Goals for the Next Year

I recently hit my one year anniversary. For the last year I have been going to the gym religiously, and avoiding  fatty foods. Last year the only goal that I had made for myself was to lose weight and get in shape. And in the last year I have done exactly that. I have lost 55 pounds and I am in the best shape of my life. Do you I still have some weight to lose? Absolutely. Can I get in even better shape? Without a doubt. But that's the beauty of exercise, there is always a new area of fitness to master, and a new part of the body to condition. Recently I explored a new form of fitness that is really foreign to me, I went running. I wrote a post about it here, and while writing that post I realized that I have so many more fitness goals than I did last year.

I think it's good that I make some goals for the next year of my life. I am finding out that I tend to have a lot of weight plateaus, so in an attempt to keep myself motivated, I think it would be smart to have goals that I am working towards, besides just losing weight. So without further ado, here are my goals for the next year:

1) Run a 5k. Or two. Or maybe even three. Okay, three 5k races might be pushing it but maybe not. For now I have a goal to run at least one 5k race and we'll see what happens from there. Here are some that I think I would really enjoy running in:

• Glow Run  

 

• Challenge Obesity 5K
• MN Aids Walk
• The Naked Foot 5K
• Warrior Dash  

 



I think this is more than a 5k, but it would really test my endurance!

2)  Get an ass. I currently have a flat butt. It almost curves in, rather than out. It's sad, and pathetic. What I am lacking in the ass department I make up for in the boob department but I want an ass, no more pancake butt! Sorry if this is crude or inappropriate, but it's real life. My real, sad, assless life.

3) Participate in a triathlon. Not a long course triathlon, or that crazy, unfathomable thing called the Ironman Triathlon. My YWCA hosts an annual women's triathlon. This one seems a little more manageable, it would be a 500 yard swim, then a 15.5 mile bike ride and a 5K run. I could not participate in this sort of triathlon in my current state but if I started training, I really think I could get there by August!

4) Get toned arms. Now that I have started losing my fat girl arms, I yearn for skinny, toned, sleek, beautiful arms. My arm inspiration?

Jennifer Aniston:

 Source

Or Cameron Diaz:

Source

Amazing, right? I cannot wait for the day that my arms has even the slightest bit of definition like these women!

5) Figure out my role in the fitness community. One thing that this past year has taught me is that I want to work in the field of fitness. I want to work with people who understand the benefit of living an active lifestyle or are on the path to living a healthy lifestyle, just like me. I want to help inspire people and equally be inspired by others. Now the hard part is figuring out what path I should take. Should I do personal training? A health/wellness coach? A group fitness instructor? Weight Watchers Leader? Or something else entirely? I am not sure, but I plan to figure it out!

Running? Me? What?

I did something last Thursday night that I never thought I would be able to do or want to do. I went for a run. Yes, you read that right, I went running. By choice. No one was chasing me. I just felt like running would clear my head. And it did. And guess what? I want to go running again. Gasp! Who would have ever thought? Not me, that's for sure. But let me back up a little bit, and explain why the thought of me running is such exciting thing!

I hate running. No, I loathe running. I always get shin splints, my knees crack and parts of my body jiggle that I would really prefer not to jiggle. In high school when we had to run the mile, I would walk. Yeah, I was that kid. I thought it was better to walk and get a slow time than run and still get a slow time. So a year ago, when I began this magical journey to weight loss, I had no false hopes that I would become a runner. Did I wish that I could run? Yes. I so desperately wished that I was one of those people that found running to be therapeutic. But I was not. Running was painful and embarrassing.

I have 2 friends that go to my gym and both of them can run. I always wished I could sign all 3 of us up for a 5k race, the only problem was that I needed to start training. So in attempt to test my running ability I tried to run around the track at the gym. Awful. It was a complete disaster. At the time, my boobs were much larger than they are today, so with every stride my chest would pound down and it felt like the wind was being knocked out of me. Lovely, right? I made it one lap around the track and gave up.

Ever since that failed running attempt I have slowly been trying to run more. My Monday night Circuit class starts out with running laps around the gym, and this used to be the hardest part of the class for me. Actually, I didn't even try going to this class for months because I dreaded having to run, even for 3 minutes. However after months of running laps in class it became a little easier each week. It may have helped that I have since dropped 3 whole cup sizes, so now it doesn't feel like I am going to collapse from air lose. But parts of body still jiggle that I would prefer not to jiggle. Oh well, I must remember to cheer the small victories!

So when last Thursday rolled around I had no intention of going for a run. But I had a pretty bad day at work because I was working on a deadline, and was being tempted with donuts that someone had brought into the office. At the end of the day I left work in a complete funk. I was not in a good mood, I felt so out of it, and going to the gym was the last thing that I wanted to do. But I knew that I needed to do something. If I had sat at home I probably would have binged. It was just one of those kind of moods.

And all of sudden I had an aha moment and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to run. People are always talking about going for a run to clear their heads, and that was just what I wanted, clarity. So I strapped on my tennis shoes, secured pepper spray in boobs, and set out to the wealthy part of my neighborhood. I figured that the bad guys would be casing houses, not looking to mug me! And I was right, I didn't get mugged. So they were either casing houses or I was too fast and they couldn't catch me! HA! That's unlikely.

I started out with a fast paced walk, which quickly turned into a jog. I was able to keep up a moderate jogging pace for about 4 blocks. Then I walked for a block. Then I started running again. Then walked. You get the drift. Even though I didn't run the entire time, I ended up running more than I walked. And for an overweight, non runner that is pretty triumphant! As I was running through the neighborhood I passed several other people that were running, and I even got a head nod of approval from a couple that I crossed paths with. I must have fooled them into thinking that I was a legitimate runner! If I can fool other people, maybe I can also fool myself into thinking that I am a runner. One can only hope.

And to avoid those dreaded shin splints that I figured I would get, I spent the rest of the night icing my shins. It worked, I woke up the next morning with minimal pain! Hooray!