Friday, February 01, 2013

13 in '13 January Progress Report

If you remember, I set out 13 goals to achieve for myself in 2013.  The detailed list of the goals can be found here.  You can also check out the list and what has been achieved by clicking the "13 in '13" tab at the top of the blog.

Plans for January...

I had planned in January to eat in every meal, every day, for the whole month.  I was, surprisingly, good for about two weeks and then things fell apart.  First of all, Dave and I have lunch with some of our college buddies every Friday.  We haven't decided how to factor this into "does this or doesn't this count" as actually being part of this challenge.  Dave says no because it would be rude to not have lunch with our friends and as long as we're paying with cash, we're not racking up dollars on the credit card bill.  I think, yes, it totally counts and would prefer to eat in EVERY meal.  I mean, that's the challenge, right?  In addition, Dave's had a rough work schedule.  There was actually a week in January where he worked 60 hours in 4 days, including one day that was 20 hours.  So, that week turned into a lot of order in, carry out.  By the end of the month, we had totally failed, run out of cash, and were using our credit card.  Better luck next time, I guess.

I had thought I might be able to get in a race or two in January.  There was a 5K earlier in the month that I really had my heart set on.  I didn't sign up in advance, but was prepared to run it.  The day before, however, the person who bought our treadmill finally coordinated a time with me for pickup and it would be during the race.  I had been trying for weeks for her to come pick it up, so I decided to skip the race and have it her pick up the treadmill instead.  Too bad.  The weather was perfect for this race.  Last weekend was race #2 of this series.  Same course, totally different weather.  Last week you remember I mentioned it had snowed and we had cold temperatures (sounds like most of this winter).  I didn't even bat an eye at missing this race.  My friends had promised me cookies and gosh darn it, I wanted the cookies.

Achievements in January...
I did read two books in January.  Well, a book and a half.  I read "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein.  There seemed to be a lot of fanfare behind this book.  I thought it was a pretty easy read, but it wasn't anything to race about.  I don't know.  I just haven't found a whole lot of fiction that I have liked lately.  Then I finally finished up "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chobsky.  I had started this book last summer, but couldn't finish it up in enough time before my loan ran out at the library.  I thought I was 2/3 of the way through it when I returned it last summer.  Guess I was only halfway through it when I picked it back up in January.  I got into it for a while, but was thoroughly disappointed when I got through the epilogue.  Seriously, I didn't get it.  And now I definitely won't be seeing the movie.  I am now halfway through the third book of the year and have two more in the pipeline.  Twelve books is starting to look promising for 2013.

Although we were unsuccessful at eating in everyday this month, we were able to try a new recipe and I did a little more cooking than normal.  We have since tried a totally new recipe, something neither of us had had before, and I will be blogging about it on Monday.  

Finally, although it's not much, I have contributed 46 miles towards my goal of 1000 for the year.  That's a whopping 4.6%!

What did you get done in January?  Anything you want to brag about?

1 comment:

Jason Bodak said...

I'm at the same pace you are: I read two books in January. I started the month off with "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold" by John le Carre. It was good. TIME Magazine named it one of the best novels written since 1923. It probably is, but it felt kind of been-there, done-that, but to be fair, it's probably because so many other writers have ripped off this book. This one created the modern spy template.
Next, I read an autobiography of a Navy SEAL sniper. Those guys are superhuman. Now, in February, I'm re-reading "Roadwork" by Stephen King. I read it the first time in 1985, and I'm interested if my opinion of it has changed now that I'm in my 40 instead of my teens. So far, I feel exactly the same, ha!!