September- a month where we in Phoenix all think it should be cooler than it actually ever is, but also a month filled with hope of the cool weather to come as at least mornings start to become more bearable (we hope… after how weird and humid this summer was who knows?!) Here is how my tending list items went last month and where my focus will be for September:

AUGUST MONTHLY GOALS
*Back to School Routines & Adjustments: It was a bit of a bumpy start, and true to form we all get some sort of beginning of school ick that hit me particularly hard, but we are starting to settle in to our new normal and the kids are loving their new school with is such a relief!
*Plan & Prep Fall Garden: This happened on literally the last day of the month… but part of that is because we chose a lot of veggies that require cooler weather as opposed to the squash plants we’ve done for fall gardens in the past that usually do better if you start early to mid August. I’m a little worried this garden will get neglected with my training… but my kids are so excited about it so maybe this is the perfect opportunity to give them a little more responsibility in the gardening process.
*Finish setting NYC travel plans: This happened and was simultaneously so exciting and so nerve wracking. I definitely still have some pandemic trauma still telling my brain that nothing really feels like it will happen anymore until it is happening and not to get excited about anything, but I will take that over not having any plans in place.
*Create Fall Bucket List: Yes! it is scaled down quite a bit compared to years past thanks to marathon training, but I want to be sure we still have fun family things to look forward to amidst me running all the miles…
*Celebrate the Good Stuff & Plan Hubby’s Birthday: YES! Some of our top celebrating centered around becoming godparents again, the start of school, and hubby’s birthday.
*Finish Up Summer Cleaning: Me getting sick for a week really put a dent in this one and it is far from finished, but a little progress is better than none. I am trying to let some of this go and focus on what will really make an impact as I head into my higher mileage weeks and the kids head into their school year ramping up homework and projects.

“Superhero muffins” from the book Rise and Run…

AUGUST WEEKLY GOALS
*Meal Plan & Prep: Happened each weekend aside from the one I was sick so calling it a win.
*Family Meeting & Budget Check In: This also happened each weekend aside from the one I was sick so calling it a win as well.
*Photo Routine/Finish Family Yearbook Catch Up: SO much progress here. Now I’m just behind on August and I have some strong motivation to finish and order pages very soon.
*Practice Music x2: This honestly didn’t happen at all and I’m feeling a little bad about how much I have let the actual music component of my word of the year go, but reminding myself that being an instrument for World Vision’s child sponsorship program is taking up a lot of my time right now.

AUGUST DAILY GOALS
*NYC Marathon Training: It has been rough and I know the hardest part is yet to come, but aside from days of genuinely being too ill I am really proud of how closely I’ve stuck with my training. It isn’t perfect but it is consistent and committed.
*Journaling: This just did not happen like I hoped it would but I am trying again in September so see below…
*Back to School Routine: Continuing to tweak this but we made a start.
*Evening Routine: Ups and downs as always… I’m working on it…
*Screen Limits: Hit and miss here as well but getting much better at cutting evening screen time to help with those early morning runs.
*Prayer Time: If there was one thing all that time in bed gave me it was prayer time… I also discovering how rote prayers can help keep my breathing steady while running.

You will notice September’s tending list is paired down quite a bit. This is probably the most intense month overall of marathon training. October contains the big scary 20 mile run, but it also contains my taper weeks, September is just a lot of intense building up of mileage and the race is still far enough away to wonder how the heck I’m going to get there- so this month basically centers around the Marathon which has grown to push a lot of other goals out of the way- and that’s ok. It’s the first year I’ve had to pivot my goals so much from where I started with my initial Powersheets prep work and I’m finding it nice to discover that they still work with that kind of needed pivot.

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GOALS
*World Vision Fundraising: I don’t know how the marathon is suddenly coming up so fast, but I am only 1/4 of the way to my fundraising goal so I am hoping, planning, and praying to make some more progress in September!
*Plan/prep for Fall/Halloween: Now that we have our bucket list set it’s time to start planning for it- halloween in particular as it feels like the stores are already pushing the halloween stuff out the door to get ready for Christmas (WHY?!)
*Celebrate Hubby’s Birthday: (This was technically this month so I put it down in my September prep work and tending list, but since it already happened by the time I got around to writing this post I wrote about it above.)
*Order Prints for Family Yearbook: I have a few more pages to catch up on and then I need to print those things and start assembling our yearbook for the majority of the year!

SEPTEMBER WEEKLY GOALS
*Meal Plan and Prep: Hi, I am marathon training and I am hungry all the time. And if I don’t plan and prep really well I will basically just end up at the new Torchy’s Tacos that opened up by us every night which will be no good for my training or my budget. Speaking of…
*Family Meeting & Budget Check In: Marathon training is expensive. I’m talking just the training- not even the travel and actual race. So budgeting is extra important as I need to replace shoes and sports clothes and nutrition that I can eat effectively while running etc.
*Rest-Day Digital Clean Up: I am working really hard on making the “rest days” marked in my training actually physically restful so I’m trying to batch the work I can do while sitting down to keep our household functioning on those days. One of those things I’m focusing on right now is taking one day a week to digitally declutter- deleting extremely blurry or duplicate pictures, working my way through my inbox and responding to what I need to for the week, going through my phone’s internet browser and taking ti from 80 open tabs to something more reasonable like 20-30 (yes, I know I have a problem.), etc.

SEPTEMBER DAILY GOALS
*Marathon Training: Aside from keeping my kids alive and making them feel loved, this is my top priority until November 6th. Praying for no more illness between now and then so I can stay on track!
*Hydrate: It is still so stinking hot and it feels like I still am not drinking enough even though how many water bottles I go through each day would suggest otherwise. I want to keep this a priority and a goal for each day as the school year continues and the overindulging in coffee becomes a major temptation.
*Yoga/Stretch: I’ve been building back up my practice but I need to take care of my body in this way more consistently to get me through the next 2 months.
*Night Routine: I am simplifying this for the next 2 months and really getting back to basics before attempting to pair habits and add on to the routine again.
*After School Routine: Still need to guide the kids through some of this but hoping it truly does become routine by the end of the month.
*Journal: This is actually related to continuing my marathon training. I need some outlet to get out all the thoughts that are keeping me up at night- some anxiety driven, some wildly creative ideas that just never appear until I am trying to sleep because I have an early run, some random, etc. I just need to get back in the practice of clearing my head and writing each day- whether that be right when I get up on mornings that don’t call for a run, or just before bed while I continue to try and avoid screens as part of my night routine, etc.

So that’s September. Ready to focus in and push through to fall. Do you have anything you are focusing on this month? Or maybe pulling back on this month to focus on something new? I’d love to hear about it.