hip hip hooray!

I DID IT!

I set myself a goal for the month and I met it!

I've never, ever set myself an actual goal for my running (or for much of my life, really). I'm usually a very flexible, let's-see-where-this-takes-us kind of girl. Planning is not a great gift of mine. Sure, I can make lists and cross things off...but for the long-range sort of plans, my vision is normally blurry.

But this year I set myself a goal - to run 700 miles in 2011. Which means I'll have to be pretty dedicated to running each and every month, rather than my normal here-and-there approach to my running.

My goal for January was to run 50 miles; this was after running only 17 miles for the month of December. I ran on back-to-back days (something I don't normally do) and I ran in the snow several times. I carefully thought through my week - which days would I run? how would I fit it into those days? And, I stuck with it.

This month I ran 50.6 miles!

And I also did something else: I started cross-training at least 2 days a week. I'm feeling in the best shape ever!

My goal in February is to run another 50 miles. It's a shorter month and I have 2 weekend trips planned, so it's going to be tougher to do. But, tomorrow morning I plan on lacing up my shoes (in the snow, it seems) and start tackling my next 50.