Neglecting Blog, but Staying on Track

I’m not going to start with, I’ve been neglecting my blog…..

Although I have been neglecting my blog!

However I have been running and eating well and visiting friends!

These were three of my New Year’s Resolutions, and I am very pleased with my progress on them this year. One of my goals was to visit with at least 2 girlfriend each month. As August winds down I am happy to report that this week I spent a wonderful afternoon with two dear friends, Jeannette and Cathy; and today I saw my old friend Wendy (I can say that as she is younger than me!) We spent the day together laughing, talking, having lunch, drinking some tea and talking some more! Did you know that they make English Afternoon Tea? It was very good!

As for running, I ran a 10k last Thursday night in Rye. While it wasn’t a PR as those days are loooong gone, I was very happy with my run. It was my very best 10k time since I’ve been running again. I even finished #10 in my age group–yeah me! One more 5 miler coming up in early September than nothing but training for the Seacoast Half Marathon in November!

And lastly, my goal for the year was to eat healthy and lose those last 5-8 pounds that have been lingering. Well I went from eating well, to eating VERY well. I haven’t been eating processes foods, desserts or added sugars, dairy or meat. I’ve been making a fruit and vegetable juice 5-6 times a week, eating mostly vegan fare, and I feel physically (and mentally) healthy and strong. As a matter of fact, my running has improved greatly on this new meal plan, and I lost those 8 pounds rather easily! I will be posting more in the future on the benefits of a plant based diet, stay tuned…..

March Check in with My Resolutions

This year, I’ve decided to treat my  New Year’s Resolutions more like personal and professional goals rather than resolutions.  To reexamine them each month, and to set 1-2 specific monthly goals to keep on track.  So far it’s been working out well.  Here is my review of March:

• Welcome every morning with a smile 🙂 — I have been pretty good about this one.  Rather than start the day growling at the alarm clock, most days I’ve remembered to smile and being thankful for another day!

• Post at least once a week on this blog –So far so good!

• Complete the Seacoast Race Series –The race series runs from May to November, so I haven’t actually run any of the races yet, but I have started running again and I did sign up for the first race in the series.

• Lose 5 pounds– I’m down 3 in March; buying that scale really helped keep me on track for this one.

• Remember to take my vitamins daily –I have a new trick.  I got tired of standing at the cabinet opening bottles of vitamins, minerals and other supplements, and I am way too young and healthy for one of   those pill boxes with a compartment for every day of the week, so I bought some of the little snack size plastic bags and filled up a bunch.  Now I can just take a baggie out of the cabinet and have all my vitamins, etc. in one place. (I know it’s the same thing as a pill-box, but it makes me feel better)

• Cut coffee down to 1 cup a day and drink more tea –Amazingly I’ve been able to do this.  I don’t even miss the afternoon cup of coffee anymore.  And, since I’ve been cutting down on dairy, I put soy milk in my morning coffee.  It really isn’t as good as cream or half and half, and so I often don’t even drink my full cup of coffee in the morning.  (Unless I get a soy latte at Starbucks, then I finish it all up!)

• Make a new friend and deepen 1-2 existing friendships –Last night I stepped out of my comfort zone and made some new acquaintances.  I got together with a group of women I met via a local  Facebook group, Pink Martini Confessions.  I had been reading some of their posts and we’d commented back and forth.  I felt a connection with one of the women as we shared a lot of interests, so when the opportunity to meet came up, I went for it.  We had a lot of fun over drinks and dinner!

• Get together with girlfriends –Just last week, I had dinner with my friend Diane who I hadn’t seen in 2 years.  After dinner, another friend of ours, Brenda met up with us and we had a great time catching up.  I also rejoined the book club I used to be in.  I forgot how much fun wine club, oops, book club was.  Everyone was very welcoming;  I’m looking forward to next month.

• Listen to more current music–I have been tuning into “The Loft” more often on my XM radio–trying not to always listen to “Classic Vinyl”!

Some things that need work are:

Keeping up with my professional blog (goal of 2 posts per month.  In March I got in one post)

Watch less TV.  Now that “my shows” are back on — Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, I won’t be working on this goal until after May!

Goals for April:

• Post at least twice on my Media and Communications blog

• Refuse to participate in negativity–at work, at home or on the news!