’ll take it a step further—I don’t set many new goals each year. Rather, I tend to tweak and revisit the same goals, over and over. I mean, I know me—I know my strengths and weaknesses, I know what’s important to me, and really, those things don’t change much from year to year. But, I always like to look at new ways to make those goals happen. If you have any suggestions for making them happen, I’m all ears!

Kristen’s 2012 Goals

1. Get more creative in the kitchen. My husband and I have a lot of go-to meals, and they’re great, but I get so damn excited when we make something new and it’s a big success, and I don’t know why I don’t do it more often. I’m toying with the idea of joining a CSA, which would definitely push me to cook some different dishes. Maybe that’s exactly the push I need!

2. Hit a class once a week. I get pretty tunnel-visioned when I’m training for a big race, and swimming, biking and running. But I also like Zumba and yoga and, you know, just letting someone else guide my workout once in a while. So, to keep myself from getting in a tri-training rut, I’m going to do my best to get to some class—any class—at least once a week.

3. Try something new once a month. And I don’t mean, like, try a new vegetable (although that would also be great). Whether I do a class I’ve never done at the gym or elsewhere, join a new group run or bike ride, or try something else that’s cool and new and health-related, it doesn’t matter. But I want to make sure I do it at least once a month.

4. Track my distances. You guys, I have no clue whatsoever how far I ran or biked or swam last year. None. And that sucks because I worked really hard, and how cool would it be to say at the end of the year, “Hey, I ran 400 miles since January 1. What have you done?” I was inspired when my friend, Dean, vowed to run 500 miles this year to raise money for a good cause, and since then, I’ve started listing my runs and workouts on Daily Mile. I really want to keep up with it and see my results at the end of the year! (You can find me by searching “kgseymour,” if you want to be friends.)

5. Set at least one PR. With the various distances I have planned for the year (5K, half marathon and everything in between for running, and at least sprint and Olympic distances for triathlon), there’s got to be a personal record in there, right? I’m really hopeful that I’ll PR in my half marathon, which is fairly likely, since I’ve only done one other race of that distance in my life. But, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t absolutely love to improve my times in the shorter distance races as well. This isn’t one I’m going to beat myself up over if I don’t achieve it, but it’d put a big ol’ smile on my face, I promise you that.

My plan is that, by following through on these, some of my other continuous goals (become leaner, have more energy) will follow naturally. Do you share any of these goals, or do you have suggestions on how I can reach them? —Kristen

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