Nigel Unedited

A year (minus one week) ago I moved to DC. I am amazed how fast it has gone, but also pleasantly surprised how at home I feel in the city. I’m still wowed by some of the architecture and running round the mall does not seem to get old, but I’m also enjoying things feeling a more familiar. There is a lot I could write here but time, and an early start, are conspiring against me. I just wanted to put this out there and I am sure there will be more to follow.

I still can’t believe it is April, but regardless of what I think, this year just seems to be going faster and faster.  So with the first quarter of the year done and dusted I wanted to take a look at my goals and give a little update. 

Challenges

• Run the National Marathon on March 26, 2011 in under 4 hours 30 minutes. – Ran it in 4 hours 21 minutes 44 seconds.  Over the moon about this and 16 minutes 2 seconds faster than my personal best from the Disney Marathon, 2010. I want to right a longer post on my race experience, but it was a pretty big deal for me :)

• Get comfortable riding a bike on the roads of Washington, DC. Complete the Nation’s Triathlon on September 11, 2011. – Now the marathon is done I need to sign up and get training for this.  Who is up for a bike ride?
• Run the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30, 2011.  Time goal to be decided after National Marathon. – Registered for the race.  Would like to run this under 4 hours and 15 minutes.

Health

• Find a good yoga class and go at least once a week. – Yes. Been going to a men’s yoga class on weekends (when travel permits) and definitely feel a benefit with my flexibility.
• Reach a goal weight of 185lbs by June and maintain within 5lbs. – Dropped 7lbs since January.  Still quite a few to go.  This definitely gets harder as you get older.

Financial

• Create a budget for life in Washington and follow it. – Not yet.  Need to get the townhome in Orlando rented out and put this in place.
• Move to a “cash only” lifestyle. Get back to paying off credit cards in full each month. -  So far so good.  All cards have been paid off at the end of each month, but I have got to get better at doing my company expense reports as I’ve been paying these off with my own money and taking ages to file them. Not good….

Travel

• Plan 2 weekends away in 2011 (considering New York, Chicago). – Not planned yet. Now Fred is up in DC hopefully we can plan a getaway soon.
• Plan a European vacation (considering Spain, Greece). – Hoping it will be Spain in September.  Very excited.
• Go to the UK for Christmas. – Looks like it will be OK to get time off work. Now I just need to watch for good flights.

Self

• Join a DC community organization. – Nope. Need to spend some time on this.
• Explore a new place in DC once a month. – Hmmm….  Bit of an epic fail on this one.  My most exciting adventure was discovering the Farmer’s Market at Dupont Circle on Sundays and running the Mount Vernon Trail down to Alexandria.  Definitely need to get back to exploring.  There is too much going on in this city not to.
• Read at least 8 books. – I’ve read 1.5 books so far (“Visible Lives” and half way through the “Bourne Identity”).  Need to ramp this up a bit.  I’ve got 3 on the go right now and need to stop multi-tasking and just finish one!
• Put more color in my wardrobe and buy less black, gray, and blue. – Haven’t bought any new clothes yet, and I don’t think race shirts count….

Professional

• Take at least 20 Continuing Education SPHR credits. – Not good.  Only got 2 so far this year.  Need to make this a focus in the 2^nd quarter or I am going to be screwed when it comes to re-certifying next June.
• Have a successful first intake for the Executive Training Program. – So far, so good. 4.5 months to go so fingers crossed.

If I had to give myself a grade for the first quarter of the year I’d give a myself a “C”.  Far from perfect, but also not horrible.  Work has definitely taken up a big chunk of the time, but when you are in crunch time and with a fast approaching deadline, there really isn’t much of an alternative.

So, still a lot to get done, but that is part of the fun of life.  For the next quarter my focus areas are going to be: triathlon training; keeping up the work in the gym and get better at planning out my daily meals; find a local organization that speaks to me; get back to exploring DC again; and clock up some more continuing education credits.  All exciting stuff.

Thanks in advance for keeping me accountable, guys!

I don’t own any green clothes (well one unseasonably thick winter sweater and one very scruffy hoody for when it is really cold and I want to pretend I am a stroppy ASBO) and apparently I was the only person in Washington, DC and West Point, NY that was not wearing green today.  Even the people that shouldn’t wear green were, and even the people that have something green that doesn’t fit any more had dragged it from the back of the wardrobe and squeezed into it for one more night.  But not me.  I felt a bit like this….

Now I don’t have anything against St. Patrick’s Day.  I have some wonderful, fabulous Irish friends and have spent several fun nights in the Emerald Isle partaking in the local festivities.  I also love the Corrs and am not ashamed to say I own a B*witched album (sad, but true).  And as my friends will vouch for, I LOVE any opportunity for a frosty adult beverage.  I often crave a good pint of beer, but I just can’t get into all of this green stuff and have never had a green beer in my life.  (I also struggle with everyone suddenly claiming Irish heritage.  People don’t do this on Cinqo de Mayo, and as someone that loves tequila and tortilla chips far more than corn beef and cabbage, I often wonder why the heck not?)

But as I sit here drinking a glass of wine (untinged by any type of emerald food coloring), I honestly feel like I need to get with the program and do something St. Patrick’s Day-esque next year, just so that I can just say I did it.  I am going to wear green (even if it means wearing the damn hoody), pretend I’m Irish (even thought it is not reflected on any of the 2 passports I have in my drawer) and party like a (6 foot 2 freakishly tall) leprechaun.  So mark your calendars….  Saturday, March 17, 2012 it will happen and it will be GREEN.  No more Mr. Grinch!

When I was younger I used to hate the term “A-type”.  It conjured up expressions like “anal retentive” (you know, that person that is so on point you have to bolt down the furniture to avoid them sucking it up when they sit down), “over achiever” and people so removed from reality that they would say something like “nothing tastes as good as thin” and believe it.

But no matter how much I used to pretend I wasn’t an A-type and would even fiercely deny it, deep down inside I knew I was.  Over the last 5 years or so I have come out of the A-type closet and have even begun to affectionately embrace the fact that I am very, very A-type.  So much so that when you look it up in the dictionary up you might see this cheesy grin staring back at you…

In many ways I am very grateful to my A-typeyness.  I think that a lot of things in my life would be very, very different if I did not have this (sometimes irritating) drive to constantly push for more, new and different. I wouldn’t have gone back to school to do my masters, I would not have met some of the friends I am very fortunate to have in my life, I would never have become a marathoner or triathlete, I certainly would not be living in America, or have had some of the good fortune I have had in my career.

So while these are all fabulous things that I would not trade for the world, sometimes, just sometimes, I would like to be able to slow down a little without feeling that inner sense of guilt that comes from no-one but myself. I have just finished a crazy seven weeks at work, and here I am on the other side pleased that while it all went rather swimmingly, I am only functional thanks to a prescription of penicillin and the doctor forcing me off work for 2 days because I’m “highly contagious” (her words, not mine), and yes, I still ended up working on these sick days.  These are not the high points of being A-type. No, these are the parts that make you say “really?”, or perhaps “WTF?”

One of my previous posts was about my goal to find balance in my life this year.  While I am doing much better at this than in previous years, the fact that we are now in March and 2011 has basically just been work, shows me I still have a long way to go on this one.  Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely enjoy my job, and I know I also thrive on the craziness of life, but I still need that kick in the arse to remind me that sometimes, just sometimes: only 90% would be fine, and that no one would notice if that didn’t get done right now except me, and that it is OK if your boyfriend arrives and the apartment is dusty because he doesn’t care about that stuff.

So…  good reminder, now time to get well, stop the 75 hour work weeks, and start enjoying the other things in life.  After all, you’ve got taxes to do, a marathon to finish training for, a city to show your partner, a gym routine to get back into, friends to catch up with, and…..  Yep, there goes Mr. A-type again…