I know I say this every month, but how is another done already?! With the beginning of the month here it’s time for me to check in on how I’m doing with my New Year’s Resolutions, and choose what my focus will be for this month.

Even with a lot of running so far this year I’ve been staying injury free. I’ve spent a lot more time stretching, foam rolling and icing than ever before, so I’m sure this is playing a major role. Building a stronger core was also a major part of this and I’ve been doing great with that. I’m on day 124 of my consecutive days streak doing my P90X ab ripper workout and also completed a 5-minute plank challenge last month. The craziest thing about the plank challenge was that I wasn’t sore the next day – so this core thing must be working!

Drinking less soda was April’s focus since I was reintroducing it to my diet after giving it up for Lent and didn’t want to overdo it. I had a few bad days with this when I was tired and traveling and craving caffeine, but overall I’m getting a lot better about not drinking too much soda. Definitely still something I need to work on though.

My last resolution for this year was more of a goal – Boston Qualifier. As I’m sure you can imagine and as many others feel, I want this more than ever now. My marathon isn’t until late October so I won’t be able to get in for 2014, but I hope to be there cheering on next year’s runners knowing I have my ticket punched for 2015. I just hired a running coach thanks to a Zozi deal, and am really excited to have someone to work with to help me navigate my training plan and hold me accountable. I think this will be a great step towards getting my BQ this year!

May’s focus is going to be all about strength. My goal is to do at least 3 strength workouts per week to work on toning and strengthening my upper and lower body, which will only help me become an even better runner.

What are your goals for this month? How do you plan to get to them?