2011 year in review

It's been a LOT longer than I planned since my last post.  I have a few things to document/chronicle for future reference & hopefully to encourage those who might stumble onto this blog by accident.  Overall 2011 was a year of significant improvement for me from a health standpoint.  It was a time of putting back into practice things I have been preaching to patients and my own children for years.  I share some of these things not as a bragging post, but a time to celebrate with gratitude some of the good things that have happened from a health/fitness standpoint in hopes of encouraging others.  In the next few days I hope to make a post with some general "startup" diet and exercise suggestions for those who are wanting to start off the New Year in a healthier way....stay "posted".

August 2011:  Up to this point I have been "trying to eat better and exercise more" (both of which are good things to do), but without a significant plan of action.  For years I have told people if they are TRULY serious about health/weight loss they needed to keep a food diary for at least one week (longer is better).  By logging EVERYTHING put in your mouth it's easier to account for weight loss/gain.  I truly wish I had a dime for everytime I've heard someone say, "I just don't eat that much". 

Modern day solution to this is:  www.myfitnesspal.com

Shy of the actual work of exercise and eating right, this in my opinion is one of the most powerful fitness/weight loss tools around....and it's FREE!!!  You just have to use it for it to work. Since August of 2011 I have been able to slowly and steadily lose and keep off almost 20 pounds.  More on this later.

September 2011:  My wife and I rode in our first century (100 mile bicycle ride) on our tandem bike at the Sunrise Century in Clarksville, TN.  The good news: we completed the ride.  The bad news: it was over 100 degrees by 10:30am and in spite of lots of fluid intake I got dehydrated and had some horrible leg cramps.  My oldest and youngest child also joined us for the 33 mile option of the same ride which as a parent couldn't have made me prouder as they encouraged each other together to ride over twice as far as either had done before!  Here's a link to that ride's website:  http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/

The following weekend, my wife and I participated in the Multiple Sclerosis society's MS 150 ride in Tunica, MS riding our tandem again for just shy of 150 miles over 2 days (quite a bit faster and easier than we did in 2010).  We had the opportunity to meet and ride with some truly amazing folks including several living with MS.  Again, I'm reminded what a blessing good health truly is!  Link to 2012 MS 150: http://biketns.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_TNS_homepage



October 2011:  We completed an "out and back" ride from Patti's restaraunt in Grand Rivers, KY down most of The Trace (a winding hilly beautiful 2 lane drive) going through Land Between the Lakes into TN.  We logged 70 miles that day on our individual road bikes with a good friend/neighbor of ours.  Also, I started some "more serious" running/training for my first half marathon (St. Jude in Memphis) coming up the first weekend of December (see below)

November 2011:  We rode our tandem on the shorter leg of Tour de Reelfoot with another couple.  The distance wasn't too bad at 30 miles (didn't have time to do the 66 or 100 mile option), but the temperature in the 30's at the start made it "interesting".  http://www.nwtncyc.org/id19.html

A HUGE event for me as a dad and husband was the gathering of family and friends for Thanksgiving day in our home, but a real treat was running the Turkey Day 5k that morning with my wife and 3 of my 4 kids.  My wife, youngest son and myself all had personal best times in spite of the 30-40 degree weather.  http://www.goldsgym.com/gyms/tennessee/jackson/216/page/19437/11497

December 2011:  Ran/finished my first half marathon (13.1 miles) the first weekend of December at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon weekend.  Was able to make it under my goal of 2 hrs without injury/mishap.  There were almost 10,000 runners in the half and full marathon event that started together and another 7,000 that ran in a 5k or 1 mile family fun run.  The whole event has raised over $4 million!  I started this as a fitness goal and finished it humbled again by some amazing kids/staff/family along the route including a run through the St. Jude campus with one child holding a sign saying "Thanks for running since I can't".  I'm ashamed of how little I did fundraising wise, but plan to be very aggressive about this next year.  Lord willing I will run the full marathon next year.  Check out the marathon weekend website for info on fundraising for St. Jude and opportunities to run in the 1/5/13.1/26.2 mile options: http://www.stjudemarathon.org/

I've tried to include websites for these events to give you some ideas for 2012.  It certainly helps to motivate yourself to do some difficult things when you are doing it for someone else's benefit.  Look for similar opportunities in your area.