Keep calm and carry on

Are New Year resolutions doomed to failure? Last year I resolved not to make any. So I didn't but then sort of broke that by sticking to the ones I hadn't made, if that makes sense.

You see I carried on running and continued losing weight and getting fitter. That sounds a whole lot like a resolution or two to me. So far (since I started recording my mileage) I've run just over 1,500 miles and I've lost three and a half stone over the past seven years. I have run two half marathons, a 10k and five 5k races. I now think nothing of running 10 miles on a Sunday morning.

So I'll continue on with those resolutions that I made years ago. There are others too. I resolved to write a novel and I have so far written the first draft of four. Perhaps this year I should resolve to finish one of them.

But should you make resolutions or set goals? Perhaps finishing a novel is a goal rather than a resolution, as is reaching my target weight (definitely achievable this year) and running a sub-two hour half marathon (possibly achievable one day).

Then there are the mundane things which really one should resolve to do like finishing the paths and the sitting area in the garden, clutter clearing and painting the house inside and out having first finished the work we're doing on the kitchen, bathroom and utility room.

Finally there are the dreamy ideas and the desirables like running off road in the hills, finding someone to run with (ahem), making my own clothes and handbags (with the piles of lovely material I've acquired over the years), doing more cycling (it's so much easier just to run rather than drag the bike out of the shed but I discovered this year how much I love cycling), continuing my walk on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path with Jo, perhaps trying a sprint triathlon, joining a running club... but I wouldn't kill off any of those ideas by making them obligatory by way of a resolution or goal.

In a nutshell I resolve to keep calm and carry on in 2011. That'll do.