New Year, New Goals

One of the great things about reporting my weight every week to a group of friends and family, is that it gives me some accountability to others. Not that I am letting them down if I gain any weight, but having to post the information every week to other people makes me think harder about what numbers I have to post. Therefore, I think harder about what I am eating and my exercise.

I hope the same can be said for posting some of my health and fitness goals for 2011. If I put these goals out into the world. i should be accountable that I actually achieve them. And though it seems a little tardy to be posting my New Year's resolutions, I really don't give a crap; there are only a couple people reading this anyway.

Weight Goals:

My new "weight watchers" group has been great. The accountability, encouragement, and advice have done wonders for my weight loss goals. As I move forward, I have 2 new goals in mind for weight loss:

1. I want to lose 10 more pounds by my birthday, March 10 (mark it on your calendars!). That would put me at my first goal weight, the same one I created nearly 2 years ago, but have yet to achieve.

2. I would like to lose 10 additional pounds by June 24. That is the first day of the Bike MS ride and I would really like to see how I ride being 40lbs lighter than last year (maybe I could have out-ridden that storm). I do not know if this is a weight that I can maintain, but I think it is worth a shot.

How am I going to lose all of this weight? I would like to see if I can run 500 miles and bike 1000 miles in 2011. If I can do that, I think the weight will take care of itself.

Race goals:

April- The Illinois Marathon Relay, Katie and I are running with my sister and her boyfriend. I am super excited about running this race. The distances will be tough, but the crowd and excitement around the race are second to none.

May- The Kirby Derby, I had a great time running this race last year and would love to do it again. I am still debating if I will run the 10K to try and break my time from last year, or running the 5K and really pushing my limits of speed to see how I do.

The Sangamon Valley Bike Ride, I finally got to do this ride last year and I had a great time, even with all of the rain and getting lost, etc. Probably will do 46 miles, unless the family rides along. I will definitely have to reconsider at that point.

(possible) The Soldier Field 10 mile, I am still back and forth on this one. I would have to drive to Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend, plus Amara's birthday is that Monday. But I definitely see this distance as a new challenge for the New Year and it is tough to beat a finish line at the 50yd line of Soldier Field!

June- The Bike MS: Tour de Farms, last year was my first year at this event. The rain completely changed the dynamic, but you can certainly see how great of an event this can be. Katie has even said that she would ride a bit this year! I am still anxious to see if I can ride 175 miles in 2 days.

November- Mahomet Public Library 5K, this is the first race Katie and I ever ran. I had to miss it last year because of illness, but I am very anxious to really burn up the course on this race!

You may notice a big gap from June to November with no events scheduled. I have looked around some and have found nothing that really fits into my schedule, nor my desire for a new challenge. The dates to the Tri-Illini next fall have not been announced, and that is a possibility, but unlikely if I cannot learn how to swim by then (I hear all you need is a good wetsuit). If anybody has any recommendations for other events, please feel free to let me know.

Blog goals:

You may have noticed a regularity to my posts since December. My goals for 2011 are to post 2 times a week (every Tuesday and Thursday). If I sneak another one in every now and again, great! But with my work, home, and fitness schedule, writing a post over my lunch break on my non-walking days is about my only option.

So, that is it! I have put my goals out into the world. Now, I just need to figure how to pay for all of it.