{"id":24226,"date":"2015-01-03T12:01:44","date_gmt":"2015-01-03T17:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=24226"},"modified":"2020-02-03T12:02:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T17:02:17","slug":"2015-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/2015-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"No Meat Athlete in 2015: What’s In Store"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy New Year! You might have noticed that at No Meat Athlete we pretty much ignore most holidays, but New Year\u2019s? Always worth a few<\/a> posts<\/a> and a podcast episode<\/a> or two<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fond of calling it my favorite holiday. Partly because nobody calls New Year\u2019s their favorite holiday, but mostly because I really do love it. Goals, possibilities, the feeling of a fresh start … for a self-improvement junkie, it’s even better than Black Friday (my second favorite holiday).<\/p>\n

I have more planned for 2015 than ever before with No Meat Athlete, including a full site redesign, new shirts and other clothing (plus a design contest for running group shirts), and more Vegfests than we’ve ever done.<\/p>\n

But that’s just the surface-level stuff … here’s what else is on tap for me and No Meat Athlete in 2015:<\/p>\n

1. More running, more writing.<\/h3>\n

On New Year\u2019s Eve I sent a newsletter email around about the new 31-day running-and-writing challenge that my sister (who writes the blog Better Novel Project<\/a>) and I started.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think of it as a resolution, as much as a jumpstart for both habits. There happen to be exactly 31 days in January, so it works, but there\u2019s nothing special about starting on January 1.<\/p>\n

In other words, even if you missed it at New Year\u2019s, I hope you\u2019ll still join us. You can just have your 31 days end in early February. In fact, I hope the project becomes something that people start throughout the year, whenever they need that little push to get on track.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not for everyone, I know, but if you\u2019re interested, read more about it here.<\/p>\n

2. Way more blog content<\/h3>\n

Although we\u2019ve picked up the podcast frequency, these days it feels like I\u2019m lucky if I manage one blog post per week.<\/p>\n

Frankly, that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an all-or-nothing type of guy, and when I\u2019m into running, I\u2019m into running. The other side of the coin is that it\u2019s not uncommon for me to go three months without thinking about it, or just going through the motions to stay in shape.<\/p>\n

Similar for diet and food. I\u2019m really happy with how I eat these days, how I make vegan work and the balance I’ve found between health and enjoying my food. Which leaves me without much to write about … if I\u2019m not actively discovering ways to do better, what\u2019s there to blog about?<\/p>\n

I want to be genuine. And the fact is I\u2019m not good at writing blog posts when I\u2019m not head-over-heels into whatever I\u2019m writing about. (Which explains the preponderance of personal development<\/a> content recently; I\u2019ve been on a major kick there.)<\/p>\n

My hope is that #writeandrun31 will help me feel excited about running again. And writing, too. (See why I\u2019m doing the challenge, now?) I saw this happen the last time I did a running streak<\/a> — it ultimately led to my 100-miler and a solid year of excitement about running.<\/p>\n

But to help with my dilemma, I\u2019ve applied a bit of additional accountability. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n

For almost six years since I started No Meat Athlete, I relentlessly turned away from opportunities to be an \u201cambassador\u201d for other brands. Ambassadorships — where a brand compensates the blogger with either money or product in exchange for blog posts that mention or review their products — have become extremely popular among health and fitness bloggers. I wanted to be different, to be an island, free to write about what I want, when I want.<\/p>\n

But with the \u201cwhen I want\u201d becoming so rare recently, this year I\u2019ve decided to say yes to two of them. And I\u2019m really excited about both:<\/p>\n