Wordless Wednesday

Let's Run About It // 2024 Goals

Well, the first month of 2024 has had me sitting on the sidelines for a good chunk of it. As I've mentioned before, we dealt with a lot of illness and injury. So, it was not the running start I had been hoping for, and I spent a lot of days feeling pretty jealous of everyone else getting to wake up at 5 am to go run. Weird, right? I know. Things have gotten better now, but having that much time off set me back in a lot of areas. This means I'll need to kick it up a notch this next month to catch up. 

So, with that, let’s jump right into the goals I have for 2024! We did our New Year's Resolution Run back on December 30, and I had still been a little hesitant about what I wanted for my goals. I kept going back and forth on mileage. I chatted with other friends, and everyone seemed to be trying for the comma (1,000+ miles). And since I have declared that this year will be a year of “no races” - I wasn’t sure if I needed to set a second goal like I did the year before. However, after finishing 7 miles that morning, our “club president” asked, “Great job getting to Roswell! What are your goals for 2024?” I blurted out my scary goal, “801 miles for the year.” Then as she was writing that number on the back of my shirt, she asked, “Last year you had two goals are you doing that again?” And I’m going to blame this next part on that runner’s high or the smell of coffee - maybe both, but I nodded my head and then replied with, “Yes, I’m going to do 4 Half marathon distances this year.”

Since that day, after the runner’s high wore off, I’m not entirely sure if these goals are reachable for me. However, I am going to give it what I can! That said, as I mentioned in a previous post, this year I plan on not getting too caught up on the end result. If I accomplish them, great! If I don’t, that’s fine too! My priority is doing what’s best for me. Not comparing myself, or overworking my body to keep up. At the end of 2023 I started to have hip pain after all of my longer runs so I’m sure that will need to be addressed sooner rather than later. And I don’t want to push myself so far in trying to reach these goals that I end up hurt. But the challenge is there. I’ve put those goals out to the universe, and run club. They’re written on the back of my shirt, and I have something to aim for this year.

Now, as I mentioned above, this is the year of “no races” for me. That doesn’t include Cowtown - which I had already committed to signing up for as part of a team. There is also a free 5k that happens in November. But that’s about all I plan to sign up and/or pay for this year. There are a lot of factors that went into this decision, but the main one is that it’s an expensive hobby. This past year there were several months that I was spending between $50-$100 on races. This might not seem like a lot, but it adds up. Some club members were out there doing destination runs or signing up for 3+ a month! And well, I just don’t have that kind of money. Then, as I mentioned in my New Year’s post, I want to focus on being rooted, slowing down, and living simply. With that comes the desire to spend less. I still plan to volunteer when our run club has a booth set up though! I love getting to cheer other runners on, and it’s a way for me to still contribute to our running community.

This year, I just want to get back to running for myself. Running for fun. I’d like to work a bit on my speed, and running longer distances without intervals. This year I was able to run an entire 10k without walking, and I’d like to see if I can do that again or maybe go a longer distance. While races can be so fun, I want to take a break and focus on getting what I need from running this year. And that’s honestly to just keep it simple.

A New Language // Mandarin Update

Learning a new language is hard. Learning a new language that uses tones and characters is WAY harder. Last year, I decided that I wanted to learn how to speak Mandarin. I started watching Chinese dramas, and after some digging found that a lot of the translations are not exactly correct. So, I made up my mind that I would give it a go. While I knew it would be difficult, and challenging, it’s still a lot harder than what I originally expected.

Once I made up my mind that I wanted to try learning Mandarin I started to read a bit more about the people and culture. And while I’m not educated enough on either to speak on them, I did find several things to be fascinating. Their family units, customs, and traditions. And not just those of the Chinese people, but several other Asian countries as well. When my mom asked me why I picked Mandarin, I told her it started over some silly dramas, but I’ve learned it’s the second most spoken language. It’s also a very popular language within the business world. Did you know that there are “slightly more than 1.1 billion Mandarin Chinese speakers” worldwide as of 2023? So, my interest in Mandarin has increased substantially.

So far, I’ve just been using Duolingo. Most days I do about 3 minutes, and some days I’ll do 3 to 4 lessons. Yes, I’m aware I should practice more. However, I keep repeating a lot of the lessons. Repetition is key for me or I won’t retain anything. This is why I’m still in Section 1, though I have moved on to Unit 3, Lesson 5. Still, I keep going back and reviewing previous units. I plan to start treating these lessons like I did my college courses by dedicating about 30 - 45 minutes twice a week. My goal is to be done with Section 1 by the end of February. This means I need to start knocking some of these out in the next few weeks. Eeks!

Now, Duolingo is a decent app. When I watch these Chinese dramas I can recognize some of the words I've learned. I’m pretty proud of that! But in my opinion, Duolingo shouldn’t be your only source of learning. I feel it’s more of a helpful tool that you can pair with other sources like an actual class or tutor. In my situation, I feel like I need to practice having conversations and getting feedback or help with pronunciation. I want to feel confident when speaking, and right now, Duolingo can’t provide that. This is why I’m looking into taking a class or paying for an online tutor this summer. Finances allowing. I do have a friend who speaks Mandarin who has offered to help me but she’s a professor and has a lot on her plate during the semesters. And since I’m a big fan of work/life balance, I don’t want to bother her with more work.

 

For now, I plan to keep chipping away at the app. It’s not super difficult to make the time for it, and I get reminders every day. Thankful for those “streak freezes” that allow me to skip from time to time. Now, even though this has been difficult, it’s also been pretty fun. It’s such an interesting feeling to be watching a show or video clip, and hearing, “shénme” (什么) or “nǐ jiào shénme míngzì” (你叫什么名字) or “shuǐ” (水) and being able to understand what is being said or at least recognize words from the lessons. That said, my next goal is to start piecing sentences together on my own by the beginning of summer. Wish me luck! Until the next post, zàijiàn. ✌