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Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010 Recap and 2011 Goals.

OMG, its almost 2011! This year really flew and a lot has happened. This post will be a diary of sort for myself to reminisce on the past and gather my thoughts on what I'd like to accomplish in 2011.
I'm not big on New Year resolutions. I think resolutions can and should be made any time of year, but its nice to get an idea of what I'd like to achieve now and make tweaks throughout the year.

Not long a go I stumbled across a To Do List that I made for myself before getting married. I think I made it immediately after getting engaged and I promptly forgot about it. But I was surprised that I subconsciously accomplished almost everything I wrote on that list in 1.5 years.

My list:
  • Study Japanese. (check! studied full time for 6 long months!)
  • Get a marathon PB. (check! I improved my last marathon time by 11mins!)
  • Improve my diet. (check! at that time I had a major sweet tooth and I'm proud to say, I don't have one any more!) I'm eating way more variety of fruits and vegetables and the credit goes to getting into raw foods and committing to a vegan diet. I've been vegetarian for 11 years, and vegan off and on for 2 years. I'm now more then certain that a vegan diet fits me far better then vegetarian. 
  • Stop procrastinating. (humm....still working on this one)
  • Find my "happy weight" which basically means a weight that is sustainable, that I feel comfortable in, and most importantly doesn't make me feel deprived. (check! I lost 3kilos this year without feeling deprived AT ALL and have more energy then ever!)
  • Strength train 2-3 times a week. (check! I don't do major weight training, but I do body weight exercises along with yoga and running and I have to say it REALLY made a huge difference in my body! At first I could hardly do 5 regular push ups, I now can do 20 regular push up easily and finally have definition that running and yoga was not giving me. I still want to be stronger, but I made a huge progress here! My running and yoga has also improved greatly and I honestly think it has to do with building a stronger body muscularly.)
  • Get over my fear of swimming in the ocean. (failed! My fear is only worse now, ha.)
  • Teach yoga regularly. (Check! I've been teaching yoga now for over a year and absolutely love it! Next year I may get a little busier in the teaching department and I'm so excited!) 
I had some other goals, but they weren't really all that realistic, but they still will stay on the list as a reminder of where I want to be in the next 5 years from now.

Other changes and accomplishments this year:

  • Became an Aunt to 2 beautiful girls! I have 1 nephew and 2 nieces now. Thank you Joey, Jesse, and Lilia for bringing joy and unbelievable cuteness in my life!
  • Made awesome friends through running, yoga, school, and through hubby. It amazes me how life style choices affect who comes into your life. I feel lucky I have friends who share the same interests as I.
  •  Completed Oxfam Trailwalker 100k hike for the 2nd time and had a total blast! It was raining, snowing, freezing and horribly muddy, but a wonderful experience! 
  • 10k PB (5 minute improvement) without even trying to get one. :) This year I decided I wanted to take a break from heavy racing as the pressure to train was only making me stressed and miserable. Last year running was not fun at all! I was clocking in 80-90k a week, I felt in wonderful shape, but I dreaded every single run and developed 2 injuries. Plantar fasciitis and almost a stress fracture. Even though it was SO hard not to run, I focused on yoga and body weight exercises for 3 long months until my injuries recovered. When I started running again I was determined to find that love for running and most importantly a balance. I learned that my body functions better with short/fast runs rather then long/slow runs. I'm only clocking in 50-70k a week now, but my runs are a lot more efficient (speed baby speed!). At some point I want to get back into racing, but until then I'm pretty happy being a serious casual runner. I've accepted that I'm a short distance to semi-long distance runner. My strength is definitely in the 5-10k distance and half marathon. But for full marathons, I think I'm still not mentally mature to deal with the amount of training required. 
  • Got more creative in the kitchen. Earlier this year I was in a major food rut. I'd prepare food the exact same way over and over. So I made a goal for myself to try out 1 new recipe a week.  By branching out and trying new things I found a new love for my kitchen and in the process, introduced a whole variety of foods into my diet. Although I'm FAR from being a good cook, I think I have improved and it has made me a healthier eater. I can't wait to continue experimenting in the kitchen come 2011! 

This is getting a little long, so I'll wrap things up with some goals for 2011.
  •  Continue improving my Japanese.
  • Work on my horrible procrastination problem.
  • Study more yoga (possibly get another certificate) EXCITING! :-)
  • Care less what people think and try to be less opinionated myself.
  • Find more ways to be more environmentally friendly.
  • Spend less time on the computer. 
  • Complete my current studies so I can start studying for my drivers license. (yeah, still don't have it.)
  • Improve my photography skills. (All in the hope for my food to look yummier! Hehe)
  • Mark my siblings birthdays (its hard to remember all 11!) in the calendar and SEND PRESENTS! (I've been horrible this year. So sorry my dear family!)
  • God knows what will happened in 2011, but I know my life will change drastically! Some important things in my life will have be sacrificed and a lot will be out of my control. My goal is to embrace the change and be the best person I can be through it all.
And that folks sums it up. I'm sure there's more that I just can't think of right now, but I think that list is pretty good at the mo. I'm excited for the new year! Are you?!

Since no blog post is complete, in my opinion, without photos, here's some photos of our honeymoon. A year ago Motozo and I were in the Maldives during x-mas and New Year. I look back at the photos now and I wish I was back there! Ah, sweet sweet memories that make me smile.

Our water bungalow. 


Every day view coming out of our bungalow.

Can we make it!
 
Yay, we made it!


 Happy in paradise! 

1 comment:

  1. nice work with the resolutions! Those pics of the maldives are just insanely beautiful, including the both of you :) Love seeing your creativity in the kitchen, hopefully can see more next year

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