Happy New Year everybody! A new year of course means a fresh start, and time to set new goals. As I reflected back on 2017, I realized that I want to challenge myself even more in 2018. But I don’t just want to challenge myself when it comes to fitness, I want to see how I can improve myself in multiple aspects of my life.
1. Log 1,200 miles.
My initial 2017 mileage goal was 1,000 miles. Back in October when I knew that I would easily meet this goal I modified my goal to 1,150 miles. My 2017 total wound up being 1,108.8 miles (818.5 miles run, 161.4 miles walked, and 128.9 miles on the elliptical). Even though I didn’t quite reach my modified 2017 goal, I’m more than okay with what I did accomplish.
Naturally, I want to increase my mileage in 2018. Logging just under another 100 miles, for a total of at least 1,200 miles, should be manageable.
2. PR in all race distances.
In 2017 I ran one marathon, four half marathons, three 10ks, and one 5k. I PRed in the 10k distance and since I ran my first full marathon got an automatic marathon PR. Although I do not have many races on my 2018 calendar yet, I want to push myself to PR in all race distances that I run this year. Let me be clear though, not every race that I run will be a PR attempt. Some races that I run will be just for fun, like next month’s Enchanted 10k and Princess Half Marathon at Disney World.

Celebrating my half marathon PR last April at the Loudoun Half Marathon
3. Lose 5 pounds, and keep it off.
Last year I faced a couple of health challenges that resulted in some changes to medication that I take, which consequently led to some unwanted weight gain. Now that those health issues are under control, I want to focus on losing the weight that I gained. The weight gain was far from intentional, but unfortunately resulted in some of my clothes becoming tight and affected my fitness overall. Five pounds might not seem like much, but five pounds will make a huge difference for me.
4. Focus on self care.
Part of why I faced some of the health challenges that I did was because I frequently put everybody and everything ahead of taking care of myself. Work, chores around the house, blogging, you name it, I spent more time and energy focusing on everything but taking care of myself. I cannot let that happen again this year.
5. Keep my family as a top priority.
This goes along with self care, but other than self care my little family needs to be my top focus this year. I did a good job in 2017 of prioritizing my family, and as little man continues to grow and thrive I need to maintain my family as the center of my attention.

On Christmas Day with my boys
Just like in 2017, I plan to not only set monthly goals to help me stay on track with my goals for the year, but I will also do quarterly check ins to monitor my progress. I’m looking forward to the year ahead and seeing what I’m able to accomplish!
QOTD: What are your goals for 2018?
Those are great goals! Congrats on all those 2017 miles!
Thanks Coco!
1200 miles is an awesome goal!! :O Major props to you for hitting >1100 last year!! Best of luck to you on your goals for this year!
Thanks Farrah!
You have some great goals! I also liked your #4 and 5 goals. They are the best to have!
My goals are 1500 miles, and to get down to a better racing weight. I’d also like to run a sub-2 hour half marathon.
Its hard to accomplish other goals in life without focusing on self care and/or your family.
Great goals! Happy New Year!
Thanks, and Happy New Year to you as well!
No major goals for me (mileage-wise), but I do have a lot of races already filling up my calendar. My big focus for January will be strength work and “maintenance” now that my run streak is done. Hello…off-season!! 😉 Happy 2018!
Yay for the off season!
Those are some awesome goals for this year! I think that by focusing on self care, all those other goals will fall into place!
I hope so too.
Happy New Year! You have some great goals for 2018 – I also have self-care as one of my goals and I’m always trying to make sure my family is my #1.
That’s where family always should be.
My goal is to lose 4 to 5 pounds and keep it off also. I know in order to do that I must weigh in every morning. I need to restart doing that. Happy New Year.
There are so many things that factor into being able to lose weight.
You really had a fantastic 2017. Love your goals for the year and look forward to seeing you crush them
As always, thanks for your support Deborah.
Great goals for 2018! I’m still figuring mine out but one is better sleep and less social media at night.
I need to be better about both of those as well.
What a nice family Christmas photo. Great goals! i think you are being very smart about goals. 5 lbs is definitely manageable. I think too many people set unrealistic goals and then become disappointed when they do not fulfill them.
Yes, I completely agree. And that’s a big reason why most people wind up losing motivation after a couple of weeks because they expect to see immediate results for an unrealistic goal.
Great goals, as always. You are so good a staying focused on your goals!
BTW, its interesting about weight. At CrossFit, we do things with extra weight strapped on and it’s amazing what a difference an extra 5, 10, and 20# makes in my ability to complete the workout!
That’s amazing that you’re able to complete those workouts with extra weight on you. I often feel like the extra weight that I carry holds me back from getting a better workout in.
What a wonderful year you’ve had–congrats on the miles! You’ve also set some awesome goals for yourself for 2018. I feel you on the self care. Almost 2 years ago I had the stark realization that almost everyone and everything had sucked the life out of me and I felt…empty. That’s when I decided things would change. I still put high priority on my family and friends, but I start with me and have never felt so good. Here’s to a happy new year!
That’s great to hear that you had a lot of success making the changes that you needed to make. I hope that I can find the same success this year.
Great goals! Your little man is so adorable! Have a fantastic 2018!
Thanks Janice!
Great goals! Your little man is so adorable! I hope you and the family have a fantastic 2018!
Way to keep yourself accountable. I haven’t set 2018 goals but i have made Jan Goals.
Its great to have goals in order to help keep yourself focused and moving forward.
Great goals! And very attainable yet challenging!
That’s exactly what I was trying to accomplish when I wrote them.
Looking forward to continue to follow your goals and see you succeed!
As always, thanks for all of your support, Courtney.
Great goals! Good luck getting all those PRs. 🙂
Thanks!
You have set some great goals for 2018! I enjoyed following your journey in 2017 and look forward to seeing you smash your goals in 2018!!
Thanks for all of your support, Angela.
You’ve set great goals for 2018! Prioritizing family time is always a top one on my list, too. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and your family, Karen.
Great goals! Self care is so important, I love that you included it as one of your goals. Good luck with 2018 🙂
Thanks, and same to you!
Self care is so important. I’m learning to let things go and not sweat it to keep my health a priority. It’s not easy when I want to be in control of so much.
I know exactly how you feel.
That is awesome yearly mileage and yes you can get that goal next year!
I am on the lose a few pounds and keep it off plan as well. I am not tall so I get 5 pounds is a big difference, and for me it just makes running feel so much better! It’ll help you with your PR goals 🙂
Enjoy your little one, time goes so fast.
Exactly, when you’re petite every pound counts a lot.
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Great goals! Best of luck
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