40 steps to 40: Eleven months update

Did you know that I turned 40? Yep. It happened. Quietly and uneventfully. I didn't have a party or invited guests, but my colleagues bought me a cake and sang Happy Birthday to me in three languages.

Hubbs also made me cake (twice!), a non-dairy Far aux Pruneaux (which I devoured with orgasmic pleasure) and bought me a gift which I had been coveting for years (an iPad Mini). So, maybe there wasn't so much Bang! about this birthday, but I lived to tell the tale. I consider Goal #40 complete! Remember, I make them rules. Just like I decided to continue with those goals until the end of the year, because.

To recap, I have the newly completed goals below:

1. Finish Ironman Mt. Tremblant
DONE! You can read the whole saga about the swim, bike and run by following the links.

2. Clean up my diet
To further update you on this, I had an official allergy test done and I AM allergic to milk after all. All types of milk, but my body gets more or less rebellious whether it's cow, goat or sheep. I was told to avoid them all. I am now supposed to carry an EpiPen with me at all times. Yikes. Not fun. My oldest son is also allergic, so misery keeps company... at least I have one more reason to stay put and not go YOLO on my body whenever I feel like it. I have to be a perfect example of discipline. Truth is, whenever I have dairy, it feels like my insides are about to explode and I am super miserable and regret putting myself through this punishment. I am still a work in progress from this point of view, but man, it's hard... there is milk EVERYWHERE.

12. Go skinny dipping
Vacation, cottage, private access to lake, warm water, need to say more? DONE!

15. Bike the Caledon Trailway
DONE! Initially the plan was to ride about 80km on it, but I didn't get the chance until Zin asked me to ride beside him and carry his nutrition for the longest run before his next half marathon. I rode 24km at 13kph. A glorious fall day with ALL THE COLORS on the trailway - I say it counts!!

16. Climb a mountain

DONE! Mt. Tremblant, on the Thursday following the race. I may write a separate post for it because I have too many pictures to share. It was amazeballs. Quick look at Strava:

17. Volunteer at a race

DONE! (again) I volunteered at Ironman Muskoka 70.3 (again) and I had a blast putting medals around the finishers' necks, which deserves a separate post as well. These are piling up already... just like my Ironman bracelets (I did end up removing those on my birthday).

26. Go on a date night x 4

1 done, 3 to go!! We saw "Gone Girl" and I had absolutely NO clue what the movie was about and I think it was even better this way. I loved it, really well done!

24. Spend a whole day at the movies

Yeah, speaking of movies... I am too old for this shit. Two max, and I'm done. I will replace this goal with another one that is more adequate for my age.

27. Make something with my cork collection

DONE! I saw this at the cottage that we rented in Mt. Tremblant. Here, on the mantel... it looks artsy, right? (you may have to squint to see it)

And this is my version:

I tried getting drunk, but it didn't work. We need more wine.

30. Try paddle boarding

I said I would try this, but then another opportunity arose... and I decided to scratch this goal for... Riding a horse!

And that's it for the goals on the list. However, I am going to add to it a few more "fun" things that I managed to fit in and that I could not have anticipated when I made the list. 

I went to see a hockey game live (my first ever!) with hubbs and the boys. It was a great game that finished with shoot-outs and, cherry on the cake, the Leafs won!!

I went to New York with my mom for her birthday and we saw A LOT of tennis! Federer, Tsonga, Bouchard, Dimitrov, Sharapova, Robredo, Lisiki, Kyrgios and many more. Spent three days at the US Open and walking around Manhattan and ... more in another blog post (am I shooting myself in the foot here??)

I also saw (and took a picture with) Naked Cowboy. Because New York, yo!

Last but not least, my boobies got a squeeshy hug today from a machine that takes pictures and makes funny whirring sounds. Yep, once you're 40, you get to have Mammograms. Have you booked yours yet?

And that's enough fun for this post. It's making me depressed knowing that I only have 3 days left of vacation before the end of the year. Who's got more cake? I'm all out!

40 steps to 40: Nine months update

The last update I did on my personal list of goals for this year (called "40 steps to 40") was at three months because I forgot to write one at one month, and also at 2 months. You'd think that I'd remember to write one at 6 months at least? Well, nope. It's been now 9 months!! But better late than never...

1. Finish Ironman Mt. Tremblant.
10 days!!! Enough said. Fingers, toes, eyes and hairs crossed.

2. Clean up my diet
I'm doing my best. I am still eating grains and carbs and sugar, but in lesser quantities. I no longer try to limit these to the morning like I attempted for a month. I eat everything in moderation, and I still stay away from fast food and everything that is deemed unhealthy because of the usual crap that it contains (chemicals, colors, additives, HFCS etc). My carbs to vegetable ratio is still very bad (veggies every other day if I'm lucky), and I know that this is the reason that I have not been losing weight.

Baskin & Robbins "Rainbow Sherbet" kiddie scoop. One of the few treats that I can still eat.

I also found that I'm allergic to cow milk and derived dairy, but only the North American kind. I can eat French and Swiss cheese all day! (looks like everything makes me feel like death, regardless of the country of origin). It is not lactose intolerance in the sense that I cannot digest it, but 90% of my asthma seems to come from this type of dairy, that I was eating/drinking with every meal as butter, cream, milk in my coffee, yoghurt, cheese, iced cappucinos, whey protein in my energy bars and salty balls, pizza, bakery goods made with butter etc. I realized that I was triggering my asthma and thus making it worse constantly. I since eliminated most sources of dairy and my asthma has completely disappeared (when in absence of other triggers like perfume, cold AC air or exercise). I used to need my puffer twice a day, but in the last month I've only had to use it once, and it was at the end of a race.

I consider this to be a bigger win than "cleaning" my diet overall. What does that mean anyway? It's not like I am eating garbage. I think I may be ready to striking this one as done. I made significant changes that led to an improved health and less need for medication. Big Yay!

3. Lose weight to reach 125lb
What a joke. Why on Earth am I so attached to this number? I don't know...It's a nice number. I love this number. Is it realistic for me? Maybe not while I train for an Ironman. I wrongly assumed that I would shed all this weight due to the amount of training that I would put in, but not only my training hours did not pile up like I feared (my biggest week was 16h), but it seems that I may have replaced some fat with muscle as well. I wear the exact same clothes as last year when I was 8 pounds lighter and they still fit the same. I feel healthy. Yes, I do have chubby arms and some fat spilling out of my spandex tights and tri kit, but I can look at myself in pictures and not hate what I see. Do I want to be stronger and more toned? To have a 6 pack? Muscle definition on my legs and back? Sure I do, but I'm soon to be 40 and I've only been doing this sport for 3 years. I may get there eventually, or not... it all depends on my level of commitment to strength training (which I hate with a vengeance). But given all my injuries this year, I think that something MUST be done to strengthen some parts of my body (glutes, hamstrings, core) that are obviously not cooperating.

We'll see what happens after the Ironman. Until then, I leave you with my weight and fat mass as measured over the past year. Numbers at the top left are from today. I don't understand Withings' "normal" range by the way.

4. Run a 5k race under 25min - DONE! (as part of the 10K race. It counts because I make the rules!)
5. Run a 10k race under 52min - DONE!

6. Run a half marathon race - DONE!

7. Complete a duathlon - DONE!

8. Complete a 70.3 triathlon - DONE!

10. Swim 4x50m medley non stop - I feel that I'm going to do this after the Ironman when all I'll be able to do is swim. Ha!
11. Swim with fins in open water for fun - DONE! It was NOT fun.

13. Bike to Niagara Falls and back - DONE! (from the other B-town, Burlington) It was A LOT of fun!

14. Bike to Blue Mountain and back - hubby has this one planned for after the Ironman. I'm thinking birthday ride, maybe?

15. Bike the Caledon Trailway - I wanted to do this with my boys... They need new bikes first. Hmm. That's a pickle.

16. Climb a mountain - Mt Tremblant, here I come!!!
17. Volunteer at a race - DONE! I volunteered with the office folks at the Race for the Kids and I will also volunteer at Muskoka 70.3 in September.

19. Read 5 books - still stuck reading Cmdr. Chris Hadfield's book. I will bring books on vacation, I hope to finish at least this one!

21. Find 100 new geocaches - I plan to find a good number of them on vacation. It's my only hope. I miss geocaching so much!!

30. Try paddle boarding - I've scoped out 2 locations, I just need to set aside the time. This will happen!

32. Express gratitude for at least 40 days - *sigh* that is all. I am so grateful.... ALL THE TIME. Writing it down though...  I think I'm still at 10 or so.

Everything else is either not on my radar yet, has been postponed or has been completed. Will do a complete tally after my birthday I guess... Let's see how many I can strike until then. I am not holding my breath on completing them all though. But it's fun to have something to look forward to!!

2014 Toronto Yonge St. 10K Race Report

Since I started training for the Ironman, my desire of running road races had to be curbed. After all, I am coming off a hip injury and I have to be careful. I have heard this from my coach countless times. When this race finally showed up in my calendar, he said that I can run it, but not race it. But... but... HOW am I going to put on the brakes on Yonge St.? With a few bumps here and there, it is a net downhill. Trust me, I've set my previous PR there 2 years ago. And, what about my "40 steps to 40" goals? I wanted to improve my 10K and 5K times this year. Will I even be able to run again after the Ironman? I may just DIE there!! Anyway, you can imagine all the scenarios playing in my head over and over again.

However, one thing for sure, I was calm. I went to pick up my race kit on Saturday and spent a total of 3 min at the expo since we were late for spectating a soccer game. I literally ran through the venue and didn't think too much about next day. When I went to bed that night I had yet to decide what to do. Woke up at 6am, and surprise surprise, I still had no clue. Seriously, the only strategy I had was to "put a foot in front of the other, don't step in a pothole or roll your ankle on the tram tracks, breathe, drink if you're thirsty, enjoy the sunshine and most important, stay alive". Also, not looking at the damn Garmin. That could only bring headaches with all the GPS bounce around.

The other "problem" was that I had to do 17km since it was a long run day, and no race was supposed to interfere with the schedule. I decided to run 3km before the race as a warm up and 4km after, then hop on the subway and go back to my car, then drive home.

I parked my car near the starting line, then went on a mission to find my friend Carol and the washrooms. It was still early, so I got to the port-a-potties first. No lineup, yay! No paper either, so I had to switch stalls because I needed to do both 1&2. Thankfully I noticed soon enough. Found Carol too, then we started our little run. Went back to the car and dropped my hoodie, took a sip of Gatorade and off I went on my own to continue warming up the legs, tired after the 3h30 trainer ride that I had done the day before. Of course legs felt like crap. By the time the warmup ended, I was convinced that I was going to suffer during the race and I should just take it easy. Rejoined Carol at the starting line, just behind the 50min pacer.

We must have stayed there about 10 minutes, then the gun went off and I lost Carol instantly. She wanted to finish under 50min, which meant running ahead of the 50min pacer. I was left to my own devices once more. And so I started running rather conservatively, but letting the gravity do its thing, carefully keeping my exertion levels in check. No puffing, no huffing. Stay relaxed. No peeking at the watch!! Then, I don't know what happened, but I noticed that I was catching up with the 50min pacer. I was telling myself that he knew how to put the brakes on the hills, and I was failing miserably at it. But I was feeling good, so why not? It was all part of the plan, to let the legs do their thing.

Then I saw a guy with a pink sign that said "Forget calm, run like hell". And it must have planted a little seed of doubt in my abilities to really stay calm. Shortly thereafter I ended passing the 50min pacer and my competitive spirit kicked in. I also noticed Carol about 100m in front of me. I had no plans to catch her at that moment, I was still a bit puzzled by the situation with the pacer. Should I stay or should I go? I wondered if I could stay ahead of him for a while... But then I noticed that I was also catching up with Carol. Uh oh. Was she slowing down? I told her she's not allowed to! With 2.5km to go I managed to get close enough to her to give her a slap on the butt and I said "told you not to let me catch you!" And she sped away from me. Attagirl!! I continued chasing her ponytail and before I knew it, I was over the Bathurst bridge and on the last stretch towards the finish line.

I wanted to finish strong, and of course, ahead of the 50min pacer. I did not let him catch me either and crossed the finish line in 49:03. I could not be happier that I beat both my 10K and 5K PRs, just as I wanted. Based on the official time set on this same course 2 years ago, I improved my 10K PR by 4min 47sec, and I even did a negative split. My fastest 5K is now 24:10. Two more items crossed off the list!! Wooohooo!

At the finish area I grabbed a banana, my medal, said goodbye to Carol and off I went again. I still had 4km to run, which I did along the Lakeshore and back to Yonge St. Hopped in the subway, but not before a little old lady asked me if I won the race and I had to explain to her how I did this "just for fun" and that there were people much faster than me out there.

I'm pretty sure that my legs didn't agree with my definition of "fun" for that day, but eventually they stopped pouting and I could go back to my regular training schedule, all without a single Advil.

For not "racing" that day, I definitely blew it. But sometimes, you just have to follow your heart. I ran completely by feel, did not look once at my watch and I ended being pleasantly surprised. Of course, this would be quite irresponsible to do on longer distances, but since I've met all my time goals for this year, it should be much easier to keep myself in check from now on. That's all, folks!

40 Steps to 40: Three Months Update

I wanted to do an update after the first month, then the second, but they never happened due to brain failure. I simply forgot and then it was no longer the right time because I'm perfectionist like that. Even now, you have no idea how I am beating myself up for not having published this on February 10. I'm 4 days late, unacceptable!! Oh well, I'll just blame it on my dying neurons.

If you are not familiar with my "40 Steps to 40", take a look on the right... scroll down until you see the list. This is it. It all started with this post because why not? I crossed a few things off the list already and blogged about them. To recap, this is what I've been working on, or at least I think I will, soon:

2. Clean up my diet

Yeah, right. The "no carbs after lunch" regimen lasted for a month. Then I injured my hip (cue in emotional eating), my mom came over for the holidays, we all let loose during the end year celebrations and to make matters worse, we received a huge amount of chocolates as gifts... and we're still trying to finish them as I speak. Rocher anyone?

The best chocolate candy in the world, period.

However, I bought 2 new cooking books: Racing Weight Cookbook and Feed Zone Portables and I am trying to learn new recipes and introduce them into our diet progressively. Everything in moderation is the key. And maybe one day I'll finish those chocolates and declare myself sweets-free for another month or so... I just need to blissfully ignore Valentine's Day and then I should be good until Halloween.

3. Lose weight to reach 125lb
Which weight, this weight?

This is what injured/not training and the Holidays did to me. I own every single bite I put in my mouth and pound on that scale. For reference, my lowest weight - on race day - 131.5. Today 140.5. But I look at that last little hump and tell myself that I'm finally over it. It can only go down from there, literally!! I am closing on week 4 of Ironman training, there are 26 to go. Who knows what will be my weight on race day this year?

9. Swim 1000m with flip turns*
Done with a pull buoy. Will attempt again without a pull buoy when I feel a bit more comfortable with all the tumbling. Will keep working at them even though I still don't believe they are a necessary evil. But I bet my coach will be pleased.

10. Swim 4x50m medley non stop
Not there yet. I threw in a length of fly or backstroke whenever I felt courageous/bored, but I haven't worked on endurance yet. Especially for fly, I can do one length, but I'm not sure I can do two one after another. I already feel like death after the first. Is Zombie level next?

19. Read 5 books
One done, four to go. I started with the easiest one, it had lots of drawings. If you never read Allie Brosh's blog Hyperbole and a Half, you have to. Just trust me. She doesn't write very often these days, but I loved reading her book, which contains most of her blog content and more. Next is An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Cmdr. Chris Hadfield. It promises to be a page turner for sure.

20. Dye my hair at home
Done. I don't need to redo it yet, but I went as far as trying to buy a new box, but it was all sold out. Everyone likes my color!

21. Find 100 new geocaches
I thought about going out many times, but with the cold and so much snow covering the ground, I am not ready to freeze for DNF after DNF (Did Not Find).

22. Make a jar of something
I know what I want to make a jar of! I just need to buy the ingredients and arm myself with enough courage to cook them.

23. Make 12 new dishes
I made 8 new dishes so far! I will reveal the full list once I've made all 12. Almost there. With the new cookbooks, it should be easy.

25. Do something fun on New Year's Eve
Not quite my definition of "fun", but it was "different". We played Guitar Hero and drank champagne. Happy New Year everyone! Too late?

26. Go on a date night x 4
Ummmm.... 0 for 4 so far. Come'on, hubbs, we can do better than this! Biking side by side watching True Detective or the Olympics does NOT count.

27. Make something with my cork collection
I took the corks out of the box, but then I realized that I didn't have enough corks to make what I wanted. I counted 81 wine corks and 17 corks of champagne/bubbly in 13 years of boozing at home. Bottom line, we need to drink more. A lot more. At least I took a photo. It may not count as art, but it's the best I have so far.

29. Use my 10 classes Yoga pass
I went to two classes, I gave it my best, then I busted my hip. Many people believe that it was because of Yoga. I didn't shred the pass to pieces, even though I wanted to. I may use it for more "gentle" yoga classes. Do they have anything for pregnant ladies or seniors who had their hips replaced? Not that I'm pregnant or something... Don't get any ideas. But you get the idea.

32. Express gratitude for at least 40 days
I did it for 10 days, all in my written journal. I could have definitely done more, and I could have finished by now because there is plenty to be grateful for, but I didn't take the time to write. My bad. Maybe I'll get to 20 or 30 by the next update.

33. Host a party/BBQ with friends at home
We are organizing a run-and-brunch at my place this coming Sunday. This counts!! I will make sure to post pictures of the food spread and the courageous folks who will be braving -10C to get their run in and socialize with strangers.

37. Try a new food
Give me ideas!!

That's it, next one in three months. ;-) Or maybe I should aim for next month and the one after.... and forget again.

The countdown has begun

Today is January 18 and in exactly 30 weeks (and a sleepless night) I will be shivering with anxiety at the swim start of Ironman Mont Tremblant. It is time to start the countdown. 30 weeks of training and a life altering experience to complete it. This week I continued the re-building of my fitness and even though my coach and I agreed that I won't get the official IM training plan until I'm able to train 10h/week again, I am slowly but surely ramping up and adding minutes, miles and strokes to each of my workouts.

I also added more flip turns (to my swims, that is)! Which led to this.

On Monday, I decided to run. My first run this year, so I took advantage of my gym membership at work and I hit the treadmill. I also had a physio session in the evening where I had to do countless butt squeezes, bridges and clam shells, and by 9pm I was craving an ice bath. But not that cold because I'm a wimp these days.

When hubbs told me that the pool was colder than usual that day I knew that I had to go. If I kept moving, I was most certainly not going to feel it in my bones. And so I went. I did 2x100m to warm up, then put on the pull buoy and continued bouncing between the walls. I was doing every length with a flip turn and after a while all that tumbling made me forget completely where I was in my set. I had planned to do 500m, but I was feeling "in the zone" and told myself that I should try and see how long I can keep doing the flip turns. My watch counts the laps and eventually, while I was coming out for air after one of the flips, I looked at it. I had swum 800m non stop and I said, why not go for 1000m and strike one more goal off my "40 steps to 40" list? After all, I never mentioned NOT using a pull buoy. When I don't kick when I swim in a wetsuit, it's still called swimming. Everyone does it. So there, this IS legit swimming, dammit. Plus, I go faster without a kick, so most likely I'll be doing the same "in the field".

Here is the data geekery (the last 100m are buggy because Garmin lost me. Time is correct, but not the length). You can clearly see the 1000m block, the warmup and the cooldown. You'll just have to trust me that I did every single length of this workout with a flip turn. Because I did and I am stupid proud of it!! I promise to provide video evidence of my flipping prowess before the judges change their mind.

Since Monday I also did 2 bike workouts and I even threw in some intervals, more and more intense to remind myself that I can sweat. I managed to get to 1h on the bike with 2 blocks of 20 min spinfest at 95rpm. These felt like the kind of workouts I was doing last year, so not all fitness is lost, phew. 

And today I ran again. Two in a week, wheee! I went to the indoor track for the first time ever since I promised Meg Menzies that I'd run for her. She's no longer among us, but all the #megsmiles logged today will remain in many people's memory, including her family's. We just can't help it, we are family too. She was one of us. What else can we do?

I ran with abandon. I got lost in my thoughts, I did not feel pain, but my heart was aching in more than one way. That I gave it all is an understatement. I did not go to the track to race, but somehow I ran faster than I imagined. I didn't feel tired, so I have no idea where this energy came from. Sometimes there are things that you cannot explain. 

About half way I could still not understand if the numbers I was seeing were real. I started hitting the lap button because I wanted to make sense of what was happening, if not during the run, but maybe after. Now that I know the distance of each lap, exactly 120m, I counted that I must have run 49 laps in 30 minutes. Here are the last 28 of them.

What will happen tomorrow, next week... we'll see. I hope my coach won't read this blog post or he'll lock me in my Pain Cave until I can control my enthusiasm. Until then, I'm enjoying the free benefits of my drug of choice: beautiful, blissful endorphins. Oh how I missed you!!

Anyway, Week 30 starts tomorrow!! Oh wait... do I count up or down? What would you do to keep track of this madness?

Workout of the Day: Dying my hair at home

This is my first official update for the "40 steps to 40" project since I finally managed to cross off the list a goal: dying my hair at home. A workout of sorts, hence its own blog post.

First, I looked through my cabinet under the sink for the hair color box, which I must have bought sometime last year. In the process, I had to take out a large amount of items that were stored there, then put them back. Three minutes of lifting weights of 100g to 250g each, plus some leg, back and arm stretches.

I then prepared the dye by mixing several smelly potions together, then shook the bottle vigorously for a minute. Maybe this wasn't as difficult as Shake Weight, but it definitely made my right arm work a little.

I then applied the dye all over my hair, holding both my arms up for a total of 5 minutes at least, massaging my scalp lightly. Not sure how many muscle groups were used there, but for sure some shoulder, back and chest muscles were put to test.

After finishing the coloring, I proceeded to lying down on my bed and checking several social media websites for a total of 25 minutes. While on my stomach, I also did my glute exercises prescribed by my PT: 2 x 10 leg raises, each leg, bent at the knee, as well as other random leg movements that I don't remember.

Back in the bathroom, I then washed my hair while kneeling down and crouching, for a total of 5 more minutes. More work for the glutes, and some core work for keeping myself balanced while on my knees. Add holding my arms up and massaging my scalp all this time, a total body workout!

Got up (that totally counted as a squat) and applied magic conditioner cream to my hair. 1 more minute with my arms up. 

Back to crouching by the shower to wash my hair again, about 1 minute. Up once more (squat, yay!), then drying my hair, moving my arms while holding the towel, weight about 300g-400g wet.

And this is the result.

Abracadabra, no more gray hair!

Who's hot now, eh?

Damn, this workout made me look fabulous! I was feeling so good afterwards, that I even went on my bike trainer for 15 minutes (for the first time since Nov 30), on the lowest gear and I didn't get any pain. And to end the day, I put on my winter coat and went outside to walk for 2km in the snow.

This may not help burn the 8lb that I put on since I stopped exercising, but it's a start. Merry Christmas to me! A pain free day was the best gift today!

Because I like making lists: 40 steps to 40

Did you know that in less than a year I'll be turning 40?

Yep, no matter what, 40 is happening. But how I get there, it's a different matter altogether. I want to turn 40 with a bang!! (I'll make sure to put that on the list by the way). Yes, I know that I've signed up for an Ironman, but I need some backup plans because shit can happen and then what?
Besides, if you dedicate your whole year to the Ironman and put on hold everyone and everything else, most likely you (that's me) will get alienated by the monotony of workouts and the constant focus on fitness. I think it is important for your psyche to keep a somewhat normal life around Ironman training because you never know when you're going to need to look back and say "this was not a complete waste of time". I've learned some lessons along the way...

I'm a big kid now

So I've made a list of 40 challenges, goals, stepping stones, whatever you want to call them, which should be enough to keep me busy in all situations. Half of them are fitness related because it just made it easier to fill up the list. The rest I got with help from friends, Pinterest and my bored mind. I want my 40s to be the best decade yet. Here we go. Deadline is September 18, 2014.

1. Finish Ironman Mt. Tremblant
2. Clean up my diet. I have a plan for that.
3. Lose weight to reach 125lb
4. Run a 5k race under 25min
5. Run a 10k race under 52min
6. Run a half marathon race
7. Complete a duathlon
8. Complete a 70.3 triathlon
9. Swim 1000m with flip turns
10. Swim 4x50m medley non stop
11. Swim with fins in open water for fun
12. Go skinny dipping
13. Bike to Niagara Falls and back
14. Bike to Blue Mountain and back
15. Bike the Caledon Trailway
16. Climb a mountain
17. Volunteer at a race
18. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
19. Read 5 books
20. Dye my hair at home
21. Find 100 new geocaches
22. Make a jar of something
23. Make 12 new dishes
24. Spend a whole day at the movies
25. Do something fun on New Year's Eve
26. Go on a date night x 4
27. Make something with my cork collection
28. Make a dreamcatcher
29. Use my 10 classes Yoga pass
30. Try paddle boarding
31. Learn how to roll sushi
32. Express gratitude for at least 40 days
33. Host a party/BBQ with friends at home
34. Ride the Leviathan rollercoaster
35. Ride the Behemoth with my younger son
36. Go fishing with my boys
37. Try a new food
38. Go to the reflexologist
39. Get a mani/pedi or a spa treatment
40. Turn 40 with a Bang!

This is a method to my madness. (I also put the list on the side so I can keep track more easily).
Everyone say hip hip hooray!