Happy New Year! I can hardly believe it’s 2013 already. I had such a great 2012, and am looking forward to an even better 2013!

The New Year is a great time to reflect and think about goals for 2013, although I often like to pick something each month that I’m really going to focus on and improve on. This helps me keep things fresh and top of mind so that my New Year’s resolutions aren’t completely forgotten come summer time.

Here are my big health- and fitness-related resolutions for this year:

Get Healthy
I’ve been working really hard at physical therapy and doing my strength and flexibility exercises, so I have no plans of giving up on this now. I can’t even remember what it feels like to run at close to 100 percent, but that’s what I’m shooting for this year. For now I’m still doing PT, but even after that’s done with I need to remember to focus on strength and stretching as important parts of being a good runner.

Stronger Core
This goes hand in hand with getting healthy. When I used to teach boot camp, I told my class every day as I made them do plank after plank that a stronger core makes everything else easier, and now it’s time to practice what I preach. Strengthening my core will play a major role in stabilizing me when I run and helping me avoid the hip drop I started doing to compensate for my injury. This will be my big January focus, and I have a goal of doing my version of the P90X ab ripper workout at least five times per week.

Drink Less Soda
Soda is my biggest vice. I love the way it tastes and since I already drink so much water, it is usually a nice change of pace to have something with taste. My office has free soda, so I’ve started drinking way too much with it easily available. I’m not a coffee or tea drinker so it’s my main source of caffeine, but when you start getting caffeine headaches from not having your daily soda, I think that’s probably a good sign that you drink too much!

Boston Qualifier
OK, so this is more of a goal than a resolution, but qualifying for the Boston Marathon is something I really hope to accomplish this year. I was bummed to have to defer my entry to last year’s Marine Corps Marathon, but can’t wait to run it this year and go from my sub-3:35 qualifying time.

Hope everyone has a happy, healthy and fun 2013!

Ian and I getting ready for NYE festivities