"First it begins inside your heart.
Something moves.
Then opens.
Then frees itself.
And now you feel a rhythm breaking its long silence.
This is going to be good."

The above quote sums up what 2009 felt like to me. It has brought me to this point - facing some amazing goals for 2010. This is going to be good...

I first logged onto SparkPeople in June 2009. At 41 years old, 163lbs and feeling like a slug. I started to use SparkPeople and ...

"First it begins inside your heart.
Something moves.
Then opens.
Then frees itself.
And now you feel a rhythm breaking its long silence.
This is going to be good."

The above quote sums up what 2009 felt like to me. It has brought me to this point - facing some amazing goals for 2010. This is going to be good...

I first logged onto SparkPeople in June 2009. At 41 years old, 163lbs and feeling like a slug. I started to use SparkPeople and the Nutrition Tracker and kept reading about Eating Clean and the Couch to 5K program. By dedicating myself to both programs, I have am now the leanest I have ever been and have lost 32lbs. I am training for a half marathon a 30-K and two full marathons in 2010. It is remarkable to me what a difference 6 months can make, let alone a year or more. Stay tuned!

"You have control over your own actions and how you think about the events that impact your life. None us can control the outcomes, but your actions can increase the probability that desired outcomes will occur. There are no guarantees in life. The only guarantee is that doing nothing will get you nowhere."
~ Krumboltz & Levin

My original Spark Intro and weight loss progress is archived in a blog dated 12/28/2009.

SparkPeople Pledge:
"I promise to make healthy and positive choices so that I can live a healthy lifestyle and reach my goals."
________________________________________

:: WEIGHT LOSS - MAINTENANCE 2010 ::
SP Start weight June 2009 = 163lbs
Official weigh-in day = Thursday

12/31/09: 135.2lbs BMI 22.5
1/7/10: 131.9lbs BMI 21.8 [-3.3]
1/14/10: 130.8lbs BMI 21.7 [-1.1] TOM
1/21/10: 130.8lbs BMI 21.7 [0]
1/28/10: 130.5lbs BMI 21.7 [-0.3]
:: Total Loss for month of Jan/10 = 4.7lbs :: Overall = 32.5lbs ::
BMI = 21.7

2/4/10: 129lbs BMI 21.5
2/11/10:
2/18/10:
2/25/10:
:: Total Loss for month of Feb/10 = XX lbs :: Overall = XX lbs ::
BMI = XX

3/4/10:
3/11/10:
3/18/10:
3/25/10:
:: Total Loss for month of Mar/10 = XX lbs :: Overall = XX lbs ::
BMI = XX

To be continued...
________________________________________

:: RUNNING & EXERCISE PROGRAM ::

Couch to 5K (C25K) -- Start Date: Monday, July 20, 2009
Graduate C25K -- Graduation Date: Friday, Sept 25, 2009

Sunday :: LSD Group Run
Monday :: Off or Xtrain
Tuesday :: Steady Group Run
Wednesday :: Tempo/Hills/Fartlek Group Run
Thursday :: Off, X-train or Easy Run (on own)
Friday :: Off or Xtrain
Saturday :: Steady Run (on own)
________________________________________

:: 2009 RACES ::

CIBC Run for the Cure 5K -- Sun Oct 4/09: Done! (31:31)
Santa Shuffle 5K -- Sat Dec 5/09 (29:27)
Resolution Run 5K -- Thurs Dec 31/09 (30:32)

:: 2010 RACES ::

Chilly Half-Marathon 21K -- Sun March 7/10 (entered)
Around The Bay 30K -- Sun March 28/10 (entered)
Mississauga Marathon 42.2K -- Sun May 16/10 (entered)
Niagara Ultra 50K -- Sat June 19/10 (entered)
Dirty Girls 30K -- Sat Aug 7/10
Scotiabank TO Waterfront Marathon 42.2K -- Sun Sept 26/10 (entered)

All with my friend and training buddy GONE2THEDOGS!!!
________________________________________

:: QUOTES THAT INSPIRE ME ::

"It is very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants to quit"
~ George Sheehan

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that."
~ Fred Lebow

"While most are dreaming of success, winners wake-up and work hard to achieve it."
~ Unbekannt

"Allow yourself to be inspired. Allow yourself to succeed. Dare to excel."
~ Vince Dante

"I can't, I can, I'll try, I will"
~ my brother, Colin Eby

"You leave old habits behind by starting out with the thought, 'I release the need for this in my life'."
~ Wayne Dyer

"There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses,only results."
~ Art Turtock

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit."
~ Aristotle

"The goal is not to be better than the other man, but to be better than your previous self."
~ Sprichwort der Hindus

"Success in anything seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but don't quit. They hang on after others have let go".
~ Unknown

"Don't be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have when they take a bite out of you."
~ Zig Ziglar

"It is not enough to take steps which may some day lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man be perfected without trials."
~ Danish Proverb

�I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!�
~ Dr. Seuss (I love this quote)

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who
matter don't mind and those who mind don't matter."
~ Dr. Seuss

"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
~ George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

"Excellence is a state of mind, an attitude, revealed in a passionate impatience with mediocrity. It is the continuous reaching, beyond the easy grasp, for the best within us. Excellence breeds self-esteem, self-respect and self-confidence. Excellence is its own reward."
~ Unknown

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable, and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally."
~ Eckhart Tolle

The Three Complaint Rule:
Practice the "three complaint rule." When it comes to complaining, you are allowed to complain about something three times. After that, either change your attitude, change your behavior, accept the situation, or move on (and stop complaining).
~ Lucy MacDonald

:: AND ALWAYS INSPIRING NIKE QUOTES ::

"Training is the opposite of hoping."

"You don't stand in front of a mirror before a run and wonder what the road will think of your outfit. You don't have to listen to its jokes and pretend they're funny in order to run on it. It will not be easier to run if you dress sexier. The road doesn't notice when you're not wearing make up. It does not care how old you are. And you don't feel uncomfortable if you make more money than it. The only thing the road cares about is that you pay it a visit once in a while."

"Sooner or later, you start taking yourself seriously. You know when you need a break. You know when you need a rest. You know what to get worked up about and what to get rid of. And you know when it's time to take care of yourself, for yourself. To do something that makes you stronger, faster, more complete. Because you know it's never too late to have a life. And never too late to change one."

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough, they'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. They will tell you no. And YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."

"Too often we are scared. Scared of what we might not be able to do. Scared of what people might think if we tried. We let our fears stand in the way of our hopes. We say no when we want to say yes. We sit quietly when we want to scream. And we shout with the others, when we should keep our mouths shut. Why? After all,we do only go around once. There's really no time to be afraid. So stop. Try something you've never tried. Risk it. Enter a triathlon. Write a letter to the editor. Demand a raise. Call winners at the toughest court. Throw away your television. Bicycle across the United States. Try bobsledding. Try anything. Speak out against the designated hitter. Travel to a country where you don't speak the language. Patent something. You have nothing to lose and everything everything everything to gain."

"There is no finish line."

"DENY DESTINY."

"FORCE FATE."

"JUST DO IT."
________________________________________

Read More About SPIRITRUN (Updated February 8)

Member Comments Page (431 total):  123Next >Last >>