No matter how many times I have thought up brilliant new years resolutions it is quite often the case that they are discarded and forgotten before the year is out. It would also be great if I had an ongoing ‘check-off’ list to get any idea of progress and likelihood of completion. However, I am now getting the sense that in order to achieve this I need to bring in a few of my day job skills. To take a web project managers approach to accomplishing the resolutions would be to of course define the requirements of each resolution, establish the criteria for completion and put a time estimate and a budget against each one. I think I am missing work too much after a week off. I am going to try and define each of the my resolutions below and see if I can keep track of their progress and see how much has changed by the end of the year.
Run a half marathon.
This was already in the pipe-line at the end of last year when I got bullied, cajoled and enlisted by my so-called friends who are experienced runners with a sado-masochistic streak. I am entered to run the Brighton half marathon on Feb 22nd. I started to run in the evenings after work in October last year and after a couple of weeks of wheezing around the back streets I felt fitter and started to run further and further. Then the snow, ice and -8 C temperatures hit Surrey and I hung up my Nike Air’s for the rest of the year. I hope it will not take too longer to burn off the Christmas excesses and get back to speed.
Success – can be clearly defined as completing the 13 mile course on the 22nd Feb, ideally in a respectable 3 hour time. But completion even on hands and knees will be acceptable.
Time Frame – the deadline 22nd Feb is not movable
Budget – Apart from the £25 entry fee and a bottle of power-ade I am good to go.