Keeping myself honest

Now that July is here, 2011 is a little more than halfway over, so I thought this would be a good time to look back at some of the resolutions I made at the beginning of the year and see how I'm doing:

1) I resolved to put running back into my lifestyle, and I listed several races that I wanted to take part in. Since my plantaar fascitis seemed to have died down, I was pretty ambitious with my running goals -- ironically, all the running I've been doing has caused it to act up again. So I've scaled back on the running. The only race I've done so far this year is Bay to Breakers; I pulled out of Juana Run in March and did not sign up for the 4th of July run. And sadly, I did not get to sign up for the Nike Half Marathon in October (it's an oversubscribed race, so they have a lottery, and I didn't make it). I can still do the Turkey Trot, though, and there are other half marathons I could sign up for. All is not lost!

But the good news is, I've decided not to let my heel pain become my excuse for not getting up and staying active. I still get out and run. And when my heel starts hurting, I walk. I may be slower, but I'm still raising my heart rate and breaking out a sweat.


2) I started taking Zumba dance classes. Unfortunately, that also fell by the wayside -- but not exactly by choice. I went to class every week until mid-April, then decided not to sign up for the next session because the kids would be starting their summer vacation. Right now they're with me most of the time, so I've put Zumba on hold until school starts again and I get my Tuesday mornings back again. Truthfully, it's kind of nice to have a break. I think I'll be even more enthusiastic about once I start again.


3) I set up a five-day-per week exercise schedule. From the onset I gave myself a break and said, for the record, that I didn't expect myself to keep it up -- but here I am, in July, exercising 5 days a week or more! Yay me! Okay, my workouts aren't exactly the ones I listed down in my January post. I'm doing less running and more walking. No more Zumba for now, so I'm doing more workout videos and strength training. Alfie bought an exercise bike, so I've added a bit of cycling to the workout mix. My workouts are shorter, usually 30 minutes, sometimes even 20, but I work out almost every day.



My resolutions aren't working out exactly the way I had planned them at the beginning of the year, but I'm counting it as a success -- so far -- because I've still got the big picture in mind. I think I'm on track with the underlying principle behind all my resolutions -- getting exercise back as a regular part of my life. Come December, I may find myself tap dancing and swimming laps, but if I can honestly say that I've kept my health as a top priority all year, I'll be able to hold my head high and say I've kept my New Years resolutions for the first time in my life.