Adios, August

It's hard to believe that September is here once again, and with it another birthday is right around the corner for me.  September has always felt like a time of new beginnings with back to school and my birthday falling so close together.  I always loved back to school time, with new school supplies and a new wardrobe and the promise of new things for the coming year.  And of course, my birthday always brought with it the same feeling of promise of good things to come for my next year.

Although I'm no longer in school, and haven't been for several years, I still find myself looking at this time of year as the time to set off on a new path and attempt to make some good changes in my life.  This year those changes are centered around my health and well being with this attempted return to running.  So, with that in mind, let's look back at August's goals and look ahead at what I have in mind for September.

First August...

My first goal was to drink eight glasses of water per day, and for the most part I succeeded.  I missed a few days during the month, but I tried not to let the slip ups derail me from my over all goal.  I don't know that I feel any different for the efforts, but I know it's important to be properly hydrated for running (and Bikram Yoga!) so I'm going to keep up my water drinking.

My next goal was to lose a few pounds, and I started off the month doing great but quickly fizzled out.  I gained back a few more of the pounds that I lost at the beginning of the month, but still ended the month 3 lbs less than I started it.  Not great, but any loss is good in my book.  So I end the month thankful for where I am, and refocus my attention and efforts so I can report another loss at the end of this month.

My third goal was to start building a community of online runners, and I'm still slowly working on that, as well.  I'm still diligently reading other's blogs and trying to find some runners who I feel like I 'click' with.  I haven't done much reaching out yet, as it seems silly to be connecting when I haven't really been running yet.

My final goal was to beginning running a few days a week.  I didn't run as much as I thought I would - mainly because of our temperatures.  I don't have access to any place to run inside and I wasn't realistic about just how hot it would be attempting to run in our triple digit temperatures.  But the temps are slowly dropping, so September should bring a few more days of attempted runs.

Now September...

I said I was going to reevaluate where I was after a month and decide if I was going to continue with my return to running.  I haven't done enough running to determine if my old aches and pains are going to allow me to resume running, but I do know that this past month has been good for me and I feel better than I have in a long time.  I'm slowly noticing changes in my body's abilities while walking and at yoga, and it feels good to be pushing my limits and feeling myself grow.  It also feels good to be concentrating my attention on my health again for the first time in several years.  So, regardless of if I end up running or not, for now I'm definitely going to continue on this journey.

I don't have any new goals for September in mind.  I really just want to continue with my efforts toward the goals I set in August.  The only thing I want to do differently is to figure out a better way to check in with how I am doing.  Right now I have several different apps and papers tracking my progress with different goals, and I'd like to combine everything into a single record on my blog.

And with that, all I can say is Bring on September!