12 in 2 list – a time and money plan!

Zorbing with OZBallsSource: http://www.ozball.com.au/Image_Gallery.aspx
Zorbing with OZBalls
Source: http://www.ozball.com.au/Image_Gallery.aspx

I’ve decided if I’m every going to get this list done, I need a plan – to save the money, but also to DO the things I’ve listed.  Two on going task (bible reading and half marathon running) are both currently in practice.  As for the other 10, I’ll list them in chronological order.  Sadly one goal has been deleted, but it’s for the best reason!

Activity list Proposed date

Cost

Dinner at Quay Jan 13
Knife skills course May 13

$89

Go on a silent retreat 3-14 July 13

??

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb Sept 13

$218 – $298

Do Bridge Run (half way to half) 22 Sept 13

$55

Go Jet Skiing Nov 13? Dec 13

$300/per hour

Learn to Surf Nov 13 – 3 days

$445

Dinner at Aria Jan 14

$420

Read the new testament Mar 14

$0

Run a half marathon May 14 or Sept 14

$120

Plan and prepay funeral Nov 14

$6000

Zorbing Jun 13

$110

+$105 in flights

$1997

You can see the grand total has omitted the funeral prepaying – it’s just such a large chunk… so I have to have $2k raised over 21 months, that’s only $95 a month.  I can surely find that!  I’ll now sling any ‘extra’ cash at the end of the week into an ‘adventures’ fund (remember, I put a set amount away every week towards my $20k goal to refinance my mortgage at the end of this year).  Here’s to getting fun stuff onto the agenda, but still meeting my savings targets!

Progress report: Run a half marathon

My planned 7km Bridge Run, as part of Sydney Running FestivalSource: http://www.sydneyrunningfestival.com.au/
My planned 7km Bridge Run, as part of Sydney Running Festival
Source: http://www.sydneyrunningfestival.com.au/

In my 12 in 2 list, I have some pretty ambitious goals – like running a half marathon.  Thankfully the idea of 12 in 2 is to achieve 12 different goals in two years, so the half marathon isn’t something that’s likely to happen soon, but I have to start somewhere, right? (I have an upcoming post about how I plan to get around to all my 12 in the 2 years, complete with a plan for the $).

I’ve always been a walker – I walk when it’s the easiest option.  Given I don’t have a car, that’s all the time!  But upping the ante to running? Well that’s another story!  So I discovered that Runkeeper has programs, so I signed up to a 5km program – that trains you slowly to get to up to running 5km.  Once I master that, I can start on a half marathon program.  I started looking at the half marathon programs, and they already expected I could run 5km, so… makes sense to start smaller!

I started small, but I’ve ‘ramped’ it up of late:

Week of 17 Feb – 1.5km

Week of 24 Deb – 2.4km

Week of 3 Mar – 10.3km

Week of 10 Mar – 13.8km

Week of 17 Mar – 19.7km (includes 100% walking (~4.4km) & run/walk combos)

Running progress - towards a half marathon
Running progress – towards a half marathon

Evidently, the first weeks were pretty lame.  My running partner was out of town for a funeral, so I made that an excuse not to do my workout every second day.  But, now I’ve mastered the Runkeeper ‘reminder’ system, and powered on alone.  Our first ‘team’ run is a 3.2km jog, which marks the 13th workout of 28.   Based on the training schedule I’ll be reading for a race on 19 April! I’ve found a 7km run in Sept which is over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, so I’ll do that – by that time I should easily be able to manage a 7km race.

Let me assure you, it’s not been easy.  My Saturday 3.2km run was HARD WORK (after a few drinks on Friday night).  But I persevered, and I was happy to be finished at 20 min 20 seconds!  It was hard, even though earlier in the week, I ran 3.85km in a set 25 minute run target.  Then on Monday, I was tasked with a 45 min walk/jog, and shocked myself with a number of personal bests – getting a distance of 6.1kms in 50 mins (that’s about 7.32kms/h – I ‘walk’ a bit faster on the treadmill, but that’s ‘easy’ in comparison to real life)!  However, back to a hard day on Wednesday, when I couldn’t for the life of me jog at a snail’s pace for the full 3.2kms outside in the real world – instead, there was a lot of walking (and therefore more kms achieved).  Interestingly, Runkeeper tracks elevation, and there’s some 40m ‘spikes’) so that might explain some of the difficulty.

So, I’m on track to get to 5km, a mini goal to getting to a half marathon.  Thanks to a blog, I feel somewhat accountable.  However,  just yesterday, I started getting twinges of shin splints.  So I’ll ice them, stretch more.  I’ll only do it every second day (and try to cut out incidental walking, esp in the WRONG shoes!).  Or I might just take things a little easier for the time being… tough call.

How do you find reaching your fitness targets?  What ambitious goals have you set yourself?

Bucket list

First time here? This list started in Feb 2013, and has been a work in progress since – adding items as often as completing items.

This was updated in Jan 2014, to include more details 🙂 I periodically update this, most recently late March 2016! Feb 2017, where I’d done 26 from 65 listed… though a good 10 or so were recently added.

Thanks to Danny Dover, I have a longer bucket list!  I won’t set a deadline though!  And the list isn’t in a priority order either.

Travel

1. Visit every continent (Completed: Australia, Asia, Europe, Middle East – need South America & Antarctica)
2. See Machu Picchu (to think my brother just did this Jan 2014!)
3. See Aurora Borealis (maybe in an igloo?)
4. Visit tulip fields in The Netherlands
5. Go to the super bowl
6. See Carnival in Rio de Janeiro (could do it with the bro in 2014, but alas, I realise I don’t love crowds and big parties, so maybe another time)
7. Go to Burning Man, Black Rock desert, Nevada USA
8. Go to (the original) Mardi Gras in New Orleans
9. Visit The Maldives
10. Visit Russia – see the St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, the Bronze horseman, the summer and winter palace  Aug 2016
11. Visit Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia/Romania – sail in Croatia, see where Romanian gymnasts train, visit Sarajevo, Split, Dubrovnik, Belgrade Aug 2016
12. Visit Mauritius
13. Visit Ethiopia – the birthplace of my cousin/god daughter
14. Visit Oradour-sur-Glane, France – a town annihilated by Germans by torching – May 2017
15. Spend Christmas or Thanksgiving in the US
16. Visit Vietnam/Cambodia Oct 2013
17. Visit Scandinavia (no more exact than that yet!) – likely Norway to see friends, definitely go to Iceland (2016 addition)
18. Fly FIRST class – maybe Emirates where I can shower?
19. Stay in Igloo Village – and see the Northern lights
20. Stay in a tree house
21. Live in NYC
22. Ride the bullet train in Japan Jul 2014
23. Visit San Francisco – see the Golden Gate Bridge Jan 2015

Activities (that aren’t location specific)

24. Go zorbing (all the blue things are on my 12 in 2 list!) Apr 2015
25. Get hypnotised (ideally to solve a bad habit!) done 2015/16
26. Ride a segway planned Aug 2016
27. Drive on a race track
28. Go on a ‘big boat’ style cruise (maybe in retirement)
29. Fly on a trapeze June 2015
30. Swim with dolphins in NATURE (not in Dubai…:s)
31. Watch a movie at a drive in (if they still exist!)
32. Go jet skiing  (on the 12 in 2 list) Dec 2013 and I saw dolphins
33. Get my palm read/fortune told
34. Make a gingerbread house Dec 2013
35. Get body painted for an event
36. Go cave diving <- went canyoning and walked in caves in March 2016
37. Be part of a flash mob (thanks Moonwave for the tip!)
38. Complete a half marathon  July 2014
39. Learn the name and location of all the countries in Africa
40. Own a cello for purely decorative purposes (though I do know how to play, as does my bf..)
41. Own a luxury European vehicle (BMW, Audi or Mercedes)
42. Write my will
43. Prepay and plan my funeral
44. Learn to surf Jan 2015 wouldn’t say I ‘learnt’ but ‘tried’
45. Build a bonfire and make S’mores
46. Pay for someone else’s groceries (I LOVE this one, thanks www.lifed.com) Jun 2013
47. Go to a silent retreat
48. Go white water rafting – real rapids, not the ones we built in Sydney for the Olympics
49. Join the MHC
50. Get married (before the children)
51. Have children (thinking 3, BF thinks 2, so compromise is 2 unless 2 the same gender, or twins)
52. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge June 2014

Newer items (Jan 2014)

52. Visit Portland, Oregon2015 go to the donut place, eat at places mentioned here, shop and eat here.
53. Go zipling2015 did it in Phuket
54. Go stand up paddle boarding
55. Pay off my mortgage
56. Fully fund my retirement
57. A home with a passionfruit vine, a frangipani tree, a magnolia grandiflora… and a vegie patch.
58. Reiki massage 2015

(April 2015)

59. Try kite surfing
60. Try a pilates reformer
61. Try barre body classes (ballet with yoga/exercise) Jan 2016
62. Zero Gravity yoga 2015
63. Go floating 2015
64. Hot stone massage 2015
65. Go gliding June 2016

Remember, not in any priority order 😉