Home Stretch

With only a few holidays left in the year, I'm starting to get restless for some new goals. I completed all of mine for 2009 (except maybe not the "get out more on the weekends"...because how was that a SMART goal?), which makes me think I need a bit of a challenge this year. (SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.)

I will probably try to up some of the goals from last year...more riding, more running, and more books seems like a reasonable task.

Some other thoughts that are floating around:

Become a "Vegan Before 6pm." I don't think I'm ready to let go of animal products completely, but most of the time seems okay. The hitch on this is that I ride my bike a lot more when I don't have to deal with lunch and school lunch is definitely not vegan. This is a work in progress.

Get a little more into the bike stuff...you know, learn how to track stand, do a race (possibly cyclocross now that I know someone around here who does it), go on rides. But here is the conflict...do I want to be a runner or a cyclist? How does one manage both of those sports? I can't imagine how I would have added cycling to my life in the past semester as a teacher. Basically, CKB, I'm asking you how it's possible.

I was supposed to run a marathon today. One that I was training hard for up until mid-October. But this year has been, well...pretty awful at school. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and my job is enjoyable when I'm in the classroom, but it is literally all I do. I work seven days a week and at least 10 hours a day, if not 12 or 14 during the actual work week. I literally have no balance anymore. In the life gives you lemons analogy, I have put the lemons into a drawer in the fridge and am praying that they don't rot before I can deal with them. Actually more accurately...hopefully they don't rot before I am required to make lemonade for school.

I have had to resort to buying my lunch at school just so that I can have a little less on my plate and have time to ride to work. I have stopped running, just so I can get 7 hours of sleep instead of 5 or 6. It is with this track record that I have trouble thinking about the next 12 months. I honestly don't know how I will manage the next six months with sanity. I want to be a dedicated, consistent runner and I want to ride my fixed gear everywhere and I want to meet new friends and actually spend time with them and I want to be planned for school far in advance and when my kids ask me if I look nice because I have a date, I want to be able to say yes. I want to feel reliable and organized again. And I want to turn 30 in the presence of at least one person who I adore rather than by myself.

So maybe the only goal I should have for 2010 is to do whatever it takes to get my life back and get on track. I don't want to be at the end of 2010 wondering where I went wrong. But that is daunting to me. I have about 25 days to figure out where to start.