life gets in the way

so last week was a bust in the exercise department. I was all set to get in my three days starting with Tuesday evening - until an emergency at work required my attention until well past 9 pm. Then I couldn't find the motivation to do anything the rest of the week, but I've started this week on a positive note with some aerobic and strength workouts. After finding an incredible deal on airline tickets, I've already booked my flight to the Salt Lake City marathon in April. Yep, no turning back now :)

year end reflections

all-in-all I suppose I should keep my head up. Last year at this time I had put on roughly 15-20 pounds in a period of 4 months and was not going anywhere positively with respect to eating or exercise habits. Through the first three-quarters of this year, I only added another 5 lbs, which comparatively is a kind of success, sort of. This year marks the first calendar year of my life that I have spent unarguably overweight. Throughout adolescence and adulthood I've fluctuated between a good healthy weight and having extra 5-10 pounds, but never, prior to the end of 2007, did I pass into 15+ lbs overwieght and then moved right on up to an all time high of 35-40 lbs overwieght. And you know what? I am just plain tired of being out of shape!! It quite sucks, as in - no fun at all. I miss being able to enjoy physical activity. BUT, I have lost a couple pounds the last couple months. My graduate schooling was completed in mid-August, my general life stress level has decreased significantly and my mental outlook has improved. I did gut out a couple 1/2 marathons this past year with much more mental insanity than physical fitness and I'm registered to run a marathon in 4 months. I've actually printed out a generic marathon training plan to get me, at least, minimally prepared (which would be tons more prepared than the past two half-marathons) and I have actually followed the training plan for a whole week now :) There has been a mental shift with regards to exercising and eating better. For most of this year I've been telling myself I need to do this, I need to do that, I should be doing this or that, but it's all felt like drudgery and guilt. Lately however, I am starting to feel an actual desire to exercise and eat better. It's so much easier to do things when you want to do them. Now if I could just figure out what leads to the existence of the want, I could probably make a whole lot of money selling it. For now, I'm hoping to ride the want wave long enough to make exercise and healthy eating everyday personal habits. My birthday is in the middle of the year and I've set a goal to be back to a healthy, fit me by then. Wish me luck...

December 2008 Assessment

Well last month I was hopeful to have my monthly assessment posted at the beginning of this month (as opposed to the middle as has been my recent habit) and had I done so, I think I would have been happy to post the usual stats; however whatever progress I thought I was making through the end of November was most likely erased by a couple of ugly eating weeks in December and I have been afraid to approach the scale. So I am ignoring the stats for this month, attempting to keep eating habits in check for the next 10 days or so and will start the new year off with fresh stats posted on Saturday the 3rd of January. (Since it's in print, it will happen, right?)

will this stick?

Last week I exercised on three different days. Very weird, I know. I believe those would be the first three days of aerobic activity (outside of a dance club) since mid-October. Two of the days, I ran on my treadmill for a few minutes (5 and 10 respectively) and walked some more. This past Saturday I actually ventured outside and ran a bit in around 6 inches of fresh snow from the day before. Because I'm kinda like a kid with new snow, I actually had a good time despite the cold. Thank goodness for layers of made-for-cold-weather-running, apparel. Oddly enough, I'm kinda looking forward to my next opportunity to do a little outside running. I've got my bike set up on a trainer and have added in some time on the bike after my running/walking each of those three days. I've even done some basic strength exercises (push-ups, squats, shoulder press) each of those days as well. Hmmm... Could this be the start of something beautiful?