This is my third year doing a series of 30 day challenges.  This year I decided that I should focus only on them and not have any other overarching goals.  When 2015 started I had no idea that it would end with me recovering from a cardiac ablation. It is hard to know what 365 days will bring with it.

Here is a chart with the past 2 years of challenges with the list for this year. At this point they are just some rough ideas that will get hashed out each month as it approaches.  I hope that your new year goes well!!

October is over and it is still nice outside! October seemed to go by in a whir.  Fall Break and two other non-student days meant that the work weeks went by fast, but definitely not some of the days!  I switched to a clinical supervision plan for my Social Work license which means I now have 4 hours of supervision each month outside of my normal work schedule, plus a class I’m taking through the school district.  Time is sure getting filled up.  I ran and biked a couple of times throughout the month.  One morning I had to wear tights and a coat and then this past weekend I ran in shorts and a light rain jacket.  Weird weather, but glorious fall weather!

Drinking only water proved to be an interesting task.  I was pretty successful and only had 3 non-water drinks.  I could easily have just had water but incidentally they were all beers in social occasions in the last week.  Oops.  I have some observations that I’ll share later – though none are life-shattering! And I’ve already had 3 non-water drinks today (11/1).

Crossfit has been going well and I hit a PR in the Deadlift this past week doing a heavy 2 rep lift.  So that’s pretty nice. I should also be able to easily PR on the Shoulder Press.  We’ve been working on my form a lot with the squat, changing the bar position, so I’m not sure how that will go.  The CrossFit Total final event is November 9. I’m still pretty much only doing mobility work when I work out…

We actually went on 3 dates this month!! Yay!! The kids had two sleepovers and we got a babysitter one night to go see To Kill a Mockingbird at the Guthrie Theater.  It was an excellent performance!

For November I had two goals.  I’m going to cut one of them again.  I had planned on trying NaNoWriMo where you write some ungodly number of words a day and end up with a novel at the end of the month. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea, so I threw it in the schedule.  It was the one goal that I thought about a lot in January and had some trepidation about.  I even came up with a plan that I wouldn’t set a goal of words per day or even plan on writing a long book, but a collection of short stories.  As we rounded the curve into October and the realities of life settled in I’m realizing that to try and pull this off with any real sense of rigor would definitely have a negative impact on my family.  I mean I can’t even consistently write a blog post and I’m going to sit down every night and write something…   So I’m going to cut this one and probably let it go for good…

My other goal which is now my primary goal will be to do the Plank Challenge again.  I don’t think I will necessarily follow the plank challenge app.  I might throw in something else for spice like a Tabata plank workout or something!

How was your October? Ready for November?

I don’t really know what to say about September.  Working back into the flow of normal life.  Seeming to be always tired. But hitting the gym and getting stronger.

My main September goal was to read a chapter from the Book of Proverbs each day.  I did end up reading through the entire book, though it seemed like most days I was reading 2 chapters to try and catch back up.  There are so many good little nuggets of wisdom in that Book.  There are also some fairly odd verses as well.

I made it to Crossfit 13 times in September which is a record number for this year!! I’ve really focused in and while I was trying to go 4 times a week, that hasn’t happened.  I’ve been going consistently 3x’s a week.  That consistency has also helped my mobility numbers reach the 2nd highest for the year at 25 times in a month.

My other goal was a quarterly goal of hitting Inbox and Tab Zero.  I was pretty much no where close to that with something like 12 tabs and 25 e-mails…  Oops.

I have officially given up on my running and biking goals for the year.  It just isn’t going to happen.  I think I ran twice throughout the month. Most of the spring and summer I forced the kids to ride in the stroller while I ran and that doesn’t seem too exciting right now and with going to Crossfit more, I’ve reduced the number of times I can run without pushing them.  I’ve been biking to work less since I’ve been going straight from Crossfit to work (yes I shower in between).

That being said, my primary goal for October was to run or bike daily.  I thought about changing that to exercise daily, but I think right now I’m just going to ax that goal completely.  Which leaves me with my secondary goal of only drinking water for the month. When I wrote the goal in January, I thought about needing to drink something to supplement my work outs.  I think we will play that by ear still.

How was your September? Any plans for October?

Wow, July really flew by and with it means that my summer is slowly quickly winding down.  We spent a lot of time outdoors in July from camping to yard work to just playing in the sun!! I love July (in part because I was born in July) but usually the weather is pretty great for being out and adventuring.

Some of my yearly goals are dropping into the unreachable category.  Which I think I’m okay with. Goals are something to strive for and sometimes other things happen that require a shift.  More on that later.   I did take a picture every day in July, I didn’t post all of them.  I think only one or two were really an oh crap, I need a picture.  It helps that we were adventuring so much of the month!! So goal accomplished!!

I did a lot of reading in July!! I read 18 books during the month which seems a little counter-intuitive since we were out and about so much, but something about reading while camping or laying in the backyard hammock is a perfect way to spend July! I should have been more picky and read a book I’d previously started, but I enjoyed reading through an entire series of shorter books but with some bigger ones thrown in!

I’m not going to post any stats as they are pretty deplorable.  I did get out for 2 nights on the Superior Hiking trail so that was another goal accomplished!! 

The goal for August is to spend 15 minutes or more outside each day.  I think that will be relatively easy, but with working starting back up it might be a good challenge! I think some of the other things will fall back in line as I get back into a more routine life again!