Incredibly, there are only 20 days left in 2009. Exactly 2 weeks until Christmas – and I’ve yet to begin holiday shopping (eek!), but that’s not really relevant here…
What is relevant is my progress on the goals I set forth to meet 80 days ago when The Hot 100 Challenge began. Here goes nothing!
Keep running! All of my running the last few months has been building up to the 10k race I ran last week, which was a huge success. I was able to run the full 6.2 miles without walking at all! Unfortunately, I haven’t run again since that race. It’s been f-f-f-freezing outside, plus I’ve been working on a home improvement project that has both kept me busy and made me sore. I know these are lame excuses, but I have to say, that I’ve enjoyed the break.
I’m the kind of person who needs something to train for; running for the sake of running seems silly to me. To that end, I have officially decided that I will run the Pittsburgh Half Marathon* on May 2, 2010. Now there’s something to train for! I plan to get start back up in the next week or so, but for now, I’m ok with a brief intermission.
Lose some more weight. Eleven days ago, I weighed 178. This was the tragic result of poor decision-making over the Thanksgiving holiday. I’m pleased to report that this morning, I was down to 173. Not only have I undone the damage done by my turkey day indiscretions, but this is a new lowest weight for me. I’m now down 89 pounds.
My initial goal in The Hot 100 was to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year. Clearly, that’s not happening. But rather than get down about that fact and say ‘screw it – what’s the point in trying?’ I’m still going full-steam ahead. So what if I won’t meet that goal by an arbitrary date? I will meet it – it’ll just take a little longer, that’s all. And being down 89 pounds feels pretty darn good for the time being.
Eat out less – cook more. This one’s been pretty good. I haven’t been as iron-fisted about not eating out as much, but I think that’s because it’s become more natural to prepare my own meals. I just don’t want to eat out 6 or 7 times a week. I’m finding new foods that I enjoy – and new ways to prepare them.
I find that it’s much easier to keep up with this when the house is stocked with groceries, and currently, I am one Mother Hubbard. This weekend’s activities will have to include a trip to the supermarket to remedy this situation.
Twenty days left!
*who wants to join me?
