Learning from the past, looking ahead at the future

Every year I read many posts about people doing new years resolutions.   Every year I come up with something, but then usually drop it with in the first couple of months, just like everyone else.  Last year was a little different, my goal was to be more in shape*, and I must say "I think it was a success, but I want more."

I started off by buying a folding bike, which was great when I could commute to work (2.5 miles each way).  I since moved to a new city where I could commute via bike, but it is too far for a everyday kind of activity (14.5 miles).  I also joined a gym for the first time in my life.  It was a small community center gym that had enough equipment to be satisfactory for the price.  I worked out 5 times a week for a while.  Later it dropped to 3 times a week, but I did more intense workouts.  I even ran a 5k, something I haven't done since high school x-country.

After moving to another state in May things changed slightly.  I was in a new environment and didn't know anywhere I wanted to go biking, and didn't have a good gym.  The bike quickly started picking up dust.  I tried doing workouts at the apartment complex gym, but the equipment selection is quite... lacking.  My wife and I started searching for good gym, we came across Princeton Club.  It sounds la-de-fucking-da, it kind of is.  For $30 per month (special pricing that they have all the time) you get a membership.  We jumped on it and I must say that I am happy with it.  They have a bunch of equipment, good FREE classes, and racquetball (something I loved doing in college).  I haven't partaken in any classes yet, but I plan to try out spinning next year.

After a month of dust collecting I thought I should start trying to utilize my bike on the weekends for casual rides.  I quickly found that the city I moved to is one of the top ten in the nation for bike trails.  I mapped out a course and set off one Saturday morning.  It was awesome.  I've never scene so many bikers out together.  There is so many people with a lot of money put in there bikes.  Kind of crazy.

One of many great things about the city is the lakes surrounding it.  There are many parks along the water that you can just go sit.  During my rides I like to find a 1/2 way point where you can just sit and rest for a while and enjoy the day.  Its pretty nice.

I have also been working out about 3 times per week which has really helped in the winter months.

This next year I have decided I want to "step it up".

I want to run a 1/2 marathon.  Most likely sometime in the summer, probably around June (searching in progress).

I have already kind of started training for it.  I will succeed where I failed before.  I have tried multiple times to do this, and always ended up injured during training.  The one problem I had was I didn't workout, I just ran.  This time I am going to have a plan where I workout most of the time, and slowly ramp up my running.  This way my body will be ready for the running part.

Think I can do it?  Want to join?

For now I'm going to do workouts 3 times per week, and try to do 2 runs per week.  We will see how it goes, I'll try to keep you posted but as always, no promises.  I'm going to use http://www.jefit.com/ to keep track of my workouts, and nikeplus.com to keep track of my running, and a new "workout" google calendar to keep a reminder in my calendar on what to do today.

What are your new years goals?

Last but not least I want to say goodbye to my Grandpa who passed during this holiday.  He was a Veteren of the military, a husband, a father, a grand father, and a great grand father.  He had a long life and he is no longer suffering from his illness.  God bless, and rest in peace.

* My initial goal was to run 5 5k's for charity events.  I only got to one, but 1/2 way through the year I realized it wasn't going to happen to I adjusted it to just be "be more in shape."