April 2018 Goals

Ryder dressed up as a bunny and a recap of March 2018 goals

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Surprise! I'm alive! Long time, no post, but it's been crazy at work and crazy on the weekends and crazy all around. Although if we're being honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. I want my days to be brimming with life (with the occasional time for rest and restoring some semblance of sanity) and, well, things are brimming! But the downside is I have been neglectful of the blog which is a bit less than desirable. But hey, it's a new month, it's a new spring, it's a new chance to be better.

But first, a recap of March.

March 2018 Goals:

Writing

Post at least two times a week. Eeeeeesh I only posted twice this month, much less twice a week! Although I'm not going to apologize: I did some fun things this month instead of blogging, and my choice came down to blogging or sleeping I totally chose sleeping. #sorrynotsorry

Type up 25 pages of fiction writing. I was supposed to type up 25 pages of fiction writing. I typed up five. Well, five is better than zero at least, so I'm making progress.

Metric	Value
Words	20,281
Characters	108,700
Pages (paperback)	52

Revise the e-book and start putting together design/images/formatting. Oh. Right. I forgot about this. Do you ever have that feeling where suddenly the seasons change and your behavior changes and then all of a sudden the stuff that's important to get done does a 360? Yeah. I'll just blame this on spring.

Photography

Have some awesome March sessions and finalize my spring schedule! Yay! I did this! I actually planned out my schedule until July, which is pretty insane!

Running

Run 85 miles in March. I did 83 miles in February, so I thought I'd stretch my goal a little and aim for 85 miles. Well, I did 109 miles in March! The only downside is they weren't all running miles: 34 of those miles were hiking miles, bringing my running mileage to 75.2 this month. That's below my target goal, but it's still not shabby considering how I skipped a couple long runs this week to go hiking instead.

Do two more trail runs. I only did one trail run in March, but it was quite an adventure! 10 miles of trail at Hanging Rock State Park with Fleet Feet, hitting up all 5 peaks in the park. It's an adventure that deserves its own blog post! (haha hint to self...)

Hiking/Backpacking

Go on at least two "Sunday Stroll" hikes. I was neglectful and only did one this month. Sorry Dad!

Go to another Girls Who Hike NC meetup. I went to the GWHNC meet-up at the Raleigh REI but I had to skip the Tuesday hiking excursion because work was busy and I couldn't comfortably skip that day and fall behind. But I went to at least one meet-up!

Go on a backpacking trip with Sherry! Ahh yes! Sherry and I went on another incredible adventure on the Appalachian Trail - complete with a story about us almost dying, yay! I can't wait to get that post up! (another hint hint to self...)

Organize, plan, and execute a hiking trip with co-workers. Yeah! I am freshly back from that adventure and definitely need more sleep, but that hiking excursion went well! I can't wait for the next one!

Climbing

Climb at least twice a week. Haha on average I did this. Five weeks to the month, 10 days of climbing. In reality I climbed once the first week, once the second week, twice the third week, four times the fourth week, and twice the fifth week. Yeah, the week when I climbed four times was a ton of fun by my fingers were definitely missing a fair bit of skin by the end of that.

Send a V1 problem. I started some V1 problems, but I still haven't sent any. I've done mostly top-roping this month.

Send a 5.9 route on top-rope. I did this I did this I did this!! I've been more consistently climbing 5.8+ routes and I've been working on some 5.9-/5.9 routes and this week I sent a 5.9 route! I don't think it's the very first time I've done a 5.9 route, but those sends are certainly few enough I can count them on my hands.

Other Fitness

Try out a new yoga studio. This will stay on the list though until I get it done!

Travel

Book campsites and final hotel room for April roadtrip. You know, I actually did a lot of work on this...but I have to call to reserve the one campsite because for some reason you can't book it online. And like many Millenials, I have a strong aversion to talking on the phone sooooo....this still needs to be done. But at least I have it planned out!

Plan July trip! Soooo my July trip is still up in the air. A few factors went into this leaving a lot of unknowns, but I'm going to sit down soon and figure this out.

Personal

Read two books! I'm looking at my bookshelf and my Audible library and...wait...did I really only read one book this month?! It definitely looks like it although darn it I swear I did a lot of reading this month! (I knocked out a few magazines, does that count??) This month I completed Into the Wild* by Jon Krakauer (yes, it's the same book that was turned into a movie about Christopher McCandless who disappeared into the wilderness and died in the Alaska wilds.)

Do taxes. Ugh. Taxes. But I guess it's better than not feeding the needy or not educating the next generation. So yay taxes I guess? (No, I still haven't done them, shhhhhh)

So! What's in stock for April?

Writing

Post at least once a week. Since April is going to be another busy month and I need to get my act together and post regularly again I'm downgrading this frequency to once a week. (Let's hope that lasts and doesn't end up once a month instead...)

Type up twenty pages of fiction writing. Chop chop!

Finish my e-book. It at least needs to be nice enough to give to some friends heading to Italy soon.

Photography

Do some nice wildlife and nature photography. It's spring, which means the critters are coming out and doing interesting things, which means I want to see them do those interesting things through my lens!

Running

Run 80 miles! I'm actually curious how much running I'll be able to get done this month with all the traveling I have planned. We'll see how close I get to 80!

Run Cooper River Bridge Run! I've always heard fun things about the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, so I signed up to run it with some friends! Can't wait to share the race recap afterwards :)

Hiking/Backpacking/Camping

Go on at least one "Sunday Stroll" hike. It's spring, which is a great time for a Sunday Stroll!

Go camping at least once. As part of my trip to Orlando I want to sneak in a couple days of camping. It will be fun to explore some different terrain that what I'm used to in North Carolina!

Climbing

Climb at least once a week. I'm dropping this down to once a week to give myself some leeway with the conference coming up. Who knows? Maybe I'll drop into a local climbing gym in Orlando!

Keep working 5.9 routes. TRC actually has several 5.9 routes that are a good challenge for me right now, so I'm going to keep working on those and hopefully send some more of them.

Other Fitness

Try out a new yoga studio. This will stay on the list though until I get it done!

Travel

Go to Orlando! Conferences, camping, adventure. My poor car is going to be so confused for this roadtrip, what with all the business attire and adventure gear I'm packing. What is this trip?! Who am I?! Am I a young professional or am I a professional dirtbag?! (Why not both?)

Plan July trip! A July trip is happening no matter what, I just need to plan it!

Personal

Read two books! I've got a ton of hours ahead of me in the car and a few audiobooks to go with it...

Do taxes. Ugh. Taxes. But I guess it's better than not feeding the needy or not educating the next generation. So yay taxes I guess?

What do you think? Do you have any goals planned for April? Let me know in the comments!

Special thanks to Kristen for providing some props for the April styled shoot. Enjoy the photos of Ryder and of Kristen's dog Franklin!