A Change-Up

I started this blog a few months ago with the idea of posting race reports, which I love to read to get an idea of whether I'd like to run that race, too.  I hope it's been helpful to some people, as the reports of others have been helpful to me. 

However, I only run about a race every month or two, so that limits my writing.  I think I need to branch out.  I love putting my ideas out there and holding myself accountable.  For this reason, I've changed the blog name:

thoughts of a middle-of-the-pack runner

 

is now

 

just along for the run

I changed the name for a few reasons.  First, Doug likes to remind me from time to time that I almost always finish in the top 25% of my field at races, so I should give myself more credit.  But there's more to it than that.  Given my resolutions to eat (more) clean and get (more) fit, I wanted something that doesn't seem race-centric.  I chose just along for the run because it matches my attitude in a lot of aspects: I try to never take myself too seriously; I will never, ever push myself to such a limit when I race that I don't enjoy what I'm doing (same goes for my professional and personal lives, really); and I try to remind myself, in the middle of things being crazy, to stop and take in my surroundings every now and then.

So I'll still be sharing race reports, as well as other things running-related.  But I'll also share good recipe finds and other thoughts I deem appropriate to share here.  I'm looking forward to sharing this new content!

Running Resolutions, Part 2

Wow! So I really dropped the ball on this one!  Of course, I'm still not sure how I plan to incentivize all my resolutions, but I have thought of a few big ones.

First, with respect to my running and fitness goals, I've come up with this so far:

• If I PR my half marathon in March (shooting for 1:42), I'm finally getting myself a pair of Lululemon running shorts.  I normally spend about $25 on running shorts, but I've heard SUCH good things about Lulu shorts that I really want to try them, and this would be a good reason.
• If I BQ, my initial thought is that getting to go to Boston will be the payoff in and of itself.  I think that's sufficient.
• As far as getting more overall "fit," I still haven't decided.  Part of the reason I can't figure out how to incentivize this is because it's pretty subjective.  Compared with my running goals which have distinct numbers, this is something I can't really quantify.  Maybe a nice bikini for the summer if I feel that I've earned it?  Maybe the payoff will be in how I feel, anyway.

As far as my non-running related goals:

• If I succeed at organizing my house and KEEPING it organized, I'm buying myself a Roomba.  I figure that will likely do for cleaning what my KitchenAid has done for baking--save me tons of time--so it'll be a really nice payoff.
• If we manage to kick processed food, we've agreed that we're going to buy a food dehydrator.  Doug could use it to make deer jerky and such, and I LOVE dried fruit, but the oven just doesn't do the same job. 

So hopefully these incentives will help me stick with my resolutions!  Additionally, hopefully having them out there for anyone to see will keep me accountable! :)