4 steps to achieving a new fitness goal in 2016

It's a new year and you're ready to challenge yourself; awesome!  Now, what's next? After you have determined (with the assistance of your doctor) you are physically ready to attempt a new goal, here are a few easy steps to help you achieve success in 2016.

2016 runDisney Dopey Challenge recap (and tips)

My favorite way to start a new year off on the right foot (pun intended) is to take part in the runDisney Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend each January. Since 2014, this has meant maximizing my fun by running all of the races during Marathon Weekend; appropriately titled the "Dopey Challenge".

If you're not familiar with Marathon Weekend here are a few quick bullet points to get you acquainted:

Being a Princess and Fundraising for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Georgia

During the weekend of February 20th I will be among the thousands participating Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend.  I am completing the Glass Slipper Challenge; a 10k on Saturday followed by a half-marathon on Sunday.  I'm excited for these races because the Princess Half is one of my favorite races to run, but I'm also excited because I will be doing something I've never done before with these races; fundraising for a great cause.

I am raising funds for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Georgia and have set a personal goal of $1000.

I can't stay away

So, I had decided to take a break from doing races and just focus on my health and do fun/easy runs without the need for a rigorous training schedule.  That lasted for about a month, then I realized I'm simply not that kind of person.  By focusing on my health, that's really all I did, continually focus on my health and get frustrated that I can't fix everything.  I kept being reminded that it is something that isn't within my control and since I didn't have a training schedule or goal to distract me, it actually had a negative impact on my well-being.  Once I realized that, I quickly located some races and registered for them.  I instantly felt better after hitting the register button; I now had something to distract me from the aspects of my health that I can't control (and work of course) and a goal to focus on achieving.

So, as of right now, here's what my schedule looks like:

So, you're saying I'm not invincible?

This morning's schedule was supposed to look like this; wake up at 4:15am, take a quick shower to loosen up my muscles, put on all my race gear, and be out the door by 5am to head to the metro.  By 7am I would be making my way into corral number 19 of 33 with thousands of other runners, ready to complete my fourth marathon in a year.  My day didn't go quite as planned...

Marathon on a whim and more race discounts?!?!

My first marathon was on March 17, 2013.  Since then, I ran two more marathons (one of them being part of the 48.6 mile Dopey Challenge). After completing my last marathon as part of the Dopey Challenge I've been kind of taking it "easy" and just running (mostly speed workouts) and focusing on strength training, yoga, and mixing more cycling into my routine.  It's been going great, but every day I have this nagging in the back of my mind telling me that I need to do a fourth marathon before March 17th.