At any rate, I’ve decided to make some resolutions for the new year and thought I’d post them here for all to see (accountability!) They are totally related to my health/fitness. As it turns out, when I’m not healthy or taking care of my body, I’m unhappy. I like being happy. So without further ado, in 2012 I will:

• Make it to CFNE minimum of 3x/week, no matter how crazy the other parts of my life are.
• Eat Paleo 90% of the time and make the 10% non-Paleo REALLY worthwhile.
• Snatch 135# (my biggest goal in terms of fitness)
• Run a 7:30 mile (and run at least 1 road race, either a 5k or 10k)
• Row a sub-8:00 2K
• Find my double-unders again (%$!^%#&# DUs – had them, lost them, found them, lost them, and will find them again!)
• Avoid the avoidable injuries, and treat the unavoidable ones (even if it means stopping mid-WOD – and oh, what a metaphor for life this particular goal is…)
• Bring mindfulness to my Crossfit practice (some days, the PR is in the attempt, not in the results)

I’ll also add in:

• Maintain a healthy sense of humor and of the absurd
• Keep work and life in balance
• Visit my massage therapist 6 times
• Continue reading like a fiend (this year I hit 66…)
• Knit a few items and GIVE THEM AWAY (I have a problem with that second part)
• Be more social – go out with friends more often.

That should do. We’ll see how I do. I’m looking forward to this year like you can’t believe – it’s GOT to be better than 2011!

This year’s numerical summary:

• Books read: 46
• States visited: 6 (NH, VT, ME, NY, MN, CO)
• Countries visited: 1 (Mexico)
• Hockey games played: 86 (being on 3 summer teams will do that…)
• New gadgets: 1 (a Droid Eris)
• Dogs: 2, still.

This coming year, I again have some modest resolutions.

• Continue with Crossfit and achieve the goals I set there each month.
• Knit more: 3 hats in January, finish the Janda sweater, Bruins gloves, and the fingerless gloves I started in Maine.
• Keep my weight under my magical number all year long.
• Play more games! Bananagrams is at the top of that list, for sure.
• Read more books in 2010 than I read in 2009.
• Learn to can fruits and veggies.
• Travel to more places in 2010 than I did in 2009. (Already on the calendar: Mexico, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and potentially California for a work conference – would like to get to Florida and Michigan this year too.)

Should be easy to do, right? Well, check back NEXT January 1 (that’d be in 2011, y’all) and see how I do!

Happy New Year to you and yours in 2010.

Megan and Amy, New Year's 2010

First things first: I have blisters and callouses on my hands! A lot of people might view this as a bad thing, something to be avoided. I view it as a return to a different time in my life, a time in my life when I played on monkey bars and jungle gyms, when I could climb trees and not feel it the next day. This, perhaps more than anything, tells me that what I’m doing is good.

Next: I have run a mile two times now. For those of you who know me in person, you will understand the significance of this. My motto for years has been: I will run when someone chases me. Well, the person who is chasing me happens to be (with apologies to Dickens) the Ghost of Megan Future and I’m gaining on her, slowly.

Also: I am close to being able to do a real pullup. My goal for the month is to be able to do one, although I’d be even happier if I could do 2 or 3 in a row. When I watch all the other folks at the gym doing pullups I get a little bit jealous, but that jealousy motivates me to keep on trying, keep on trying.

More: I had no idea I could push myself this hard. Turns out that despite what I believed for years about how I “do” fitness (i.e. solo, self-directed), I was wrong. The way I took to hockey should have clued me in, and if that didn’t, the fact that I started playing indoor soccer last winter should have. But apparently neither of those things registered, and the other day I had this moment of thinking, “Holy crap! I LIKE to work out in a group, to cheer for other people, and to have them cheer me on, push me, tell me I do just one more.” Go figure.

And: I couldn’t have done any of this in a non-CrossFit setting. I’ve worked out before and know that when I do, I get into certain routines. With a routine, it’s easy to remember what to do, to not have to think about it. Of course, routine is a real buzzkill and what’s more, it is boring (thus decreasing the likelihood that I’ll keep it up). What I like about CrossFit is that I don’t have to decide what my workout is. I show up, the workout is on the whiteboard. Some of them look killer (and are), while some look easy (lies and deception, every time I think that). But the fact is, it’s easy for me to remember what to do at CrossFit without a routine, simply because someone else is thinking about what we’re going to do each day on everyone else’s behalf. The prescribed workouts may seem limiting, but for me, they’re totally freeing.

Finally: CrossFit really is a supportive community. I’ve met a lot of new people, the sorts of people I don’t see in my everyday life. First off, there are a lot of guys who work out there. I don’t spend a lot of time with men, working at a women’s college with well over half the employees in my division being women. Second off, I suspect that a large number of the people who work out there don’t share my educational level, sexuality, political leanings, and/or worldview. And you know what? It doesn’t matter, because what we’re all doing there is getting stronger, faster, and fitter. That’s the thing that unites us. And in the meantime, I just might expand my horizons a bit.

So you may be wondering: Has Megan drunk the CrossFit Kool-Aid? Well, I have, but not all of it quite yet. I’m a skeptic by nature, and there are parts of the CF philosophy that I’m still struggling with, particularly those parts around fuel for the body. I feel a need to do more research, to find evidence and data that the way many CrossFitters eat is rational when some of it is counter to what I’ve learned in the past. And really, I can only make so many changes in my life at once. Adding in 4-5 trips to the gym each week (from ZERO) is a lot to get used to. Try me in another couple of months and maybe I’ll have found my evidence and data, changed some more things about my life. And maybe not. But in a couple of months, I can tell you, I will still be going to CFNE and loving the way I feel.

You might think that with all that hockey-playing, I’d be in good shape. You’d be only about 1/4 right. The parts of me that are strong and in shape include my skating muscles (mostly in my glutes, hams, and calves) and my stick-handling muscles (mostly my shoulders). But they are strong in very sport-specific ways. And you may notice that there is a lot more of my body that I didn’t list as being in shape (arms, abs, quads, chest, back, etc.) My cardio system is in hockey-shape, not necessarily in good shape. In other words, I can skate hard for an hour (with the usual breaks) and not be horribly winded, but that’s only with skates on. Take the skates off and it’s a different matter entirely.

I recently turned 38 (okay, several months ago – where the HELL did summer go?) and this has been weighing on my mind a lot since then (pun totally intended). Over the course of the past 6 weeks or so, I’ve been doing a bunch of research into ways to get myself into better shape. I finally hit on the thing I think will work – it’s called CrossFit. You can google it to find a bazillion web sites out there on it, but for me it wasn’t that kind of research that sold me. No, it was seeing 2 people I know change during the time they’ve been doing CrossFit. Karin, first and foremost, I’m looking at you. You started out as no slouch, but now? Wow. You look strong and healthy and ready to take on the universe. Brian, you too. I know you’ve been doing it for a year on your own, and I appreciate all the info you gave me on how to get started.  And honestly? You look better now than you did a year ago when I met you, stronger and healthier too. There’s also a social aspect to this, as well as a competition to it. Right up my alley!

I am going to give CrossFit a shot – a month on my own, and then into the local CF gym till the end of 2009 and beyond. I’m tired of only being in-shape for one thing (even though it is one thing that I LOOOOOOOOOOVE). It’s time, and I’m saying it out loud. My public commitment is this: I will be stronger when I hit age 40 than I was at age 20, starting yesterday. Bring on the next 21 months!

My resolutions this year are more modest.

• Keep reading – at least 50 books
• Geocache – at least 20 finds
• Hockey – score two points
• Bike – more (which requires getting up earlier) (NTS: get gloves and velcro straps)
• Move – start lifting again

This year’s numerical summary:

• Books read: 88
• States visited: 8 (NH, VT, ME, CT, MN, WI, FL, NJ)
• Countries visited: 2 (St. Martin, St. Maarten)
• Hockey games played: 62 (most in the summer)
• New gadgets: 4 (iomega eGo hard drive, iPod touch, Flip video, MacBook Pro)
• Dogs: 2 (I can never seem to get Amy to agree to any more)
• TV stations we get with hockey on them: 15 (VS, NHL Network, NESN, 12 on Center Ice Package)
• Geocaches found: 15 (oh gosh, that’s lame)
• Political candidates I voted for who won: 5 (Obama/Biden most important!)

Happy 2009 to you and yours from me and mine!

This year my resolutions are of a different sort:

1. Walk the dogs every morning with Amy.

2. Reduce screen-time after work by 30 minutes minimum.

3. Bike to work 3 times a week (M,W,F) in spring, summer, & fall.

4. Score at least one goal this spring, and one next fall.

5. Read at least one book a week.

6. Figure out the television/cable/router/printer/stereo setup once and for all.

7. Finish home office/spare room/knitting studio.

8. Grow out my hair.

9. Find 25 geocaches. Hide our first cache.

10. Blog at least twice a week.

These are a bit more task-oriented than last year’s goals, but nonetheless I think they’re accomplishable. For example, yesterday and today we organized the basement, giving each other the time and space to do part of it alone and to do part of it together. It looks really good down there, and I think I actually know where everything lives.

So Happy New Year to all of you from Amy, Maggie, Otter, and me!

Huh. Imagine that. No resolutions when I knew most of that was staring me in the face. Funny! Pardon the sarcasm there – it’s just that I’m super-impressed that 2006 didn’t do me in!

But 2007 – this year I’ve made some resolutions, since I don’t have a boatload of life change barreling down the train track in my direction this year. It’s good to be focused, so focused I am. I’m going to tie these to what a friend called the five components of wellness: physical, social, emotional, mental & spiritual. A lot of them overlap, but that’s to be expected.

Physical

1. Maintain my current weight. Easier said than done – last year I managed to drop 15-20 pounds, which had crept on over the course of a year or so. But over the holidays some of it returned (I’ve since stopped eating peanuts, which has helped). I’d rather feel healthier than not, and frankly I’d like it if my underwear fit me the way they should. So I would like to make that my first resolution.

2. Increase my activity! I play hockey a couple of times a week – usually on Sunday and Monday – but I’d like to do something else during the week. This morning I had a flash of “I should walk to work!” but that’s probably not going to happen. However, more walks before and after work definitely could, and I think that on the weekends we’ll be hiking more with friends T&B and their dog (who met Maggie and Otter this weekend, mostly successfully).

3. Cook more. Amy’s really been the primary cook for the past year, and that’s been fine and dandy, but I’m ready to play too. I’d like to learn 3 or 4 signature dishes, and figure out how to throw together a nice meal for friends at the last minute.

Social

4. Date. Yes, yes, we’re married. But dating is still fun! So I’d like to resolve to go on more dates with Amy. Maybe to the movies….

5. Go out in Boston and the surrounding environs more. Seriously – this area has to much to offer and I’ve not made much of an effort this past year to explore. That’s going to change in 2007!

Emotional

6. Continue doing what I’m doing.

Mental

7. Finish decorating the bulk of the house. Seriously – this has gone on long enough. It’s almost there. The remaining tasks are: hang some pictures, rugs for the bedroom, mirror for the stairwell, chair for the living room, back entryway jacket/hat/shoe system, and revamp of my office in some way. This resolution goes under mental because it’s really a matter of putting my brain to the task and getting it done.

8. Play more games. Last night we played Apples to Apples with some friends and hoo boy was it fun! I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time, nor have I had to wrack my brain quite like that. Anyone know of any good strategy games that two people can play easily? Board games are preferable…

9. Read more this year! Last year I read 51 books – nearly one a week – but a lot of those were children’s and YA books. This year I’d like to balance between fiction and non-fiction, and read more adult books and fewer YA/children’s books.

Spiritual

10. Get into the woods, hike, lay in the hammock, walk barefoot in the grass, play in the snow, dance in the rain, and wear lots of sunscreen during it all.

So there you have it. Ten resolutions for 2007. We’ll see how I do with them this year. Like in previous years, I think I’ll print these out and hang them near my computer at work to look at over the course of the year, and will periodically report back on how I’m doing with them.