I did better on my goals for last month (see below), but can still improve and this month gives me a good chance to do so. I know a lot of people dread December fitness-wise. I don’t. I’m also as chill as VR up there. I look forward to the family Christmas parties, holiday work parties and spending more time with friends as they have time off.

Since I work at a public university that needs to find clever ways to cut budgets, I get a forced 7 day vacation during the winter campus closure. As a result of the state’s penny pinching (er, fiscal mismanagement), I’ll have more time for Christmas related stuff as well as writing, getting in my workouts, try new classes, etc. It’s a good time for to mix up my usual routine.

DECEMBER GOALS

Health & fitness
1. Use my Groupon for yoga classes at a local studio
2. Run around the UCLA perimeter twice. I’ve done the 3+ mile route once a couple years ago. It’s a great hill workout.
3. Run the Holiday Half Marathon and PR (<1:58). I’m not sure I have it in me, but after the Turkey Trot I have more confidence in my ability to sustain a sub 9 pace.
4. Strength training, twice a week. I need to do this.
5. Do a couple of runs with a friend or group. Trail running with Lori in the San Gabriel Mountains perhaps?
6. Stick to my training plan. I’m paying a coach to tell me what I should do. I should listen to him.
7. Decide on the LA Marathon. Yes? No? I can’t delay much longer.

Wedding
The November goals we didn’t meet carry over.
1. Engagement photo session
2. Estimates/hiring 2 other big ticket vendors (mariachi? florist?)

The blog
1. Post 3 times week. I’ll have the time.

Other
Get the most of our Disneyland passes. We upgraded about a month before they expire. Might as well make our money worth it.

NOVEMBER GOALS

Health & fitness

1. Stick to my half marathon training plan – Check. I skipped 2 or 3 runs and was off 10 miles from the total my online coach had for me.

2. Run the Turkey Trot 10K and set a PR – Check.

3. Strength training twice a week – Fail. I’m much more likely to work out if I can do things at home. I’m lazy about getting to the gym even though it’s so close and on one of my running routes. I need one more piece of equipment to do most of my strength exercises my coach has for me at home.

4. Run home from work once a week – Half check. At rush hour, I can make the 5 mile trip from my office to my apartment on foot faster than on the bus or even doing my usual car/bus method. (Drive 1.5 miles, bus the rest. I do this to save money on parking. A subsidized bus pass is much more affordable than parking on campus.) This time of year, running home is a good way to deal with earlier sunsets and I’m guaranteed not to flake on my planned workout. It’s also mainly downhill, so that helps. Trouble is, it takes some preparation. I ran home twice; the third week I forgot to pack a sports bra. I stopped by the student store and considered buying one, but nixed that plan when I saw they were selling Champion bras for $34. Um, that same bra — minus the UCLA logo — costs $15 a Target. The commute home that day was really bad and took over an hour.

5. Go back to Weight Watchers for a meeting – Check. I achieved Lifetime status last spring after getting to my goal weight and maintaining it for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, maintenance isn’t as easy as losing. I quickly gained back ~5 lbs and was ineligible to attend free meetings since I wasn’t within 2 lbs of my goal weight. So, I didn’t go back because I didn’t want to pay for something I wasn’t getting much out of anymore. Earlier this year I found out the WW plan had changed and I was curious about it. I attended a meeting and learned all about the new Points Plus plan. It’s different enough that there’s a bit of a learning curve for me. I tried tracking for a week and fell off very fast as I had to calculate/look up everything rather than go from memory. I do want to get back to goal weight, so when I decide to make that a priority, I’ll go back to tracking and keeping within my points. It worked once before!

6. Focus on eating more fruits and vegetables – Fail. I didn’t track this, but I’m pretty sure I wasn’t getting my 5 recommended servings per day.

Wedding
1. Get save-the-date and invite ideas to our graphic designers – Yes. We’ve got some feedback and even a first look of some graphics we’ll use.

2. Decide a concept/location for our engagement photo shoot in December – Half check. We can’t really delay on this much longer.

3. Figure out estimates for 2 more big items on our budget – Fail. This was sort of an off month in the wedding planning area. At least we got some props for our photo booth thanks to post Halloween sales.

The Blog
1. Do something for 11/7 (blog anniversary) – Check, but I didn’t post my other reflections on 10 years of blogging. It’s tough to pick out favorites when you have 10 years’ worth of posts.