Outdoor Goals Review: February

Another month has passed and it’s time to check in on my outdoor goals. How much time have we spent playing outside? Have I been walking enough? What hikes did we do? February was a short month and is often a hard one since winter is still here but we are dreaming of spring. It was a complete roller coaster that took me from amazing highs to some difficult lows. This is my monthly goals check-in, reviewing the month of February.

The month started with a two-week vacation (half spent in Florida and the other half on a cruise) and ended with unemployment. I went from feeling confident and regaining happiness to feeling anxious and unsure of myself again. Through these outdoor goals though, I know that I can manage these feelings. We have made it through tough times like this before and I know we will make it through again.

In case you need a reminder of my outdoor 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. That is 1 new trail every week. I want to explore the world we live in and discover new areas and hidden gems. This is one of my most exciting goals and I’ll be sharing my hikes on Instagram as well as a round-up during these monthly check-ins.

These outdoor goals are helping me on my journey trying to achieve better mental health after postpartum depression and better physical health to complete my first Spartan Race in August. For more about these goals read my blog post about the evolution of my brand. Are you ready to crush some goals?

Outdoor Goals #1: 1/hour outside every day

We were helped in this month by spending 2 weeks in warmer weather. We traveled to Florida and then went on a cruise with our extended family. This made it a lot easier to spend time outside. There was a pool at the Airbnb that we stayed in while in Florida and we took full advantage of that. Plus, there was a lot to explore around the Bradenton/Sarasota area while we went looking for alligators and other wildlife.

Hanging out in the pool with my boys — Pool Time

My son and I on the observation tower at the Robinson Preserve

Total time outside for the month: 68.25 hours

Daily Average for the month: 2 hours 21 minutes

Total time outside for the year: 104.75 hours

Daily Average for the year: 1 hour 45 minutes

Outdoor Goals #2: Hike/walk 2,020 miles.

This wasn’t the easiest goal for me this month. Although I am very proud of the fact that my knee can handle short runs now (thanks to yoga), I still felt like I was struggling to meet the daily mileage that keeps me on track for 2,020 miles in the year.

While on vacation, I wasn’t thinking about this goal much. The funny thing is that it was easier to hit my daily goals then because we were out and about exploring and doing hikes. Even on the cruise ship, I hit 5.5 miles almost every day.

Once we got home, it was a little bit of a different story. I focused on work which meant I spent a lot of time sitting on the computer. This made it hard to also walk enough and I found myself either choosing to fall behind or marching in place to make it all up before my bedtime. While I managed to keep up with it, for the most part, I am hoping that I can do a little better next month with going for regular runs and not having to make it all up at the end of the day.

Daily Average for month: 5.6 miles

Total Miles Walked this month: 165 miles

Progress Toward Outdoor Goals: 350/2,020

Outdoor Goals #3: 52 Trails in 52 Weeks

We completed 5 hikes while on vacation that keeps us on track for hitting 52 trails in 52 weeks. 2 of the hikes were in Florida and the other 3 were part of our shore excursions while cruising with the kids (Costa Maya, Mexico, Belize, and Roatan). I had wanted to go for a hike when we got home, but a combination of exhaustion, cold weather, and illness kept us from getting out.

Robinson Preserve

This was our first Florida hike and was nice. We were with friends that live down there and this made for a perfect hike to be able to catch up and talk. The trail is really wide and easy to walk so the kids were free to explore and there was a great observation tower to climb for views of the area.

Myakka River State Park

The other hike we did in Florida was at Myakka River State Park. We hiked the river trail that allowed our son to find alligators, which is all he wanted while in Florida. There was also a short canopy walk that we did there but I didn’t include that as a separate trail since we took the short cut and didn’t do the full trail.

Click here for more about these two hikes and our time in Florida.

Chacchoben

The first hike we did while cruising was our shore excursion in Costa Maya, Mexico to Chacchoben. It was a short hike that circled the site. We could explore the Mayan ruins there and it was so much fun to share this with our kids and the rest of our family.

My 16 month old with Mayan ruins in the background

Lamanai

This Mayan archaeological site in Belize included a trail that was about a mile long. We saw 3 cool pyramids: the Jaguar Temple, High Temple, and the Masked Temple. This hike was only with our firstborn as we left our youngest with Grandma and Grandpa on the cruise ship.

Gumbalimba Preservation Park

Another great shore excursion hike that we did with the family was in Roatan, Honduras. It included a suspension bridge and a lot of wildlife. Highlights included seeing a ton of iguanas, a sloth, holding macaws and having monkeys jump all over us (our son’s favorite part).

My 1 year old and I with a monkey during shore excursions to Gumbalimba Park — My 1 year old and I with a monkey

For more about the last 3 hikes check out my write up of our shore excursions.

Total Hikes this month: 4

Progress Toward Outdoor Goals: 9/52

Mental and Physical Health Check-In

I had a couple of moments that made me feel very physically strong. The first was rock climbing on the cruise ship. I was very proud of myself and now I want to find somewhere I can do more rock climbing at home.

The other moment was doing monkey bars on an inflatable in the ocean at Cozumel. I didn’t make it to the end but came very close, which I thought was impressive since it was windy and wavy out so the float was moving all over the place.

Paradise Beach Cozumel inflatables in the water

Mentally, I felt great while on vacation. I was enjoying life and it felt so good. Coming home was rough though. My anxiety kicked back in and I felt that familiar feeling of postpartum depression trying to sneak back in. Shortly after getting home is when my husband was laid off from work. This created a whole new set of challenges for myself, my health, and my family.

When I had my annual O.B. appointment I finally decided to talk to a professional about my postpartum depression. They listened, understood, and recommended taking Zoloft. I haven’t decided if I’m going to take the medication (it depends on how much it costs), but I am happy that I took the first step and spoke to a doctor about my mental health.

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