Half Crazy & Bullet Journaling

So I had made this deal with myself that I wouldn’t really train for a race this fall because I’m getting married.

And mind you, I’m not one of those crazy bridezilla types (or at least I don’t think I am) but I was simply taking in what all of my friends who are married told me: planning a wedding could be a job in and of itself.

They were so right.

We’re not planning on a having a large wedding (fewer than 100 people) and yet there are so many decisions that have to be made – from table linens to first dances.

BUT I cannot help myself – I signed up for the Richmond Half Marathon. It’s the course where I set my half marathon PR back in 2013, and I would like to bust through that PR again.

There are, of course, challenges. I’ll be working nights for the foreseeable future (read: till the end of the year). That has taken a toll on my training in the past.

I’ll be getting married – and going on a mini-moon after our wedding.

But for the most part, I am doing my best to build a nice base right now. My mileage is in the mid-30s and hoping to get it into the 40s for a majority of my training period. I ran my best half when I ran a lot of 13 mile runs. It made such a difference when I was used to that distance.

I’ve been doing a bit of fun stuff too – I’ve plotted out some sewing projects and I’ve got a knitting project going, and another queued up. I’ve found that crafting and reading have been tremendous stress relievers for me when I start to feel overwhelmed.

I’ve been keeping organized with my bullet journal. I’m not sure I’ve talked about bullet journaling on the blog before, but I’ve found it to be incredibly helpful in keeping myself organized. If you do any sort of search for “bullet journaling” (or BuJo) you will go down an amazing rabbit hole. And, as someone who is already inclined to collect office supplies, finding ways to keep myself organized and on track has been fun.

One of the things I love about the bullet journal is that it is yours to customize. If something isn’t working for you – you can change it up. This is something I always struggled with in my previous planners/calendars. I was stuck with the format of the calendar for a whole year. Here’s a peek at my spread this week – you’ll see a lot of running related stuff on there. I started using this “rolling week” where one half of one page is dedicated to a weekly layout- that way you can see your entire week in one glance. 

I’ve been in the practice of continually tracking some habits that I’m trying to form (taking my daily multi-vitamin, probiotic, keeping up with my allergy meds) and I’ve been using a habit tracker for that. I know it looks tedious, but it totally works for me.

I also use my bullet journal to jot down notes and to curate lists. I’ve got lots of lists for the wedding – of who needs to be paid and when. I also have lists for books to read, recipes to try, goals for the year, and strength training routines.

It’s become more of an indispensible tool when I am working nights. I tend to be quite forgetful, so  you’ll see that I even jot down simple things – like what I am planning to eat for dinner. It’s one less thing I will have to think about when my mind is super tired.

What do you use to help keep yourself organized? 

Have you ever tried bullet journaling? 

 

 

 

 

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