I reviewed my 2010 Resolutions a few days ago, and in some ways I did pretty well, but in some ways I failed miserably

With that said, I present some goals/resolutions I want to accomplish in the New Year.

• Lose weight.  I’m not going to throw a number out there like I did last year (100 pounds, HA!) but I do want to continue losing weight and finish what I started back in October 2009.
• Eat healthier.  Less fast food/pizza/candy/chips/junk/beer/etc… (note I didn’t say “no”, I know I can’t stick with that and moderation is key).  More lean meats/veggies/water/etc…
• Work harder.  I’ve always worked overtime, but I got into a really good groove with it towards the end of the year.  I want to continue with that and use the extra money for some of the goals that are farther down the list.
• Study harder.  I’m still in school, but I half-assed it A LOT this past year.  I’d like to go into the new year and the new semester with arms swinging so that I can make up for some of the coursework I slacked off on last year.  That way I can push my graduation date up, and I won’t be working on bachelors degree for the next ten years.
• Play harder.  I’ve set myself up for a lot of work in the new year, so when I have downtime, I want to make the most of it, and not just sit in front of the TV.  I’d like to take more trips, do more hiking, ride some rollercoasters, maybe try ziplining or white water rafting.  Life is short, I wanna make the most of it.
• Make more time for family.  I’ve gotten really bad with this since I moved out, as I sometimes only see my family once a month, even though they only live about 30 minutes away.  Everyone gets busy, sure…but I’d like to try to more time to either visit or at least call.  I think my mom would appreciate that.
• Pay off my debt.  Barring some major financial catastrophe, there isn’t even reason why I can’t get this done.  I took out a huge chunk of it in 2010, so now I just want to finish the job.
• Buy a car.  More important then when I made it a goal last year, because now I have NO CAR whatsoever.  I’m saving up and hope to have complete this resolution in either January or February, depends on if I find something cheap enough.  At this point I’m not looking for anything fancy (that can be a 2012 resolution!), I need something that will get me from Point A to Point B without killing me or breaking down (or both).
• Build up some savings.  Once I have the car, and once the debt is gone, I want to put some money away for NUMEROUS reaons…emergency fund, really nice vacation, down payment on an eventual house, money put away to start a family someday, etc…etc..
• RUN!  I can’t guarantee a marathon in 2011, because I’ve fallen far off of the wagon, but I want to guarantee myself at least another half marathon, and I want to run again in general.  Even if it’s just a couple times a week for a couple miles at first, I want to get back into the habit.
• Be awesome(r).  I say that I’m awesome quite a bit, but I have pplleennttyy of flaws.  I don’t handle too much stress well, I can have a short temper, I throw myself into too many things too quickly and then burn out, I can be lazy, etc…etc… Basically I want to chill out, I want to be a better friend/son/brother/student/employee, and all that jazz…so that I when I do (jokingly, it’s always jokingly really) say that I’m awesome, there can be some truth to it.

So yeah, that’s a huge list, right?  Some things are easier than others though, and somethings will come in time, so I’m not stressing it.  Despite the ups and downs, 2010 was a pretty cool year, I just want 2011 to be better.

Last year, just like nearly everyone else on the planet, I made resolutions for myself for 2010.

Most people usually don’t stick with them, and in a lot of cases don’t even remember them.

Luckily (?) for me, I have documentation in the form of a blog post…so YAY (?) for that!

So how did I do this year, resolution wise?

• Make $50,000 in 2010.  No….but I did get SUPER close.  With my overtime used up for the month I am going to fall short on this goal, but only by a few hundred bucks.  I can deal with that.  This kind of makes me realize just how dependent I am on overtime though…I either need a better paying job or change some living habits, I think!
• Buy a car.   No dice…and now I don’t even have a car at all!  The towing company came by to pick up my van, which I donated to charity.  I’m saving money though, and will hopefully by a new ride by Febuary or March.
• Continue with school.  I’m still in school…so I guess that was a success.  I will be on academic probation for this upcoming semester, because I didn’t finish enough of my courseload, but I’m confident I can make it up. 
• Lose 100 pounds total.  UBER FAIL!  I’m not even close!  I’m still hoping/expecting to have some loss to report for December though, stay tuned!
• Achieve 15% body fat (or less).   Again, super UBER FAIL!
• Run a marathon, a half-marathon, and at least two additional road races.  So yeah, I didn’t run a marathon, BUT…I do have two 5ks and a half marathon under my belt, so I’m glad to have mostly achieved this goal.

All in all, some successes, some failures, and some pretty close calls.  2010 had a lot more downs than I would have liked, but I’ve lived, I’ve learned, and hopefully I’ll go into 2011 much stronger. 

2011 Resolutions

Yeah, I’ll have ‘em. Do I know what they are yet? Nope!  I don’t need to wait until 2011 to live better, but there are definitely some things I want to do better in the new year.

How did you do with your resolutions? Do you have any for the new year?

The New Year Challenges have finally come to an end, so now we can all step back, take a deep breath, nurse our sore body parts, etc…etc…

New Year 100 Mile Running Challenge
The winner of this challenge was JetJaguar, who ran a hella crazy 185.59 miles. WooT!  Four people overall completed the full 100 miles:

• JetJaguar: 185.59 miles
• Kellbow88: 132.62 miles
• Myself: 103.3 miles
• Karyn: 100.5 miles

You can view the full leaderboard by clicking here.  Overall EVERYONE did an incredible job and should be proud of themselves. WooT!

New Year 500 Mile Biking Challenge
Ugh…this challenge was the bane of my existence.  I created this challenge not really having alot of experience on the bike, so I really didn’t know that 500 miles entailed.  I bounced it off of a friend and he said it seemed reasonable, but yeah, that friend was a dumbass

BUT….we had four challengers, and one person was crazy awesome enough to actually pull it off!  Congratulations to Alex, who came in at 500.29 miles (or 805.14 kilometers, since he is Canadian)!!!

I personally gave in to the fact that I was not going to complete this, but I resolved to at least get 100 miles done.  I finished at 101.9, so kindaWooT to that. I want to congratulate Juncti (70 miles), and Mac11 (53.32 miles), who both still kicked some considerable butt as well.

So whats next?

As I said after Marathon Week, there will be more challenges.  I love creating these things, and I love seeing people succeed at them.  Future challenges MIGHT be done via Dailymile instead of Dailyburn, because I like the set up alot better, but we’ll see.

For right now I’m going to focus on getting on completing my 200 miles for the Perfect 10 Challenge, as well as…

Thats right, this month I will be trying my hand at the 100 Pushups Challenge, the 200 Hundred Situps Challenge, and the 200 Squats Challenge. WooT!

I was originally planning on starting them today, but unfortunately I haven’t done ANY of the initials tests yet (ugh). So next Monday will be the official start.

Are you in any challenges right now, and how are doing with them? 

Are you thinking of starting a challenge? I’m always looking for something else to throw myself into, so talk about it here!

Happy Monday everyone!

NEW YEAR CHALLENGES

New Year 100 Mile Running Challenge
-Only three days left, and 18.86 miles to go.  I can still rock this b*tch, but it does kind of suck that I’ve let it get down to the wire like this.  I honestly though I’d be closer to being done, if not already done, by now.

New Year 500 Mile Biking Challenge
-I’ve already accepted the fact that I am not going to get to 500 miles w/ this challenge, but I want to at least get 100 miles under my belt. I am currently at 92.9 miles, so I have 7.1 miles left. 

This is going to be a cardio loaded weekend, it looks like

PERFECT 10 CHALLENGE

And here is my Perfect 10 update for the week:

Steve is also asking we post something that noone knows about us, so here goes:  I hate bananas.  I think the texture, the taste, and the smell are amongst the most disgusting things in existence.  Anything banana flavored as well is a no go.  I can usually fair a bit better w/ flavored things (I don’t like strawberrys for example, but I like strawberry flavored stuff), but anything and everything banana is just gross.

HABIT.A.WEEK CHALLENGE

Lyn from Escape from Obesity is hosting a Habit.A.Week Challenge. The goal is easy enough, to make a small change each work in order to live a healthier lifestyle.  The “habit” however, was two fold, it was the increase your fiber intake, BUT, if you already eat enough fiber, to eat it from real food (as in fruits, veggies, beans, etc…not fiber one bars, yogurt, etc..)

Umm…yeah.  I always try to get the full daily value of fiber in, sure, but most of my fiber comes from Fiber One cereal.  One cup of that and you are good to go.  I have certainly upped the veggie intake and all, but not enough to ensure enough fiber, so I rely on the cereal. This one needs some work.

That’s all I have for now.  I am looking forward to finalizing the January New Year Challenges this weekend, and then moving forward into February.  What’s next, you ask? Stay tuned…

TGIF and have a great weekend!

NEW YEAR CHALLENGES

New Year 100 Mile Running Challenge
-I am in 4th place with 59.34 miles. As of this writing I am neck and neck with Karyn, who has logged 59.95 miles.  Kickass, right?  We have a little less than a week and half left, and I’m still confident that I can finish this thing, and hopefully soon.  Weather permitting, I want to log some long walk/runs this weekend, so we’ll see

New Year 500 Mile Biking Challenge
-God, I am sucking at this challenge.  I am totally ready and willing to admit that I tried to take on too much at one time.  I have only logged 79.47 miles, but I want to at least get 100 miles in before the challenge ends.  Totally need to give a shout out to Alex though, 341.02 miles?  SCHAWEET!

PERFECT 10 CHALLENGE

And here is my Perfect 10 update for the week:

Lose at least 15 pounds (starting weight 245 pounds)–WooT! I am down 7.2 pounds, and super excited to finally be making some progress!  Maybe I’ll even lose MORE than 15 pounds

Run/walk/jog 200 miles–59.34 miles down, which means I logged a little over 25 miles since last week, AND, I’m over a quarter of the way done.  I can accept that

Steve is also asking we post something that noone knows about us, so here goes:  This isn’t my first attempt at blogging, but has been the most successful by far.  Back in the day I jumped on the bandwagon with a bunch of friends and had my own blogger and livejournal blogs.  I found them not too long ago, and I couldn’t believe they were even still online.  Reading them, I realized I was a very whiny 20-21 year old, but I also realized that I had some pretty big ambitions back then.  If I stayed on the same track I was on when I wrote those blogs, I would probably be finishing law school right now.  Where am I now?  Struggling to get my bachelors degree. UGH!  Luckily I still have time to turn all of this around, and 4-5 years from now I plan to be in a MUCH better place

HABIT.A.WEEK CHALLENGE

Lyn from Escape from Obesity is hosting a Habit.A.Week Challenge. The goal is easy enough, to make a small change each work in order to live a healthier lifestyle.  The “habit” for this week was to eat more vegetables…

…and I’m proud to say that I have been ROCKING THIS!  Most of my snacks this week have consisted of apples and oranges, I’ve had salads for lunch, and I’m made sure I had at least one vegetable side for dinner.  WooT!  Unfortunately, there is still plenty of processed food in my diet though, so I have some work to do, as usual…

And…that’s it!

TGIF and have a great weekend!