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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

July Goals!

Well, now that you've seen how I did on my June goals, I think it's time to step it up for the month of July. Some say I may have set my bar a little too high out of the gate, but I still think I underperformed and can do much better in July.

I think I'm really going to like this infrastructure I am setting up for myself - weekly (give or take a day) video updates/weigh ins coupled with monthly goals and report cards. I'd start looking forward to yearly events, but let's hope that I'm not fighting this battle for another three years and am just blogging about all the races I'm doing and PR's I'm setting! :)

But without further stalling ado, let's ring in the new month of July with another set of attainable goals (both fitness-related and otherwise)!


- Weigh 250 (or less) by my b-day (August 6!)*
- Drink at least 100oz of water per day
- Read one Runner's World & one Men's Health
- Start saving $$ for a new car
- Complete every day of my 1/2 marathon training schedule
- Join the "Plank a Day" movement
- Bigger social media reach

* NOTE: I will be gone on vacation from July 28-August 5, so I won't be able to weigh in until Monday, August 6th - my birthday!

For vacation, my wife and I will be heading up to Silver Birch Ranch in Northern Wisconsin. A place like this has rock climbing, kayaking, swimming, horseback riding and acres of land for hiking and exploring. I really want to get some of this weight off so I can enjoy some/all of these activities!

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on my second round of goals! What are some of your summer goals?

June 2012 Report Card

A few weeks ago I wrote a post listing some of my goals for the month of June 2012. Now that we've found ourselves in July, I figured it'd be a good time to step back and look at how I did! I'm going to be doing something like this each month using the title of "Report Card" - I think it'll be fun! Well...unless I end up with a big, fat "F"

Below I have listed the goals that I stated back towards the beginning of June. I've graded each individual goal (kind of like as if they were their own class in school). *GULP*

1. Lose 15-20 pounds so I can get myself back into the 250s - D+
2. Avoid all non-diet soda - B+
3. Be able to run 5 miles without stopping - C-
4. Gain 50 combined Twitter followers/YouTube subscribers/Facebook page 'Likes' - A-
5. Blog at least once a week - A
6. Read one Runner's World and one Men's Health - F


OVERALL: C

So let's walk through these in a little more detail, shall we?

1. I gave myself a D+ for losing weight because I have lost about 5 of those 15-20 pounds. Percentage-wise that probably warrants an F, but I know the effort I've been putting in lately. Definitely room for improvement!

2. I've been doing pretty decent on the soda, but a few times in the last month I gave into the orange Crush in the fridge at work. Free stuff is so hard to pass up sometimes!


3. I'm just kicking off my half marathon training, so the endurance isn't quite there yet for five miles. I've logged a lot of treadmill time in June, but wasn't pushing myself hard enough to increase endurance. Kind of just settled for the running/walking pattern.

4. These numbers SHOULD be easy to track, but then again, I failed to take note of where all the stats stood when the month started...whoops! I have, however, upped my Facebook and Twitter 'likes'/'follows' quite a bit, because I've seen all the notification emails that have come through my inbox. Thanks to everyone for joining me!

5. I think I've stayed pretty on top of this one. I think things here at the blog are really gaining some momentum, and I'm really looking forward to seeing the opportunities that come from this here site.

6. The closest I got to reading my mags was packing them in my backpack last weekend when we went camping. I have them on my person a LOT, but have never found myself unoccupied enough to bust them out and flip some pages.

Looking back, this month hasn't been anywhere near a TOTAL loss. I've made some solid steps forward, and plan to carry the progress over into July. And don't worry, I'll have a July Goals post up REAL soon! (Probably later today)

Monday, July 2, 2012

Half Marathon Giveaway 2.0



Well, well, well, what do we have here? By the title of this post, it looks like I have another free, half marathon registration to give away! So I'm guessing that's why you're here!

The folks over at the Chicago Half Marathon have graciously given me a free registration to hand out to one of my faithful readers. If you like downtown Chicago, the lakefront and running, then you may want to get your name in the hat for this (if you're not already signed up, that is).

The race takes place on Sunday, September 9th at 7:00am in Jackson Park and is the second leg of the Windy City Challenge (click for details). That means if you've already run the Allstate 13.1 Marathon Series race back on June 9th, you're elligible to get a THIRD medal for running that race and this one!

All you have to do to get your name in the running for this FREE registration is leave me a comment letting me know what sport you're most looking forward to in the upcoming Summer Olympics! I find it hard to narrow down one event, but after Beijing how can you not be looking forward to the men's 100m dash?! Usain Bolt is a beast!

Can't wait to give this away - I'll pick a winner on Sunday, July 8th!