I’d been wanting to write about what I want to work on/improve to in 2015 so I decided to go for a 5 miler this morning to think more about it. When I came back, I opened up my laptop and started checking my e-mails to see two always anticipated alerts–new blog posts from my faves Salt and Mar!

Mar and her buddies Cynthia and Courtney host a weekly Friday Five link up and it’d been a while since I’d joined and it’d been a while since Salt had participated too. I had already wanted to write about this topic so I figured I’d join in on the party too!

Here they are! My 5 goals for 2015!!

1. Challenge myself

This was a repeat from last year. I want to continue to challenge myself and find opportunities to do so. I find that I need challenges to help keep me focused and motivated. I like doing hard things.

That being said, there are times where I get complacent and start to make up excuses on why it’s okay for me to not try. The Fiesta Bowl 1/2 Marathon last month is a perfect example and that race taught me and showed me that if I combat those negative voice and challenge myself, I can do some pretty awesome things.

2. Drink more water

I’ve been a lot better about this having gone through my 100 Days of No Soda challenge but now that it’s been over, I find myself going more for a can of coke instead of a bottle of water. While I haven’t drank as much soda as I used, I could definitely be drinking more water. So I downloaded a free app that alerts/reminds me to drink water throughout the day. Yesterday was my first day aaaand I failed 😦

I feel so guilty for having let down the poor water drop 😦

3. Practice better time management

I’m a busy girl. Between working full time, having two kids, running and training, I often tend to neglect things or prioritize other things that maybe I shouldn’t.

I love blogging and most often than not, I just don’t have the time. And even though I really want to write more, it’s not something that will ever take precedence over more important things in my life.

4. Run more with my family

I love that my husband runs and I absolutely love running with him.

One of my friends sent me this picture of me and my husband approaching the finish line 🙂

And lately, my daughter has said super freaking adorable things–like when she sees me lacing up, “Mommy’s going for a run!” and then, “Run fast mommy!”

And when I get home she’ll tell my husband, “Your turn to run Daddy!”

And then when she says, “My turn!!” I just die…

I mean, c’mon ❤

5. Have more confidence

I struggle a lot with this. I mentioned in #1 how I often make excuses on why I can’t do something and I really almost gave up at my recent 1/2 marathon PR race. I don’t know why but I have this thing where I just psych myself out. Like I’ll run and I’ll be scared to run fast because I don’t want to burn out. And that totally makes sense, but how will I ever know how fast I can really go if I don’t ever try? That’s what I want to work on. I don’t have to go fast every. single. time. but once in a while, why not? I don’t want to get stuck in a comfort zone of a pace because I feel like I shouldn’t go faster.

This is something I’ve known about myself and something I’ve been working on throughout this training. For example, the last two recent long runs have been two 14 milers and the usual me would’ve run those at best at a 10 min average thinking that’s what I should do. BUT, I ran both at what felt good and natural and just going with the flow and ended with a 9:25 average on BOTH!

14 miler Part I

14 miler Part II

Tomorrow I have a 16 miler and already I’m starting to hear the voices in my head telling me how 16 miles is always where I fall apart, where I struggle, and how it’s likely I won’t do well.

I need to tell those voices to shut it! Yeah, I might not run a 9:25ish pace (and really, I should probably slow it down) but I need to believe in myself that I can do it and do it well.

–What are some things you want to work on/improve in 2015??