No Turning Back

Hubs and I have been having an awesome week off so far!  We originally had booked the week off after the race as I figured I'd be a hurting unit from the marathon and I'd need to be piggy-backed around the house.  Since I changed to the half marathon, it's been great because I'm not hobbling around.  We both had massages yesterday which were fabulous.  My legs were a little stiff so my RMT did a lactic acid flush and today they're not sore at all so I did a quick run on the treadmill.  I'm pretty happy about this because after last year's half I could barely walk for a week...stairs were intense.  Not good when you have a three story house!

So what's next?  We don't have any runs scheduled until January 1st, which is the Running Room's annual Resolution Run.  This got me to thinking...what can I do in the meantime now that I'm not training for anything specific?  My next big race won't likely be until the Spring sometime so I don't need to start training yet.  I started thinking about the Resolution Run which made me think about my new year's resolutions and it totally hit me!  There's that one item that is always on my New Year's resolution list...to drop the 10 - 15 pounds that keeps plaguing me.  My weight keeps creeping up every year, and then I'll work all year long to lose it and then gain it back over the holiday season plus a couple extra for good measure.   My clothes are just that tidge too tight and I noticed the sign of excess avoirdupois - the dreaded bra-cutting-into-backfat situation.  And the cold hard numbers - yesterday I was at the doctor's office and got weighed on the REAL super accurate scale (not my lovely oh-so forgiving scale at home that's off by about five pounds) and I didn't like the number that I heard.  I want this perpetual winter coat gone for good.  So what's a fluffy little Asian girl to do?

A-ha!  Next fitness challenge is in my sights.  Today I took the plunge and signed up for the 8-week 10 pound challenge at my bootcamp.  All the participants put in $225...$25 goes to the studio, and in return you get two bootcamp classes.  If you lose 5 pounds in the first month, you get $50 back...and if you lose the remaining 5 pounds by the end of the 8 weeks, you get $150 back.  Any money that remains in the kitty gets split between those who lose the 10 pounds.  I thought this would be good for a multitude of reasons...it starts Oct 30 and runs to the end of December, so I won't be tempted to gorge myself over the holiday season and really pack on the pounds.  I won't have to start the New Year on a diet, like I have every year for as long as I can remember...I can start the year feeling great.  Right now, I'm not happy with how I'm looking and feeling - I'm not comfortable and I'm feeling loafy.   I'm not training for anything right now so it's a good time - cutting back calories and marathon training aren't a good mix.  And losing that last 10 - 15 pounds will help me be a better runner as generally lighter is better.  Maybe it'll help me break the sub 2 hour half marathon that keeps eluding me! 

So you're probably wondering why the heck am I blogging about this?  Because I'm hoping to get your support especially when I'm about to cave and have that piece of pizza or that handful of chips that's calling my name.  I need your help to hold me accountable, because accountability is the name of the game.  The more people I tell, the more people will hold me to my goal.  It's what kept me on track for training for the marathon - when the going got tough, one of the things that kept me putting one foot in front of the other is that I had put it out there and told people I was going to do it, so I just had to do it.  No excuses.  And maybe it might encourage someone to get out there and take the first steps towards losing weight because they'll know that they're not alone.  Losing weight is never an easy task, regardless of how much weight you have to lose.

So no turning back now!  I've signed up, paid my fee and now I've put this out into the interweb for all to see.  My first weigh-in is Oct 30th - look out for future updates on the 10 pound challenge!