Ready for a fresh start with some clear, simple goals

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Had a good run today, 3 miles + with only a couple minimal walking periods. And I made my mind up with a different approach to the continuing problems of eating and exercise. I decided that the best thing for me at this point would be to set smaller, simple goals on both fronts. Goals that I feel I should be able to accomplish in the desired time. And then build on that progress moving forward.

Running

I haven't given up on the long term goal of completing a marathon. But, faced with the twin obstacles of irregular holiday schedules and cold weather beginning to rear it's head I wondered how could I get there? But I realized that today that instead of focusing on that big, long range goal I could turn my focus to another, simpler goal, one I can build on.

So my goal now is simple: run a 10K on January 1. I feel confident that I can do that. And let me be clear, I am not talking a run/walk, I could to that now. I want to be able to do that distance with no breaks. So I think I can do that. And once MiCoach stops being goofy I can set up a training schedule to accomplish it.

I figure that while I currently run 3 miles as my regular distance it makes sense to choose that next distance as a goal. And by hitting that distance at that time it would be an excellent building block toward the eventual goal of a marathon.

Weight

Simple, get back under 200 by the end of the year. Again, like running a 10K, this is not something I haven't done before. But by setting an achievable interim goal I can focus myself better.

Of course this will probably be harder to accomplish because I will have to get more disciplined in my eating. With that in mind I have decided to return to monitoring my eating with the LoseIt app. Like using a running app to track my running distances the discipline of filling out the eating log should really help me get better about my eating habits.

These are simple goals. Ones that I can build on. And also know that once I succeed at them I can use that as a spring board for future goals.