My first 101 days of 101 in 1001 - When Resolutions Meet Bucket Lists

I'm a list person.  You should see my day planner, it has hundreds.  There are few things that feel better to me than when I get to cross an item off my to-do list.  Here's the thing - in the everyday, my to-do lists are filled with work and chores and not a lot of big ticket life goal moments, and I wanted to find a way to change that, even if that change was me chipping away at some things a little bit, day by day or month by month.

In December I read an article that really spoke to me about creating a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in 1001 days instead of  a more traditional resolution list (check it out in full here).  Yesterday I reached 101 days into this mash up of a bucket list and resolution list and I'm pretty happy with this progress.

Yeah, I know that it's highly unlikely that I'm going to complete every item on this list in less than three years, but I'm going to give it a shot, and for added motivation I thought I'd share what I have managed to complete, to help motivate me to push harder, and what I am planning on tackling next with my next check in being 250 days into my 1001. Some of what I achieved was big, other stuff was smaller tasks, moments, or to-dos that I routinely put off, some is a work in progress that I won't report on until it's complete.

Here's What I've Managed to Cross Off My List So Far - 9 Items

Take the kids to Disney✔ Completed March 2018

This will forever be one of my all time favourite moments, when Molly had to show Cinderella how they both had magic and matching shoes because sparkled high-tops are very royal

Indulge in a scalp massage✔ On February 2, 2018 I had this and it worked wonders on my laptop neck!

Have a pay per view article go viral (and earn me the freelance white whale of $1000)✔ on January 31st, 2018 I broke this record and have received over 2 million hits for this article  

Paint a painting✔ See my blog entry on this here

Run a 12.5 minute mile✔ Completed on February 20, 2018 during mile 3 of a 5 mile run

Walk along the ocean at Myrtle Beach✔ Completed on March 26, 2018

A view from the Myrtle Beach Board Walk on a Blustery Day

Finish Jack's baby book ✔ Completed February 24, 2018

No take out or fast food for a month ✔ Completed on February 28, 2018 and you can read about it here

Take Chris to try Korean BBQ✔ Completed on February 24, 2018

How do you stay motivated to complete your goals?  Stay tuned to find out how I do over the next 149 days this August!

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Running Down A Dream

About a year ago I noticed that my body was getting extra doughy thanks to my sedentary life as a freelancer.  It's easy to skip a meal and then eat an extra portion at dinner or sit chained to my laptop all day when a deadline is looming.  Back when I was commuting into work, those little walks to the bus stop, to the subway, and around at lunch added up towards my daily step count.  Now that I'm at home working most of the time my step count to and from the bathroom isn't as mighty as it once was.

This bothered me and I knew it was time for a change. I want to be a role model to my kids, and being healthy is a part of this. I have all of this flexibility as a freelancer which is great for kid pick-up, appointments, and the numerous other errands I can fit into my day, but I wasn't spending any of it on myself.  Then I remembered how much I missed running, something I used to do all the time before I was put on bed rest when I was pregnant with Molly and Jack - which was years ago. I wrote about getting started running again earlier this year, along with my very slow building love for running here.

Image courtesy of Pinterest

Fast forward 11 months and one 5KM run completed on my birthday later and I figured it was time to begin challenging myself further with my running. I run several times a week on a very regular basis, and see progress.  I track my distances, but with no real end goal beyond debating an 8KM or 10KM in spring of 2018. While many of the changes in my body aren't noticeable to the eye, I see and feel changes every day.  I see changes in the way I'm able to run after the kids, the muscles in my calves and legs, and the energy I have to really tackle a work assignment after taking a runch (running lunch break).  As necessary in the world of freelance, I am a very deadline driven person, so I decided to apply this to my running to help make it even more of a priority in my life.  I decided that I was going to run 50 miles over the month of November, and today, a day before my deadline, (under-promise, over-deliver - is a work motto of mine) I logged 50.44 miles over a series of 17 runs.

Some runs this month were triumphant where I clocked some of my best mile times ever.  Others were painful and slow and I didn't want to get started, but I completed them and I'm happy that I did.

Image courtesy of Etsy

One of the things I love about running is the progress I can see and how my body becomes capable of things that it couldn't even dream about doing just a few weeks earlier.

Now that I'm riding high on my last challenge completed, I wanted to raise the stakes, particularly since my one year runiversary is coming up (that's a real word right?).  In the month of December I am going to run 60 miles.  I mean I have an extra day to get it done, after all and there isn't any additional temptation to drink eggnog instead, right?

So now I've done it, I've said it and no matter what happens I'm accountable virtually and to myself.

What inspires you?

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