April Review of Outdoor Goals | Califf Life Creations

What can I say about April? Is it hard to believe that it is already over since it hardly feels like it even began! We have been home, as has everyone. Tensions are high, kids have cabin fever, and we are just holding on. I had a very hard time hitting my goals this month and have been forced to re-evaluate one.

April started well. It was my husband’s birthday and we were all having fun together as a family. Then we had a long time with a lot of rain and wind that drove us inside and things got a little tougher. By the end of the month though, we started having nicer days again and things are looking up again!

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In case you need a reminder of my goals:

Spend an average of 1 hour/day outside with my kids. Setting this as a daily goal motivates me to make an effort every day instead of getting behind and then trying to play catch up. I’m hoping that we will surpass this goal, but for now, I am keeping this as an attainable goal. Plus, I made the goal in the winter and my youngest does NOT enjoy the cold.
Hike/walk the year in miles. That is 2,020 miles during the year, an average of 55 miles/day. I am recording my miles every day to keep track of this.
52 trails in 52 weeks. The trails are very crowded right now and in light of the situation in the world, I wasn’t very motivated to hike. I knew that I would need to change my goal to 52 HIKES in 52 weeks. Now, I’m excited about hiking again and started doing more of it again at the end of the month which you would have seen if you follow me on Instagram!

These outdoor goals are helping me on my journey trying to achieve better mental health after postpartum depression and better physical health. I feel so much better when I am on track so I continue to pursue them. Are you ready to crush some goals?

Goal #1: 1/hour outside every day

There was a lot of cold, rain and wind this month, again. This kept us inside more days than in previous months. It is just miserable to be outside in that kind of weather. The day after that can provide a lot of great fun though. We had a lot of dirt play and jumping in puddles this month.

We also drew with chalk a lot, went on walks in town as a family, played with sticks in multiple ways (from Ninja Turtles to wizard sticks and giant forts in the woods), and had an Easter egg hunt in the yard! There are some nice days now and so we have had a few days that we have been able to spend almost entirely outside.

Total time outside for the month: 57 hours 45 minutes

Daily Average for the month: 1 hour 55 minutes

Total time outside for the year: 227 hours 25 minutes

Daily Average for the year: 1 hour 53 minutes

Goal #2: Hike/walk 2,020 miles.

While I can run more and more, I also was hit with allergies pretty hard this month. That resulted in several days that I did not hit 5.5 miles. There was one day I had a migraine and I didn’t even walk a mile. I’m pretty sure I just walked downstairs, laid on the couch, and then walked back upstairs to go to bed!

That being said, I surprised myself when I added my mileage together for the month and found out my average. I thought it was going to be lower so I am proud of myself and can’t wait to see what I’ll accomplish next month.

Daily Average for month: 5.5 miles

Total Miles Walked this month: 168.5

Total Miles Walked in the year: 705/2020

Goal #3: 52 Hikes in 52 Weeks

As I mentioned before, I had to change this goal during the month of April. So many of the trails I wanted to hike have been crowded. I also, honestly, don’t want to travel far from home right now. Once I decided to only count the number of hikes, I instantly felt better and was motivated again to get out and hike. We walked up a road that is closed in the winter near where we live several times, but I didn’t count those as hikes, even if the views are beautiful!

Hiking out our Backyard

One day, we decided to just head out from our yard and see how high we could all climb the mountain we live on. So our 19-month-old, 27 lb toddler got strapped into our hiking backpack, our 4-year-old put on some boots and we headed out. I don’t think we went that far before the kids wanted to call it quits. It was a fairly steep incline where we climbed so I didn’t blame my big guy for getting tired legs! This was a great reminder that even short hikes that are enjoyable as long as we do them together.

Trail Run

I have been enjoying running around town and recently discovered an area that I could go on a nice trail run. Since I had already run over 2 miles meandering to this spot and was about another mile from home, I didn’t have much energy to run long on the trail. I loved it so much though and plan to take a more direct route next time so that I can run more than the mile I explored this month.

Hudson Highlands Nature Museum Wildlife Center

Near the Nature Museum’s Wildlife Center are some really fun trails. My oldest son loved hiking there as he remembered his class walking along the water and standing on the bridges. Our first attempt to make it to the top, we ended up getting caught in a light hail storm while exploring a little waterfall (the same one I hiked to in January) and had to hustle back to the car before it got any worse.

We returned with sunny weather a couple of days later and made it to the scenic benches at the top. It was a wonderful way to spend that day and we ended up spending over 6 hours outside between the hike and our yard. That was our longest day outside in April.

Total Hikes this month: 4

Progress Toward Goal: 15/52

Mental and Physical Health Check-In

My husband wanted to try yoga so we decided to start doing it together during April, after the kids are in bed. We are nowhere near consistent with it yet, but I have high hopes for us to continue! If anything, having him want to do it with me is helping me return to working out more. I get beginning sessions in with him and it is making me hungry for more.

I am feeling more motivated again and have started short strength training and HIIT sessions again too. My goal is to get back to doing at least one of the three types of workouts each day to help boost my energy and my mood! April shaped up to be an alright month after all.

Don’t Forget Mental Health

I’m working hard to preserve my mental health and not to lose all the progress that I had made before the world was turned upside down. One way I am doing this is to commit to using my planner more to be organized. I am color-coding it by day now and using it not just as a planner but as a journal as well. Looking back at it helps me to remember things and feel more accomplished as I can see how much I have done.

In my planner, I also have my meal plans for the week, my tracking for these outdoor goals, and a spot to write about goals as well as gratitude. I’ll admit, I’m hooked! I did not think that having things written out in front of me would make such a difference, but it does, as do these monthly reviews. This is when I get to see how well I am doing, even if I haven’t been feeling like it.

That was my outdoor goals review of April. I hope that some of what we have done to inspire you to get outside. For more, check out my Instagram or Facebook pages.

January Goal Review

February Goal Review

March Goal Review

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