Plans for 2011

• Run at least one marathon - already registered for Go! St. Louis in April
• Weigh less than 200 lbs and maintain a "normal" BMI for at least 6 months of the year
• Get into a homework routine with Ellie
• Four random unplanned vacation days to spend with family
• Maintain budget and continue to reduce debt

2010 Recap

I kept a list of my 2010 plans on the fridge all year long and I think I did alright.  I didn't complete everything I had planned, but do plans ever turn out exactly as you expect?  Here's the recap from January 2010.

Continue to get in better shape:

• I definitely did this.  I didn't get quite as far as I'd hoped, but I finally got the Wii Fit to tell me that my weight was in the "normal" range.
• I did run a half marathon, which was awesome, and have continued to run.  My speed has increased so that I'm running 10k in under an hour.
• Throughout the winter, I've been running in the St. Louis Track Club's Frostbite Series of runs, which will get me up to a half marathon in late January.  I'm also registered for the Go! St. Louis Marathon in April!!
• I gave myself credit for the "do pull-ups" goal because I was doing them on the swing set while pushing the girls on the swings this summer.  I'm not proficient, but good enough for now.

Make the home office presentable again

• This summer, my sister and her family came to live with us for a while as they transitioned to being St. Louis residents.  The home office became my niece's room.  And I'm thrilled with how nice it looked when she moved in!  (In the end, she wanted to spend more time sleeping in her mom and dad's room, but it was still worth cleaning up.)

Improve financial management skills

• We've definitely been pretty good at maintaining our budget.  I think we missed one or two months, but we've done alright.
• We also restructured some of our debt and have been able to make great progress.  Close, but not quite a 50% reduction.

Improve work/life balance

• Work/life balance is always complicated for me.  With running during lunch at work and having lunches at home sometimes, I've definitely made progress.  I haven't taken off as many random "let's go do something fun" days.  There's progress to be made there.

Academic Avocation

• I started NaNoWriMo again, this year, with the best of intentions.  It didn't work out, though.  My wife wasn't doing it along with me and we had a lot of things going on.  Excuses, sure.  After a week, I decided that it just wasn't worth it this year.  Maybe next year.
• I also didn't submit any book proposals.  Oh well.

Other things I did accomplish this year:

• A five mile hike up in the Snow Range in Wyoming that was truly awesome!
• We're now expecting another child to join the family in March 2011.
• I joined a business intelligence workgroup as part of HIMSS, which may lead to contributing to a book.
• I volunteered to be a mentor for a Wash U engineering student.
• I grew a winter beard.

Friday's Wednesday Weigh-in

I feel like I've struggled with weight all my life.  I remember times when parents told me I would hit a growth spurt and grow into my weight; I remember the day that my waist size got larger than my inseam; I remember telling myself thousands of times that I just have a big frame and would look silly any skinnier.  Really good at deceiving myself.  Well... today I reached a huge milestone.  The Wii Fit told me that my BMI was in the "Normal" range today for the first time.  As all of my friends know, I haven't weighed this little ever.  I have only one close friend that's ever seen me weight less, and that's because we went to Junior High together.

From 2010-06

Happy National Running Day

I got my long anticipated new running shoes today: Vibram FiveFinger Bakilas.  I've only run halfway up the street and back a couple of times (with the girls), but so far so good.  We'll see how they do on a longer run tomorrow maybe!

Coincidentally, today happens to be National Running Day!
Coincidentally, I officially announced the founding of the Sisters of Mercy Health System Running Club today, too.

Yeah for running!

Wednesday Weigh-In / Running Log

Today's weigh-in came in at 205.4.... which is .9 lbs away from "normal."  I'm less concerned about really being in the "normal" BMI range according to my Wii Fit.  What I really want is just to hear the Wii Fit say "that's normal" or whatever it's going to say.  I think I'll take a video of it when that happens!

Running plans include the St. Louis Science Center 5k/10k this weekend.  Sarahlynn is running the 5k.  I'm going to run the 10k.  The girls are running a kids 1/2 mile around the planetarium.  Fun stuff!!  We practiced this past weekend in the nice cool weather.

More fun - Sarahlynn's parents are coming to visit this weekend and help watch the girls while we're running.  (I think they're proud of us.)

Wednesday Weigh-In

I feel like I've been pretty flat in my weight loss for too long.  In the past month, I'm down just a pound.  So, I took the time to look back on the Wii Fit (really wish I could do that online and post some graphics here easily).  Last April, I was at a high of 265.4 (obese).  Today, I weighed in at 206.8 (barely overweight).  If I hit my goal by next Wednesday, I'll have lost exactly 60 lbs since last April and will have crossed over into the Wii Fit's definition of "normal" BMI range.

Clearly, I'm using my Wii Fit's calculations and ratings to measure my progress.  I do recognize that my ultimate goal isn't to satisfy the Wii Fit.  It's to get to a place where I'm comfortable with my weight.  That's obviously both a physical exercise as well as a mental one.

And update to my running log, too.  I'm now using SmartRunner on my phone for GPS tracking.  It also keeps my running log up to date online, too.  My RSS is here.

Before and After

December 2005:	April 2010:
Granted, I think I was sick in the Dec 2005 picture.