One Step Forward and Two Backward

At the start of the year, I wrote of my fitness goals for 2014.  And I have dilligently been making progress on at least some of them.  I still can't fit into all my jeans, but I have lost two pounds, which I could easily gain back in a day or two of unbridled gluttony if I am not careful.  I've been walking a fair amount.  I've been on the eliptical machine a few times.  I've been doing crunches and planks.  I am walking the stairs at work at least 90% of the time, only using the elevator if I am late for something.  And I have been doing two to three upper body workouts a week.

And that is where my setback, my "two steps backward," has occurred.  I recently moved up to 80 pounds from 70 and it didn't seem too bad - until Wednesday night.  About seven years ago, I partially tore my right rotator cuff, and now I am having very similar pain in my right shoulder.  It is not agonizing - and in fact, I've had more or less continuous low level pain in that shoulder for seven years - but it is pain that was not there before this past week.  And it should not be there.  So clearly, I have done something I didn't want to do.

So what to do next?  I think I need to knock off the upper body for a week.  Then try a few light weight, say 50 pounds, workouts and see how that feels.  Or even 40 pounds, or if need be just 30.  I probably need to focus on lighter weights and many more repetitions.  I am not sure how best to do it, but it does seem that this particular fitness goal may be one that I need to back off of.

It is always discouraging to have setbacks, but they are part of life and we just have to do our best to move forward, even if we don't get quite as far as we hoped for.

2014 Fitness and Racing Goals

I had mixed results on last year's fitness goals, crushing a few and missing others by a wide margin.  But a new year is here, and I am establishing new goals.  This time, every one of these goals is measurable - I am specifically writing each one so that I will know if I attained it or not.

This first one is not a goal.  It is a resolution.  I will fit into all three pairs of jeans this year.  And not just at some point in the year - at the end of 2014!  This will be a tough one to achieve, but in setting this as an objective, I do not need a weight goal.  First, I am not a lot overweight.  Second, I can only meet this goal if I do shed my few extra pounds.

My walking goal is to take 5,000,000 steps again this year.  Because I am not anticipating training for a half marathon in 2014, I will have to be more diligent to reach this mark.

Instead of just saying "do more upper body workouts," I will set a measure.  Right now, I am doing workouts with 70 pounds of weight, and 15 pound curls.  So by the end of the year, I want to be using 100 pounds of weight, and 25 pound curls.  That would be a very nice gain - over 40% on the weights, and 67% on the curls.

We have a crunch bench in our community fitness room.  I am doing 150 crunches.  My goal is to double that to 300 crunches without stopping.

I used to do 45 minutes of elliptical workout at the highest setting (mountain, level 16).  I rarely do the elliptical now, but when I do, 15-20 minutes is more like it.  I am going to set a goal of getting that back to 45 minutes.  I'll only hit that goal if I start doing elliptical more often.

By the end of the year, I want to be holding a side plank for 60 seconds and a regular plank for 2 minutes, which is about double my current times.

By July, be walking to the top of my 18 story building.  I work on the seventh floor, so need to build up from there.

That's it for fitness.  Now, how about racing?  Well, when I say racing, I mean "racing for a cure."  Right now, I am not signed up for any races, not even the Monument Avenue 10K.  And I am not running.  I am not sure if running is a good idea for me.  My left knee feels fairly good - not pain free, though - for the first time in two years, and I have not run since the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon.  I feel like there is a correlation there.  Entering a race means running, unless I want to walk it, which right now, I don't.  So I have to give the thought of running again a lot more evaluation and consideration.  I like running, but I love walking and hiking, and I want to be able to do those for the rest of my life.  I don't want a knee or hip replacement.  I need to take care of my legs, and that may mean not running.  Or I may figure out a way to run without damage.

Okay, enough rambling on that.  Can you tell that I am conflicted - very conflicted?  So here is my racing for a cure goal for 2014: I will do something to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have two specific ideas in mind, and one of them is quite a different thing from my usual.  More on that later!

I hope anyone reading this has a great year ahead, and that you achieve your goals!

175 Miles?

A calorie, abbreviated as c, is a unit of measure of energy.  If I remember from my science days, it is the amount of energy that will raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).  But in dietary terms, what we call a calorie, such as "That chocolate bar contains 280 calories," is really a thousand calories, or kilocalories.  So in that sense, if we eat something that contains exactly one (dietary) calorie, that is enough energy to heat a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of water by 1 degree C.

Too much science stuff?  Too much metric system (a beautiful system of measurement, by the way)?  Well, the practical effect is that everything we eat contains calories, and if we eat more than we need - I should almost say "when," not "if" - we store the excess as fat.  So fat contains calories, roughly 3,500 of them for a pound of fat, although I am sure that number can vary considerably.  And it takes energy to do everything we do - stand up, walk to the door, type this sentence, even to think a thought.  Even if we stayed in bed all day, even if we were in a coma, our body would still be burning some energy.  It seems logical that we burn more energy when we are doing something active than when we are sitting down, right?  I've heard, but cannot prove, that walking or running a mile burns approximately 100 calories - although that should vary based on how much you weigh and how rugged the terrain is.  I do know that one of the real challenges for long distance backpackers is getting enough to eat.  They burn so much energy that they can lose all of their body fat and start breaking down muscle tissue for energy, essentially starving even while eating a lot.  That is why when they hit town after a couple of weeks on the trail, they can do things like eat a half gallon of ice cream or a couple of gigantic hamburgers.

I was thinking the other day of how I am about five pounds heavier than I was in September 2011 when I walked the 60 mile Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in Washington DC and suburban Maryland.  And I was thinking what it would take to lose those five pounds, approximating that I would have to walk about 175 miles to do it.  I doubt that losing a pound by walking 35 miles is exactly true or quite that simple.  There would be a lot of other variables involved besides just the number of miles.  And to reach my goal of fitting into all three of my pairs of blue jeans, I probably need to drop another 5 pounds, so that would hypothetically be about 350 miles of walking total to lose the ten pounds.

I realize this is all speculation and gross approximation.  One key factor is what kind of calories I am consuming.  100 calories from kale is entirely different from 100 calories from chocolate which is different from 100 calories from honey.  Plus, I doubt it is as simple as "walk 35 miles and you lose a pound" - not at all, I am sure.  But it seems logical that if I walk enough and watch what I eat a little better, those extra five pounds will slowly come off, and then eventually the other extra five pounds, and maybe I will fit into those jeans again.  Maybe it will take 175 miles to lose the first five pounds, or maybe it will take 250 miles - I don't know.  I just know that it can be done.

So with the New Year, and with my temporary 8 hour day work schedule for the next few weeks, and the cool weather, I have been walking more.  Essentially, I use most of my lunch break as a chance to take a nice walk.  I can get in about 3 or 3.5 miles, and there are plenty of places to walk downtown.  I change into a exercise shirt and underwear so I don't come back with my work clothing all sweaty, plus the cool weather helps with that.  So far, so good - now I just need to stick with it and figure out how to keep it going when I go back on 9 hour work days next month.  Right now, that is my goal - just walk a lot.  I am very unsure about taking up running again, or even about trying to do another half marathon.  And another full marathon - while you never want to say "never" - seems really unlikely at this point in my life.  I will just keep walking and trying to stay in shape and see where the rest leads.

Did I Meet My 2013 Fitness Goals?

2013 is almost history.  I wanted to compare how I did against my fitness goals for the past year.  You know, those goals I posted in my blog a year ago and then never looked at?

I missed my first goal by a mile.  Remember, I was going to fit into all three of my pairs of jeans, not just the one pair?  Sure I will.  Well, in the upcoming year, I will either accomplish this mission or have to buy new jeans, because my one pair that fits (barely) is wearing out.

My second big fitness goal was to continue to walk and hike, and average at least 13,000 steps a day for the entire year, with bonus points for averaging 14,000 and whipped cream and a cherry on top for hitting 15,000 a day.  How'd I do?  Well, for the year, I took nearly 5,111,000 steps, which averages out to 14,002 per day.  In miles, that amounts to over 2,000 miles on foot.  So I crushed that one.

My third goal was to figure out what is going on with the left knee, and take actions to heal it.  Well, I guess I get partial credit for this.  My knee has hurt for two years now, ever since training for the Shamrock Half Marathon in 2012.  I did get medical attention this year, and did stretching and physical therapy religiously for several months.  I also largely gave up running.  The net result is that the pain is much less, although I never did really figure out the exact cause.  I do need to resume the PT work, however.

The fourth goal was to participate in Team in Training again.  And (proof in the photo at the top) so I did, walking with just enough running to finish under three hours the Crawlin' Crab Half Marathon in Hampton, Virginia on October 6.  The race was on what would have been my friend Ed Stone's 44th birthday, and was a special moment.

Regarding my fifth fitness goal, I didn't do very well.  That one was to get a regular upper body workout going.  Unless the definition of "regular" has changed, I missed the mark pretty widely on this one.

And finally, although not strictly a fitness goal, I wanted to keep this blog updated with at least a post a week. I am going to claim success with this one, have posted about 70 times for the year, even though I know that there were some weeks that didn't get anything written.

So with six goals, I hit three right on, partially hit a fourth, and missed the other two.  I am sure I will have some fitness goals for 2014 soon, and this time, I will write them down outside of this blog, too.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A New Year!

Wow, 2013 - How'd that happen?  I look back on last year - all these plans I had.  Very few of them accomplished.  But the main thing is, I have now survived and been in remission from cancer for more than 10 years.  That fact alone trumps anything else, even though I didn't accomplish most of my racing goals for 2012.

Looking ahead, I am not making resolutions.  I do have some fitness and "racing for a cure" goals for 2013, however.  I also have some hiking goals, and you can view them here on my other blog.

I own three pairs of blue jeans.  One of them fits fairly comfortably, but not as well as they did before, say, Thanksgiving.  The other two fit about as comfortably as a hippopotamus trying to squeeze into a phone booth.  Just a few years ago, I could wear all three.  So here is one goal for the year - fit in all three pairs again.

A second major goal is to at the least continue with walking and hiking, if not running.  If you keep up with my other - and in the last year or so, more active - blog, Oh, To Be Hiking, you know that I have done pretty well keeping hiking alive in my life.  So I will set a tangible and measurable goal - average at least 13,000 steps a day.  Bonus points if I exceed an average of 14,000 steps.  Whipped cream and a cherry on the top if I reach an average of 15,000 steps daily.

Here is a very worthy third goal for the year - figure out once and for all what is going on with my left knee.  I see two major steps: (1) get back to my physical therapy routine religiously and see if that makes a difference and (2) if there is no change in a couple of months, see a new doctor and maybe get an MRI to figure out what is going on.

A fourth goal - determine, based on the knee issues, if I can do Team in Training in 2013 after skipping it for the past two years (although in 2011, I did walk 60 miles in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, so it is not like I sat on a couch full-time.)  For example, I bet I could at the least walk a half marathon.  My preference would be to run, but walking for a cure beats sitting on my butt for no cure.

A fifth goal for 2013 - get back in an upper body routine.  I should be doing upper body workouts 2-3 days a week, but never seem to find the time.  When I do for a while, I feel better and then slack off.  Of course, the last time I was really working out a lot was about four months ago, and my left elbow hurt like hell.  I think it was tendinitis.  I stopped entirely for several months and the pain slowly receded.  Time to try again.

Finally, I'd like to update this blog every week even if it is just me musing about something.  I rarely get comments and I am not sure if anyone reads it or not, but writing more often would be good for me, if not for the world at large.

Hmmm, these are starting to sound like resolutions.  Uh-oh!

Hey! Shouldn't I be in Hawaii?

Well, here it is, December 9, 2012, the date I thought for years I would running the Honolulu Marathon to celebrate 10 years in remission.  And here I sit, in my home in Virginia, drinking a mug of tea and updating my blog - an increasingly rare event.  (updating my blog, not drinking hot tea.)  So what happened?

I had lofty goals for 2012, ten years after cancer.  I wanted to run the Shamrock Half Marathon and the Monument Avenue 10K.  I wanted to consider TNT again.  I had the idea of forming one of those 48 hour, 200 mile relay teams - maybe of cancer survivors - and doing a relay race.  And the crown jewel was to have been today, my 10 remission date: the Honolulu Marathon.

Ah, the best laid plans!  Well, I did the Shamrock and the Monument races, tying my personal record in the 10K to the second.  But in the process, I have caused pain that would not go away in my left knee.  I stopped running, which helped some, but didn't fix the problem.  I did PT religiously, which helped some more, but didn't fix the problem.  I did PT a lot less religously, which didn't help at all.  Even walking and hiking ends up causing some pain - but not nearly as much as running.  I dropped the idea of TNT.  I dropped the idea of a relay team.  And as the year progressed and my knee pain stayed and my bank account balance did not grow, I slowly came to terms that I would be not going to Hawaii.

I've never been to Hawaii.  I had decided that if I went, it was not going to just be for the race weekend.  I wanted to do a 10-12 day trip, culminating in the marathon.  And you know, that takes serious money, money I am not willing to borrow.  I wanted cash in the bank for this trip.  There is a lot of competition for that money.  And with the knee pain, it seemed foolhardy to try to train for and run a marathon.  And I was not willing to go to Hawaii and not run.  So since I wasn't training, I wasn't setting money aside for the trip.  If my knee had been good, I would have found a way to set the money aside, but it wasn't, so I didn't.  Therefore, my goal of being in that race today faded as the year churned by.

Instead, I celebrated 10 years remission this morning by making a donation to a friend doing Team in Training once again.  She and I were partners for much of the rainy Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage going on eight years ago.  And yesterday, I gave the mission moment to the local run team, and I walked with the walkers.  That felt really good.  It was a very small team but the typical good bunch of folks that always seems to gather to do Team in Training.

It feels a little sad not to have accomplished so many of my lofty goals this year.  Would I have done so without the knee pain?  I'll never know.  But on the whole, I am just happy to be here on God's green earth 10 years after having had cancer, and to say, for the 10th time, "Remission Accomplished!"  That is just going to have to be good enough.  But I know that later today, as the runners start moving in far-away Honolulu, I will feel a little wistful.

Making 2012 Special

I want to make 2012 a little special. After all, it is my 10 year mark of surviving cancer - Hodgkin's lymphoma - which was detected late in April of 2002. In a flash, I went from a seemingly healthy person to someone in the fight of their life.

I am trying to stay away from resolutions. I did horribly with the goals I set a year ago. 2011 was not a good year, especially with the death of a good friend and of my sister. Foot problems almost all the year caused difficulty with physical activities. But now, a new year is here! Huzzah!

So here are some of the things I am thinking about to make 2012 special from a Racing for a Cure standpoint. Some are pretty mundane, others more spectacular. If you want to see some of the places I would like to hike in 2012, go here.

I'll be running in the Shamrock Half Marathon on March 18. It is my statement that I am strong and healthy ten years after cancer. I am going to go for a personal record but have a very long way to go in a short time. Mainly, I just want to celebrate life and remember those lost. I'll also be attending the Team in Training Inspiration Dinner the night before for a little extra motivation.

Yesterday, I signed up for the Monument Avenue 10K here in Richmond. That is two weeks after the Shamrock Half. It will be my eighth straight time in this event. I am going for a PR in that one as well. I'd love to break an hour. That is slow to you fast runners but would be fast for me.

So barring injury, those two are definite. After all, I've shelled out $126 hard-earned bucks when I signed up! But what about some yet-to-fully-gel possibilities? Well, I would like to do TNT again. I have fundraised from the same group of people now six out of the past seven years, so the well may be a little dry. But I think it is worth another try, and maybe skip fundraising in 2013. Where and when could I run? I am thinking in the fall, perhaps San Francisco, the Marine Corps Marathon, or even Dublin, Ireland.

Some time back, I was thinking this would be the year to do a triathon or a century bike ride, but I don't think so now. I have done nothing to get ready, including getting a bike. I am not sure that is where my interests lie.

I'd like to run the Livestrong 10K in Virginia Beach again. Maybe I can finish first in my age group this time!

Under the realm of the more far out, I have been recently thinking that this would be a cool year to form a relay team, and do one of those 48 hour relay events. I would need 11 other people, and there would be some costs involved, like renting a couple of vans. But it would be an incredible experience. I'd love to form a team of 100% cancer survivors, but am not sure I know 11 other survivors who run or power walk. Yesterday when I was thinking about it, I could come up with about 6-7 names, including yours truly. Need to give this some more thought ....

Now, the crown jewel of 2012, if I can make it happen, would be to run the Honolulu Marathon on December 9, my 10 year cancer remission date. I've had my eye on that date and that event for years. But a trip to Hawaii is a major expense, one I am not prepared for at this time. Still, sometimes where there is a will, there's a way, and it would be such a wonderful thing to do while visiting Hawaii for the first time ever.

So those are some of my thoughts. Does anyone reading this have some special fitness events that they would like to do?

My Goals for 2011

New year, new goals. I am not going to call these resolutions. They are goals – things to strive for. Unlike last year, my goals are going to be a little more general, because each of them encompasses several things. I’ll give status reports every two months.

Goal 1 – Complete my sixth Team in Training event. I have not done a marathon in three years and feel it is time to do my fourth. Reaching this goal means accomplishing a number of things along the way. First, I have to get this neuroma in my left foot solved once and for all. Then I will have to join the team, train consistently, and raise sufficient funds. I will also have to maintain a reasonable weight and fitness level, and train on my own. Right now, I have my eyes set on the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco in October.

Goal 2 – Take the second step toward becoming a tri-athlete. During this year, I want to do one of two things so that I can complete a triathlon for TNT in 2012. I will either save the money for a bike and practice riding, or I will practice swimming. But I need a new computer more than I need a bike. So more likely, I will learn to swim a lot better – let’s say being able to swim a half mile by the end of the year is a good goal - if I don’t go with the bike.

Goal 3 – Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I want to see if I can make at least a partial living as a writer, and I won’t find out if I don’t get more serious about it. Reaching this goal means practicing writing more, exploring markets a lot harder than I have been, reading more, and submitting articles to publishers. By the way, when you work full time and also want to train for a marathon, it is really hard to find the time to write and research markets, but I hope that putting this goal so specifically down in writing will remind me to focus on this goal.

Goal 4 - Continue to hike and enjoy the outdoors. I can measure how well I do by activity in my “Oh, To Be Hiking!” blog. Let’s set a goal that I’ll put 18 hike descriptions out there this year, or about 1.5 each month. I want to do at least two backpacking trips this year. Due to vacation time constraints, these will likely be weekend trips. As in goal 1, I need to solve this neuroma problem. I am also working on a project that is a long shot, but if I succeed, I will combine goal 4 and 3 to some success!

Goal 5 – Explore a book idea that I have once and for all. For years, I have thought I wanted to write a book about surviving cancer. But I think a book about “How Art Survived Cancer” would bore people to death, even though some of the stories along the way could be funny or interesting. So I have an alternate, and I think a better, idea that will help cancer patients out. It incorporates some of my experience but it is more about the experience of others. It will be a lot of work, as I will have to research markets to see if a similar book exists, reach out to a bunch of people to get material, and put together a proposal, and then try to get it published. But I think that after nearly nine years, I have to either put this idea to bed or see if it plays in Peoria. And maybe at the end, if I have a good product but can’t get a publisher interested, I will just publish it myself if I have the money.

Well, those are my 2011 goals. Check back every couple of months to check on progress.

What do you hope to accomplish in this brand and grand new year?

Final Report on my 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. Here is where things stand 12 months later!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. On June 26th, I ran and walked the Seattle Half Marathon. Mission Accomplished!

2. Get a bike. Initially, this meant saving money for a bike. Nope, had other priorities for my money. Probably I will get a new computer before I get a bike even in 2011.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I needed to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. And I surpassed this, people so generously donating over $11,000 to my cause. Mission Accomplished!

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. I ending up losing about four pounds net, counting what I gained back in the last month with too many Christmas cookies. So I will treat this as a partial success.

5. Practice swimming. Ouch! I made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. Well, I did two out of three, but the getting paid was a big part of that. I got this poem published in a newsletter at Virginia Beach. No money, other than the currency of satisfaction, changed hands.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Mission accomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I have gotten in a lot of great hikes this year, and even did a two day backpacking trip in up Priest Mountain earlier this month.

9. Do something about my work situation. As stated in August, given the economy, I am just going to hold pat. Things have improved, including my attitude. So maybe that is what I am doing about my work situation - improving my outlook. But I did buy one last lottery ticket for tonight!

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I've kept both blogs going pretty well this year, although I struggled with this one a bit after running in Seattle.

Summary – mixed. I have accomplished five goals, partially accomplished two of my goals, made no progress on two more, and kind of abandoned one goal. Not wonderful, although it would have been tough to do them all. And as people have commented, if this were baseball, I'd have a great batting average.

Next up: figure out what goals I want to set for 2011. Hint - you know that one of them will involve Team in Training. Happy New Year!

December Progress on my 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. Here is where things stand after 11 months into the New Year with December just around the corner! Diligent followers of Racing for a Cure will no doubt note that didn't do a summary since August. Sorry about that.

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. On June 26th, I ran and walked the Seattle Half Marathon. Mission Accomplished!

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. Nope, had other priorities for my money. Probably I will get a new computer before I get a bike.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I needed to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. And I surpassed this, people so generously donating over $11,000 to my cause. Mission Accomplished!

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. I had lost about five pounds, so I will treat this as a partial success, especially if I keep it off during the Christmas season.

5. Practice swimming. Ouch! I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. Well, I did two out of three, but the getting paid was a big part of that. I got this poem published in a newsletter at Virginia Beach. No money, other than the currency of satisfaction, changed hands.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Mission accomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I have gotten in a lot of great hikes this year, and even did a two day backpacking trip in up Priest Mountain earlier this month.

9. Do something about my work situation. As stated in August, given the economy, I am just going to hold pat. Things have improved, including my attitude. So maybe that is what I am doing about my work situation - improving my outlook.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I've kept both blogs going pretty well this year.

Summary – mixed. After 11 months, I have accomplished five goals, partially accomplished two of my goals, made no progress on two more, and kind of abandoned one goal. And I would guess this is how the year will end up.

July Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. Here is where things stand after seven and a half months into the New Year! Diligent followers of Racing for a Cure will no doubt note that didn't do a summary at the end of June (I was in Seattle) and actually here we are halfway through August. Oh well!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. On June 26th, I ran and walked the Seattle Half Marathon. Mission Accomplished!

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. Last time I reported that I set aside some money for this. Well, that was before the credit card bills from Seattle came due. That money is long gone!

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I needed to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. And I surpassed this, people so generously donating over $11,000 to my cause. Mission Accomplished!

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. I had lost this weight by the time of the race but have gained about four pounds back, but I am still marking this as progress made.

5. Practice swimming. Ouch! I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. Ouch, ouch, ouch! I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Mission ccomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I have gotten in some decent hikes this year, including three great days of hiking in Mount Rainier National Park. With the recent hot weather, and a lot going on, I have not been hiking lately. But I am satisfied with progress to date.

9. Do something about my work situation. Well, given the economy, I am just going to hold pat. Things have improved, including my attitude. So maybe that is what I am doing about my work situation - improving my outlook.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written about 140 posts on this blog and 30 posts on my hiking blog through mid-Augustof 2010. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After seven and a half months months, I have accomplished three goals, made good progress on three of my goals, no progress on three more, and kind of abandoned one goal. But the year is now nearly two thirds over. I still need to pick one of those neglected goals and at least get started by the end of September. So that is my goal for this month. Check back! I keep saying I will do this, and so far, it has not happened.

May Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. Here is where things stand after five months into the New Year!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. I am on the Summer Team to run the Seattle half marathon. Training has been going on for almost four months. There are just 3 weeks to go now, and injuries and another cold have me down but not out.

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. This takes money I don't have right now, and I have finally made some tiny progress on this goal by setting aside a little more money for this purpose. But truthfully, enjoying my time in Seattle and Washington could use some of this money. I need to seize the day while I am out there.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I need to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. After some times when I wondered about whether I could do it, I've now raised 92% of this amount so far, and had a great May for raising money. I had to update my PurpleOmeter four times in May, and have already updated it in June as well. It is clear to me that I will reach and even surpass this goal.

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. It is slow going, but I have lost about five pounds of it so far, a pound more than a month ago. However, taking it easy for this injury is not going to help, unless I start watching what I eat.

5. Practice swimming. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Accomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I’ve managed a few more short hikes in the past month. And I've continued with some short hikes in May. But my larger plans for hiking last month were impeded by being sick and now this injury. Hopefully, I can get a few good hikes in this month as training winds down and as this injury heals.

9. Do something about my work situation. No progress on this at all.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written 114 posts on this blog and 16 posts on my hiking blog through April of 2010. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After five months, I have accomplished one goal, made good progress on three of my goals, some progress on two others, tiny progress on one more, and no progress on the other three. But the year is now 5/12 over. I need to pick one of those neglected goals and at least get started in June. So that is my goal for this month. Check back!

I said a month ago that my goal for May was to get started with a neglected goal, but it didn't happen. June is not looking great either, with my event coming up and with being ill again. But I should be able to focus on something.

April Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. Here is where things stand after four months into the New Year!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. I am on the Summer Team to run the Seattle half marathon. Training has been going on for almost three months. Less than 8 weeks to go.

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. This takes money I don't have right now, and I have finally made some tiny progress on this goal by setting aside a little money for this purpose.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I need to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. I've raised just 66% of this amount so far, and the last few weeks has been very slow where fundraising is concerned.

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. It is slow going, but I have lost about four pounds of it so far, a pound or two more than a month ago.

5. Practice swimming. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Accomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I’ve managed a few more short hikes in the past month. This is a longer term goal for spring, summer, and fall.

9. Do something about my work situation. No progress on this at all.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written 97 posts on this blog and 12 posts on my hiking blog through April of 2010. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After four months, I have accomplished one goal, made good progress on three of my goals, some progress on two others, tiny progress on one more, and no progress on the other three. But the year is now 1/3 over. I need to pick one of those neglected goals and at least get started in May. So that is my goal for this month. Check back!

March Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. So while my report for March is a bit late, here is where things stand after three months into the New Year!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. I am on the Summer Team to run the Seattle half marathon. Training has been going on for two months. Less than 10 weeks to go.

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. This takes money I don't have right now, and I have finally made some tiny progress on this goal by setting aside a little money for this purpose.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I need to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. I've raised 59% of this amount so far, which is double what I had raised at the end of February.

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. It is slow going, but I have lost about two pounds of it so far, about the same as I was a month ago.

5. Practice swimming. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. Accomplished!

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I’ve managed a few more short hikes. This is a longer term goal for spring, summer, and fall, but spring is here and I've tried to get out when I can, even if it is a 4 or 5 mile walk to see the sights about town.

9. Do something about my work situation. No progress on this at all.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written 72 posts on this blog and eight posts on my hiking blog through March of 2010. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After two months, I have accomplished one goal, made good progress on three of my goals, some progress on two others, tiny progress on one more, and no progress on the other three.

February Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of each month to see how I am doing on each of these. So here is where things stand after two months into the New Year!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. I signed up for the Summer Team to run the Seattle half marathon. Training has been going on for three weeks.

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. This takes money I don't have right now, and I have not made any progress on this goal.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I need to raise $8,500 this season to hit this target. I've raised 28% of this amount so far, which is a really good start.

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. It is slow going, but I have lost about two pounds of it so far.

5. Practice swimming. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. I am signed up and training.

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I’ve managed a couple of short hikes. This is a longer term goal for spring, summer, and fall anyhow.

9. Do something about my work situation. No progress on this at all.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written 52 posts on this blog this year, and five posts on my hiking blog in 2010. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After two months, I have made good progress on four of my goals, some progress on two others, and no progress on the other four.

January Progress on My 2010 Goals

At the end of 2009, I identified ten goals for myself for the upcoming year. I decided to do a little progress report at the end of the month to see how I am doing on each of these. So here is where things stand after one month into the New Year!

1. Do my fifth Team in Training event. I signed up for the Summer Team to run the Seattle half marathon. Training was cancelled by the big storm this weekend, and so starts next week.

2. Get a bike. Initially, this means saving money for a bike. With Christmas bills being paid, and Valentine’s Day and my wife’s birthday coming up this month, I have not made any progress on this goal.

3. Eclipse $50,000 (cumulative) in fund raising for Team in Training. I am cheating a bit by including the money I raised last year for Light the Night in my totals so I could set my Summer Team goal at $8,500. I really wanted a goal with an 8 and a 5 in it. I have raised 12% of this amount so far, which is a really good start.

4. Lose my extra 10 pounds. It is slow going, but I have lost just over a pound of it so far, which beats gaining more weight.

5. Practice swimming. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

6. Write something, get it published, and get paid for it. I’ve made no progress on this goal.

7. Run the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K this March. I just signed up two days ago, and will incorporate the training for this race in my half marathon training. So I call this a start, but not a lot of progress.

8. Hike more, and try to backpack again. I’ve managed a couple of short hikes. This is a longer term goal for spring, summer, and fall anyhow.

9. Do something about my work situation. No progress on this at all.

10. Continue this blog, as well as my blog “Oh, to be Hiking,” through 2010. I’ve written 29 posts on this blog in January, and four posts on my hiking blog in January. So I am doing well on this goal.

Summary – mixed. After one month, I have made good progress on three of my goals, some progress on three others, and no progress on the other four.

Be it Resolved!

Happy New Year! I ended 2008 on a good note, doing my five miler this afternoon. It felt tough, I guess because of the high winds – gusting up to about 40 or more knots. At times it felt like I was walking and running through water, plus I had to keep taking my hat off as it would blow away.

For whatever reason, the running was not coming easy so I walked most of it, averaging 13 minute miles for the five miles. Every time I ran, I got winded after a few minutes. I started out running three minutes and walking two minutes, but it just wasn’t working out. Near the end, having walked for about 20 minutes straight, I ran for 7 minutes straight by reducing my pace a little bit.

With 2009 on the way, I was thinking about some specific resolutions related to Team in Training, staying fit, staying positive. I don’t normally write down resolutions, much less share them with the world, but I will this once. I'll check back on these now and then to see how I am doing.

Get down to an ideal weight. I’ve gained a few pounds over the holidays and am probably now about 8 pounds above my ideal weight. It should be very doable to get to it if I keep working out. Actually, if I can fit back into two old pairs of jeans I have hanging in the closet, I don’t care what my weight is.

Stick with my TNT training schedule each week, completing 90% of the scheduled 5 to 6 a week trainings. Yeah, it means missing sleep and being tired, but that goes with staying in shape if you work full time.

Complete my TNT event – still not sure yet if it will be the full or the half marathon. Whichever I do, make it a personal record.

Knowing that I may not be able to make my fund raising goal, keep taking actions to try to make it happen. And if I don’t get there, don’t get too discouraged about it if I truly gave it my best shot.

Complete the Monument Avenue 10K this March with a personal record – that would be less than 1 hour 9 minutes.

Do a breast cancer race in honor of my sister and many others. Hopefully, raise a little money for breast cancer research at the same time.

After my TNT event is over, stay involved with TNT by coming to a few trainings as a patient honoree, and helping with at least a couple “water stops” for each season.

Find the time to go on at least one three day backpacking trip in the upcoming year.

Hike more often after my TNT season is finished – at least two hikes a month.

Continue to run and walk enough after the TNT season is completed to stay in “close to half-marathon shape.”

Be much more dedicated about stretching and improving flexability. Included in this would be getting back to the PT and strengthening exercises I have for my hip.

Be much better about taking care / rehabilitating that rotator cuff tear that has been bedeviling me since June, 2007.

Keep working on general conditioning and strength, and on core body strength.

Reflect at least a minute or two each day about feeling grateful for the gift of that day. Even if things are not ideal that day, or things are not going my way, I am lucky to still be alive to experience the day.

Don’t take life and health for granted. Things changed for me in a flash, like a bolt from the blue, six years ago and they could again, at any time. Try to seize the day, even work days which have been very difficult to seize.