2013 - Resolutions and more

Happy New Year!  I hope you're all recovering from whatever you got up to last night.

The first few days in January are usually a time for people to think about what wholesale changes they'd like to make, and then persevere with them as much as possible.  I wrote last year about how I'd been in a similar boat myself a number of times and all my good intentions had fallen by the wayside by late January.

There's traditionally talk of making major lifestyle changes which is usually difficult to achieve.  Not through lack of desire per se, but through the difficulty in overhauling your day to day life and sustaining those changes.  I'm as skeptical as the next man when people say that's what they're going to do, but this year, that's exactly what I'll be attempting.

At the end of this month, I'll be starting a two year clinical study to see if insulin pumps help people manage diabetes better than multiple daily injections (MDI).  This will effectively mean a brand new type of medication, a brand new way of looking after myself and a lot of other changes that affect my day-to-day life.

I wrote in the the very first post on this blog how I do my best not to let being diabetic define my entire life, it's merely a part of who I am as a person.  Whilst that remains the case, a complete change in a medical regime I've been used to for over 10 years will take some getting used to I suspect.

With that at the back of my mind, I've only made 7 resolutions this year but I'm hoping to keep them all (as opposed to the 8/10 from 2012)

1.  Run the Sheffield Half Marathon and the Great Yorkshire Run

As regular readers will know, the Sheffield Half is my nemesis and I'm determined to conquer it this year.  The Great Yorkshire Run eluded me last year as I'd pushed myself a little too much and wasn't able to compete when the day came.

2.  Raise £500 for charity

After raising £1,500 last year, I'm taking an admittedly more modest approach this year (but then again I'm not running the London Marathon this year either).  I'd like to be able to do more for charities that are important to me, but at the moment, I'm not sure how to do that other than run around and ask people to sponsor me for it.  Hopefully I'll meet my target this year

3.  See 12 gigs

This is the same as last year - I just like to be able to have a night out once a month so I'm hoping there'll be some great live shows to see this year

4.  Read 11 books

Slightly more ambitious than last year's 10 - I ought to read more and having got some excellent books for Christmas, I'm confident I'll make this one.

5.  Do a photo-a-day project

This is something I've wanted to do for a long time and I've never motivated myself to do it.  I enjoy taking pictures and I'm probably quite reasonable at it.  I'd like to become a lot more accomplished over the next 12 months and I think this will be a good way to do that.  I'll be posting the results on a separate blog if you want to keep track of them

6.  Keep my weight below 190lbs all year

There's a technicality that means I've got to get my weight back under 190 first (having lost 32lbs last year, a few have crept back on over Christmas).  This one in itself is fairly ambitious as I've never maintained a weigh I'm happy with for more than about 6 months.  I think the fact that I'll be in the clinical trial will help motivate me here.

7.  Run 450 miles

That doesn't sound like too much - less than 10 miles a week shouldn't be that hard when you think about it.  But I'm conscious I could end up injured again and I want a target that is attainable without having to put my body on the line in order to meet it.   I'll be trying for 2/3 runs a week and supplementing that with sessions on the exercise bike at home.

So there you have it.  That's my goals for the year in a few short paragraphs.  It may not sound like too much (and I feel a little like I've copped out), but I think I have to be mindful of what else will be happening this year.

Once again, I hope you all have a wonderful 2013 and that you manage to keep any resolutions you've made.

Andy