Hello November! AKA the start line of the sprint to the end of the year. Doesn’t it seem like time goes extra fast the final 2 months of the year?! I am both SO ready for it and absolutely not feeling prepared at all. Unsurprisingly, it was hard to think past the first week of this month, and you’ll see that reflected in this post, so with that disclaimer here we go…

OCTOBER MONTHLY GOALS

My sweet friend Lydia ran the end of my 20 miler with me! Also had lots of sweet support from some fellow MOPS mamas before and during that run.

*NYC Marathon Prep- Finish Strong!: training and fundraising:  I am proud of the work I did in October- especially of the very early start for my very challenging 20 miler!
*Halloween Prep and Fall Fun: We did a lot of this between fall break and pumpkin treats and a Halloween weekend full of fun events. It was a little stressful to deal with the timing of Halloween this year with the race less than a week away, but I’m glad we got in one more year of family costumes!
*Begin Holiday Bucket List/Plans: We made a good start here, and I know what we need to plan and prep in November once the race is over, so mission accomplished.
*Picture Purge/Organize: This definitely got pushed back until after the race. Turns out taper time was not as easy and fancy free as I had imagined when I thought about this month!

OCTOBER WEEKLY GOALS
*Banjo Practice: This happened twice. It was mostly just enough to make me realize how much I have forgotten over the past few months…
*Write: I missed a week here and really lucked out because I had written 2 posts for this the week before. I meant missing a post over at Phoenix Moms, but I’ll hopefully make up for that soon! (PS, if you want to catch up on my posts for that blog, you can check them out HERE)
*House Area Re-Set: I got very organized for this task and then didn’t actually follow through with all the end of training chaos. My house feels so overwhelming and that is something I will remedy when we return from NYC.
*Budget Check in: Yes. This happened every week aside from when I scratched my eye and couldn’t handle looking at screens… but I caught up!
*Meal Prep: This happened half the weeks. The other half marathon prep just won over all my time and I was thankful for some frozen meals we prepped back in August!
*Embrace the Rest Days & Taper Time: I did my best. The taper weeks were even more mentally challenging than peak week in many ways, but I tried not to go too crazy with it all.

OCTOBER DAILY GOALS
Marathon Training: I was extremely consistent here. It wasn’t perfect, but it was steady. I hope it pays off!
Morning Routine: Last month was rough. here’s to re-setting this next month.
Evening Routine: Last month was rough. here’s to re-setting this next month.
Hydrate: I did very well here overall. I even upped my electrolyte drink during non-running days because I was feeling so worn out from my highest mileage weeks.
Journal:  NOPE. just flat out did not happen more than about 3 times and one of those was because it was part of a “weekend challenge” or I’d have skipped it then too. Going to try again next month. my brain is so overstuffed it’s like I can’t get any thoughts out, but I think finishing the race will help fix that.
Sing: Almost every day and it was very good for my soul

NOVEMBER MONTLY GOALS
Finish the NYC Marathon!!!: Please please please please let me successfully complete this goal. Will take all prayers, good vibes, well wishes, etc. (UPDATE: Great news, by the time I got around to publishing this post, this had happened!! Don’t worry, I’ll talk about this plenty more soon)
“Fall Clean”: Instead of spring clean, Fall seems to be when I am the most motivated to get reorganized, open up all the window, and get the house ready for holiday cheer. It is going to be an extra big task this year given how things sort of fell into a bit of chaos with marathon training, but I’m SO ready for it.
Holiday Prep: We have a good idea of our priorities this year, so time to plan out how to make them happen without losing our minds and while making up time that I spent in/getting ready for the NYC trip.
Catch up on ALL THE THINGS: Noticing a theme here? This month is just about trying to pull it all back together and find a new balance to things after this giant goal I’ve been preparing for since May and thinking about since February is DONE.

NOVEMBER WEEKLY GOALS
Your Special Day: My favorite way to spend one on one time with my kids is to be sure they get extra special time on the day of the month they were born. My husband’s birthday counts here too, but since that is pre-race and we will actually get time together in NYC I’m going to count that!
Banjo x2 (post NYC): Once I’m done with the race I’m circling back around to this goal
Bake (post NYC): Ok, not exclusively baking, but basically all the yummy fall flavor projects in the kitchen that were too time intensive for me to do before this giant trip are happening when I get back!
Budget Check In: Even though I know I won’t want to after our NYC trip… yikes things are pricey there.

Hoping my legs feel good enough to get back to some hiking miles this month too. Cross training in the mountains last month helped me keep a little perspective on what might be next.

Picture Organize/ Project Life work: Not sure what I’ll manage to get through, but want to make a dent… this has really been frustrating ever since my regular system fell apart thanks to technology issues.

NOVEMBER DAILY GOALS
Final Marathon Training (through 11/6!): Spoiler alert: all the hard work paid off.
Yoga: The one thing I’ll be focusing on during my post-marathon recovery time. I am SO ready to get back to a regular practice instead of saving yoga for active recovery days because time feels so crunched.
Morning Routine: I’m ready to get back on track here!
Evening Routine: Ready to get back on track here too! I think the earlier sunsets should actually help with cueing my brain to start this routine when my phone alarm tells me to.
Journal: I know it will be so good for my brain when I finally make this a regular habit again.
Gratitude: It may seem hokey or super predictable to focus on gratitude in November, but I LOVE the annual attention this virtue gets as it is one of the core principles of my life. (Especially since I learned to embrace the idea that we can be grateful + grieving at the same time. Gratitude does not mean toxic positivity…)

Here we go… Hoping and praying that my next post I will be coming to you as a marathoner!