Oh man, WE MADE IT! We made it past the most challenging time in the year for most Phoenicians and onto fall. Are there more challenges ahead? Sure. Do those challenges include insanely hot weather?! I hope not/they certainly shouldn’t.

SEPTEMBER MONTHLY GOALS
*World Vision Fundraising: Progress here! I am SO close to hitting double digits for child sponsorship and praying for that milestone to happen soon. I know that each and every kid sponsored is a victory so I am focusing on making the asks and telling my story and trusting that the right people will feel called to sponsor a kid and change some lives. Going to be thinking about those lives changed a TON during my 20 miler this coming month.

One fun thing about training this month is watching all the Halloween decor slowly go up… you appreciate it differently on a run that just driving by it!

*Plan/prep for Fall/Halloween: Definite progress here! I have us in a spot that seems manageable up until I hit my taper weeks and then I have some craft projects I can tackle then.
*Celebrate Hubby’s Birthday: YES! Had SO MUCH FUN with this as I mentioned in last month’s goal post.
*Order Prints for Family Yearbook: This happened. It was so satisfying to get my prints and put them in their album. I had a few pages to order from last year and now I have over half of this year’s book printed and ready to stay on top of the remaining pages through the end of the year.

SEPTEMBER WEEKLY GOALS
*Meal Plan and Prep: Oof. This took a hit this month. The training milage really caught up with me and I was too exhausted to tackle this on the Sundays I had planned… Hoping to bounce back in October
*Family Meeting & Budget Check In: Most of the weeks this happened. We had a few things shake up our budget this month so it was really good to be on top of that and track that as we went so we could adjust accordingly.
*Rest-Day Digital Clean Up: This was hit and miss. Have I mentioned I’m really bad at resting/not being conventionally productive?!

SEPTEMBER DAILY GOALS
*Marathon Training: A few days went off track, and I’m giving myself grace and understanding with that, but overall I have been incredibly faithful to my training plan and very proud of the hard work I’ve put in.
*Hydrate: Hit and miss… all those early mornings mean my coffee intake has gone up and my water intake went down. But most of the time I necessarily had to hydrate because how else was I going to complete all those runs in the relentless Phoenix heat?!
*Yoga/Stretch: Hit and miss as well but overall a success. Including several “why is this so incredibly uncomfortable” foam rolling sessions…
*Night Routine: This was rough but I AM seeing improvement and I am grateful for that. I think even after training and crazy early runs end I need to keep my phone on the “sleep” setting as early as I have been through the last few months as that screen free time, when I follow it, does seem to help.
*After School Routine: Is it perfect? No. Have we done what we can to set a routine and stability for our kids? Yes. So I’m calling it a win.
*Journal: This totally fell off the rails after the first week. Will try again next month.

Here we go October… I hope it means cooler weather finally and I know it means the height of marathon training! (Which you will notice is the major through line in my tending list this month…)

OCTOBER MONTHLY GOALS
*NYC Marathon Prep- Finish Strong!: training and fundraising: All the little last minute details and plans are going to creep up this month since the first week of November is RACE WEEK!!! I can’t believe it actually feels real at this point. It is going to be list central this next month to make sure all the little pieces are in place for a successful trip and race. Plus, continued fundraising and Team meetings/etc.
*Halloween Prep and Fall Fun: Had a great start on Halloween plans, but will definitely have some week before and week of work to do (aka I’m putting it off until after my 20 mile run mid-month…) and we want to make more progress on our fall bucket list before we get into our Holiday Bucket List. Speaking of…
*Begin Holiday Bucket List/Plans: After the chaos of the last few months I am looking forward to a simple and intentional holiday season. I want to make sure the the kids have some input on what we include in that and what we skip this year. I know this season is something I will remember and the end goal of the marathon is something that will feel SO great once it is DONE, but I am really excited to looking ahead and shift to a more balanced variety of activity instead of all marathon training and planning all the time!
*Picture Purge/Organize: I am hoping to have a giant picture purge and sort party during my taper time. I know this goal won’t be done this month, but hoping for a strong start!

Don’t be fooled by this restful picture… I actually did a long family hike before allowing myself some time for wine and enjoying the creek last month.

OCTOBER WEEKLY GOALS
*Banjo Practice: Remember this goal? I kind of stopped putting in the work here. I don’t expect this to get done the first two weeks, but once I get past my peak week I am ready to get back to some music practice.
*Write: I debated just not blogging this month, but I think it will actually really help my focus and mental health so— the weekly writing goal remains.
*House Area Re-Set: The chaos of training has taken a bit of a toll on the house. Little by little we will have it re-set in time for the holidays…
*Budget Check in: Extra important to know what everything looks like before we travel to one of the most expensive cities in the world.
*Meal Prep: My budget and my nutrition really need me to get back on top of meal prepping this month… hopefully cooler weather will make me excited to try some new recipes.
*Embrace the Rest Days & Taper Time: I already know that I am going to feel anxious and strange suddenly running fewer miles during the taper weeks, so I want to proactively work on embracing my rest days before then and then keep my body resting during that taper time so I can be ready to run 26.2 freaking miles next month.

OCTOBER DAILY GOALS
Marathon Training: The last time this will appear as a daily goal! Feeling excited and scared to hit that peak week this month. Also trying hard to trust the training and believe I will be prepared.
Evening Routine: Same old same old. I feel like maybe my body will finally let me go to bed early as I approach the end of upsettingly early running alarms…
Hydrate: So important as I reach peak week. Hopefully the weather cools off and I can stop sweating off most of my water intake…
Journal: Hopefully this month I can do this more consistently than last month because I KNOW it helps my anxiety, my emotional health, and my busy brain and sparks my creativity.
Sing: This one may seem odd, but I was thinking about my word for the year and also how I have been a little too stressed to just sing with the kids on car rides etc. So I want to work on capturing the joy of singing every day- with the kids, in the shower, on a long run, whatever. Just for a little more music in my life.