Power of One

What, you may ask, is the “Power of One?”  That “one” is you, me, your brother’s sister (ha! that’s you too!).  It consists of whoever is interested in grabbing 2011 by the horns and showing it that you are ready to make healthy changes and, for many over at The Sisterhood, shed some pounds in the process.

This Power of One challenge at The Sisterhood is all about focusing on yourself, both physically and mentally in order to reach your fitness/health goals.  It runs from today through February 23rd.

I’ve been thinking a lot about these because in the last year I’ve done major things.  I’ve run 4 half marathons and by the first week of 2011 I will have completed my first full marathon.  Those accomplishments are huge.  Part of me wonders where I go from here.  Training for a full marathon is 100% consuming because of the amount of hours that you need to log on your feet.  So I’ve really been thinking about what I want to accomplish this next year.

This week’s challenge is to formulate some goals.  So here are mine:

• Take a break from running for the month of January after Disney.  I’m not committing to not running at all; that is probably asking too much.  But I want to really let my body heal from the 9-10 months of training I have done in 2010.  I will definitely be taking off a week and then maybe incorporate a short run or two a week.
• In the mean time I will be swimming once a week, working on strength training with EASports Active (got it for Christmas!).
• For Christmas my mom bought me two sessions with a physical therapist who focuses on helping athletes strengthen their core in an attempt to prevent injury.  I want to get this scheduled for January.
• I will stop buying crappy food.  The holidays have brought it into the house and I’ve indulged.  That’s not a bad thing, but sugar and I don’t get along very well anymore.  I feel so much better when I’m not snacking on junk.
• The races I’m planning on running this year are: Reno Rockin’ River Half-marathon in May.  My name will be tossed into the lottery for Nike Women’s Half-marathon again. I will plan on a 5K or two and a 10K or two.
• I’d like to make it a goal to run one full marathon a year.  Life next year has the possibility of making that difficult to accomplish, but if life is status quo, I may aim for one in the Bay Area.  (And I guess technically Disney will be in 2011, so that one is “technically” covered – though 99% of my training will be done in 2010.)
• This is more a personal non-fitness goal, but I want to spend the time with my 5yo working with her on reading.  She’s not close to reading now, but I know she could be and she’d like to.  So making the time to work with her is important to me.

So what are you goals for 2011?