Out of the Frying Pan

And into the fire... Some things of note:

I cancelled my Y membership today and I'm feeling a little nervous about it. This year, I intend to generally track my progress a la Bridget Jones by marking down where I start the year and periodically (but not on any given schedule) checking in with myself. Maybe if I'm good, Collin Firth will show up and think I'm perfect, just the way I am. :)

I registered on Christmas Eve for my first half marathon. So far I am up to 12 (very tough) miles in my long runs but my running group is going strong. Most people are going to run a later race, but I've got to be up for 13.1 miles on January 27th. It's making me a little nervous.

I've been trying to keep my eating under control but this last month has been stressful. I nearly lost my dad to an infection of his blood right around Thanksgiving, and then a couple weeks ago they diagnosed him as being in the early stages of Alzheimer's (which, if I'm being honest, I really figured before he went for all the testing). Add in the holidays and you have a perfect recipe for a girl who will eat WAY more chocolate pie than is good for her. But now that the holiday is over, I will eat my black eyed peas tomorrow and get myself back on track. I swear, though, my life used to be a lot more laid back than I feel like it has been this past year.

I have decided that my goal for 2008 is to run my first (only?) marathon in the fall. It will be tough since training starts in May and runs clean through the fiery Texas summer (there's a reason "hotter'n hell" is a common response when discussing the weather down here) but I think I can do it.

I've decided that I'm going to try and make weight loss less of a priority in the new year. Instead, I intend to focus on living the lifestyle that I want to - eating good, healthy, nutritious foods, continuing to run, and enjoying opportunities that come my way - and see where that leads. If I start gaining again, we may have to re-think this strategy, but this is basically the strategy I started out in the first year of this blog and it worked well for me. Over the past year I have been more fixated on weight and as a result (?) I've gone nowhere fast. I'll keep you updated on how it's going.

Finally, I'm so proud of each of you for what you've accomplished in the last year. Some of you had tremendous losses that reflect your hard work and dedication to yourselves. Others managed to maintain your weight at a level that a year or two ago may have seemed unimaginable. And still others found in themselves a strength and endurance to go beyond what you thought you were capable of and push yourselves to excel. I am proud of you all, I love you all, and wish everyone many blessings in the New Year.