All 3 of the goals this month were extended goals, and the idea was to just get started working on them.

The first goal was lose 20 lbs. I started the year at 194 pounds, and quickly discovered that it’s getting harder to lose weight each year. For the last decade or so, I’ve tried to make sure I lose a few pounds at the beginning of the year to make sure I make up for all the rest of the gaining I do for the remainder of the year. However, this year I definitely noticed that it’s getting harder to do that. I started working on eating healthy and regular exercise in February, but by April I was back to my starting weight. Come May I got back on the wagon and slowly lost the pounds until I finally made a made dash and hit the 20 pounds goal at the end of July. And it’s a good thing, too, since a week later we started our Great Western Adventure (I’ll discuss that more in my August post).

My next two goals, the running goals, sure sounded like they would be easy in January, but ended up being more difficult than I thought they’d be. You see, right at the beginning of the year, Mindy and I got a membership to a low-priced gym at a great discount. So I figured I’d go there a couple or three times a week, and be ready ready ready, ready to run in no time. Unfortunately, I ALSO discovered this year that getting back into running is just as hard as losing those darn pounds! I spent the whole first 1/2 of the year just trying not to die every time I got on the treadmill. Then along came our family adventure, and I took an entire month off! Sheesh, by the time we got back home in September, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do these goals at all. However, I started going to the gym again, and worked my way up to being able to run 3.1 miles without dying just in time for Thanksgiving. Luckily for my motivation, Kai signed up for his school’s running club this year, and he and I ran in the Aberdeen Turkey Trot at 7:00 on a cold, crisp Thanksgiving morning. Shiver me timbers, it was freezing outside waiting for the signal to start, but after we got running, our bodies acclimated to it. Before we started, Kai and I agreed that we were going to try and run the entire race without stopping to take a break to walk. Well what do you know, but we did it! Unfortunately, that was now 2 months ago, and I forget our exact time, but let’s say it was a great pace for a fat old fart, and a middle schooler just getting used to running!

Sadly, I never did get myself ready for a 10K. Have to try and hit that one up again another year!