Happy 2020! If you made any New Year’s resolutions, hopefully you haven’t broken them by the time you’ve read this column. If you did, no worries, tomorrow is another day.
I’ve been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions for the past few years. In the past they have been goals associated with running, weight loss, and home projects. My wife and I even set some life goals as resolutions. These have included moving to State College in 2013, expanding our family with our daughter in 2014, saving up for a new kitchen twice – once when our kitchen savings turned into a new heating and air conditioning unit when the gas boiler from the Carter administration went kaput in 2015; luckily the second time was the charm in 2018. Last year, I wanted to get our water garden area landscaped. I’d have plenty of time in the summer to work on it, right? Well between taking my son to summer camps, dealing with selling my dad’s house in Altoona and marching band practice starting at the end of July, that didn’t happen. But we managed to save enough money last year to go to Disney in 2020!
Now I am not perfect in achieving all of the resolutions. For the past four years, I’ve wanted to run a sub 1:30 half marathon. I missed it by 20 seconds in 2017. Last year I was off by 50 seconds in April and 60 seconds in July.
Last year I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon by running a sub 3:05 marathon. That didn’t happen as I ran a 3:08 in New Jersey in April and a 3:11 in Utah in September.
Some resolutions just took a little bit longer than I thought they would. In 2016, I wanted to run a sub 20:00 5k race. I missed that by 17 seconds. In 2017, I finally hit 19:51 at the Black Moshannon 5k. In 2016, I wanted to run a sub 6:00 mile. I missed it by 2 seconds. Since then I’ve done it three times. If you don’t make one of your New Year’s goals, try again next year.
When you make your resolutions, write them down somewhere and let others know about them. It might be scary to tell someone a major life change or goal, but most friends and family should be supportive of it; some may even join you on the journey. When I told friends in 2014 that I wanted to run my first half marathon, a few friends joined me on training runs. Running with friends is so much better than going solo. The same thing happened in 2015 when I wanted to run my first marathon.
When you come up with a goal or resolution, make sure it is something measurable. Here are a few suggestions:
Instead of this:
– I want to eat better.
– I want to run more.
– I want to save money.
Say this:
– I will cut out snacking after dinner.
– I will sign up and run my first 5k race.
– I will put an extra $100 a month into my savings.
I’ve found that if you keep your resolutions more specific, you’re more likely to avoid breaking those resolutions. This way you’ll have an easier time doing a self-check. If you want to cut out snacking after dinner, you can check before you go to bed every day. This year we started a chore chart with our kids that is posted on the refrigerator. Every time they do a chore, they can check it off. The same thing could be done with your resolutions.
If you have a long-term resolution like running your first 5k or marathon or losing a certain amount of weight, it’s one thing to say it but it’s another thing to actually follow through on it. If you have a resolution, think about what you’re going to have to do to meet that resolution. If you have a goal like those I mentioned, come up with three things you should do to help meet that big goal. For example, if your goal is to complete a race like a 5k, half marathon or marathon, I would suggest the following:
1. Find a training plan that would help you meet your goal. Websites like halhigdon.com have great information and training plans depending on your race and current level of fitness.
2. Go to Rapid Transit Sports. You can have the fanciest gear and technology but a bad pair of shoes could lead to all types of setbacks and injuries.
3) Find a friend and sign up for the race together. Training is better with friends but having someone run your first race with you makes it more enjoyable and strengthens that relationship.
This year I had my students come up with their goals for the year. The No. 1 goal was to get good grades. We then talked about what they would have to do in order to meet that goal. Many said, “study more.” I told them that was too general. If you never opened a textbook before, opening a textbook and looking at the pictures would technically meet that goal. I told them instead of saying, “study more,” they should say “I’ll read my chemistry textbook or try end of the unit problems for 20 minutes every day.”
So what are my goals for this year? This might not be a difficult resolution for many, but one goal is to NOT run a marathon this spring. After not posting personal bests in any races last year, it dawned on me: I’ve been going from one marathon training cycle to another ever since 2015. Thirteen marathons in the past four years is a lot, I’ve been told. So even though many of my friends will be training for marathons this spring, I’m going to hold back and run some half marathons where I hope to finally break 1:30. As much as I’ll miss running 20-milers in the snow and cold… wait a minute, no I won’t.
Hopefully my suggestions can help you come up with some New Year’s resolutions that will stick. Even with the prospects of a New Year upon us, you can make any life changes you want any day of the week, month or year. I had two big weight loss periods after my son was born. The first one started in August. The other one started in April. Even more surprising, they both started on a Monday. You don’t have to wait for the calendar to make life changes. Just pick a day and do it. And if you fall off the wagon, tomorrow is another day to start again.
Upcoming Races:
1/4 9 a.m. – CJ’s Resolution Run – R.B. Winter State Park, 17215 Buffalo Road Mifflinburg, Pa.
I finally signed up for this one! I’ve never run this one but it seems like a thinking man’s (or woman’s) race. The course is a 1.6-mile loop with two options. Option 1: RC Revolutions – run or walk as many laps as possible in three hours. Option 2: Last Man Standing (this is the option I’m doing). This one takes a bit of strategy. The first lap has a 20-minute time limit. Every lap afterward drops the time limit by a minute. If you don’t make it back to the start/finish line within the time limit, you’re out. So do you go out fast to allow more recovery time or take it slower and not have as much time to wait around in the cold?
runsignup.com/Race/PA/Mifflinburg/CJsResolutionChallenge
Nittany Valley Running Club’s Indoor Mile Series at the PSU Multi-Sport Facility & Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track.
1/11 – 10:30 a.m.
1/31 – 3:30 p.m.
2/8 – 10:30 a.m.
Held in conjunction with Penn State’s indoor track meets – NVRC members are allowed to “warm up” the track for the student-athletes (at least that’s what I’m figuring). Any member of the NVRC is allowed to participate regardless of your speed (no high school or younger runners due to NCAA regulations). Members need to email Marty Klanchar at nvrcindoormile@gmail.com by 4 p.m. on the Wednesday before the meet in order to participate. Participants will be grouped together based on their projected mile time, which is nice, so an 8:00 miler isn’t getting passed by someone going full Roger Bannister. The final meet features the timed mile as well as a 3km race – 15 laps on the indoor track. Not a member of the NVRC? Join here: www.nvrun.com/index.php/club/membership.
