I’m pretty sure I used to be a runner. But these days, I’m feeling slow. This morning, my gym did a 24 minute run for distance. While I’m sure I did better than I would have a few weeks ago, this definitely reminded me that I have a ways to go to feel really fit again.

But that’s ok. This year is all about trying new things and reaching for long-term goals. So, I’ve set myself a challenge, and I hope I can get some folks to join me. Introducing the first ever SWIM BIKE bRUNch 5K Challenge. Here’s how it works:

• Sometime between now and Sunday, 1/24, run a 5K on a treadmill to set a base time.
• Choose a goal for how much you want to improve in one month and send me your goal (via this blog, facebook or Twitter — you can PM me to keep things private if you would like).
• Train accordingly.
• The week of 2/15 (four weeks later), run another 5K on a treadmill and send me your results.

Your efforts will be rewarded with one of the following virtual medals:

• Conqueror (gold): You finished both 5Ks and met your improvement goal!
• Victor (silver): You finished both 5Ks and improved your time!
• Finisher (bronze): You finished both 5Ks!

Post your medal on social media, send it to your mom, or delete it because you think it is cheesy (it is a free challenge, so the value of the prize is largely emotional). Regardless, you’ll know that you did it, and I will too.

Reporting results is meant to be entirely motivating. This is a judgment free zone. But signing up for something and sharing my goal really helps me commit to achieving it, so I hope you’ll try it out and join in!

Fitness goals are a strange beast. The things I really want – feeling better, having more energy, looking awesome in that dress – are inherently squishy. It is hard to feel like I’ve “made it.” When do I feel better enough?

So, those of us seeking fitness improvement often turn to numbers. For some, certain numbers are critical, such as cholesterol count and blood sugar levels. But most of us focus on one number in particular: weight.

I own a scale, but rarely use it. Sometimes this is out of fear of what it will tell me, but most of the time it is simply because I tell myself that the number doesn’t matter. I want those less tangible things, and deciding to lose ten pounds or reach x weight seems misguided, arbitrary and potentially frustration inducing.

I’ve decided to do it anyway.

The gym I’ve recently been going to just started a six week weight loss challenge. Given all the thought I’ve been putting into my health and fitness lately, this challenge intrigued me. I took a few days to think about it, and decided it was worth a go for several reasons:

• Math. I like the fact that progress against a number value goal is easy to assess. I am also acutely aware that this inequality is accurate:

my weight now > my weight last year > my weight the year before

• My competitive streak. The gym actually set this up as a competition between sister gyms. The fact that others in my gym are depending on me to do my best is a great incentive. There are also individual prizes. I like prizes.
• Chance to assess what I really value. I’m starting off with a fairly restricted, low carb and no alcohol diet for the first couple of weeks. I’m actually looking at this as an opportunity to see what I really miss. That will help me define what is worth indulging in as the weeks and months go on.
• I have a buddy. Kellen the Inspiring is doing this with me. She’s encouraged me to join her for regular hip-hop dance classes (which I’m loving, by the way), made me a more regular attendee of Orangetheory, and is someone I can openly chat with about fitness goals. She also shares my love of wine and cheese and other tasty things. She will be great support.

On that last point, the more buddies, the better. If you want to join along for some or all of this adventure (there are 5 ½ weeks left!), please do. I’ll be trying out a few new strategies each week, and I’ll share those here. If you want to commit to some or all of those changes for a week or two, excellent! And if you have any strategies that you think I should try, share them in the comments.

This week, I’m doing this:

• Five days of exercise. This will be pretty ongoing. The gym requires three of their workouts per week to be part of the challenge. Then I add the hip-hop class and one TBD physical activity this coming Sunday. Let me know if you have suggestions or want a workout buddy.
• Low carb diet. I know that when I watch my carbs, I feel better and I see results. Taking those off the table keeps that one slice of bread from becoming the whole basket. So, two weeks of keeping the carb count low is how I’m going to start. I will eat fruit here and there, so I modify it to be realistic for me.
• Write down everything I eat and drink. Being aware of what I’m eating is powerful, and having to write things down makes me think about whether I really want to eat something. I use the South Beach Diet app to track what I eat. It helps track carbs and other guidelines, which the app sets to help people reach a personal weight goal. It is free, but there are lots of other apps out there, such as My Fitness Pal, that do something similar.

Again, I’d love to hear helpful tips. I’m willing to try them and share my results. Or if you want a buddy to start your own plan, I’m happy to oblige. I’m always up for some mutual encouragement. And sometimes, just telling someone that you will do something is motivation enough – hence this blog post.

Wishing you all (and me) slightly looser jeans next week!

My dad is the reason I started running. He spent most of his career as a 5^th grade teacher, but his love was Physical Education. He got his Masters in it, and I was the test subject for his thesis. In a box somewhere are hours of 8mm film spools of three year-old me climbing ladders, jumping off boxes and tumbling around our living room. He was passionate about getting kids excited about being physically fit. Growing up in that environment, playing sports wasn’t something I ever thought about doing…it was just what I did.

      The gym teacher and his test monkey.

Sometime in the late 70s, my dad caught the running bug. It became his lifestyle. He wore tall socks and track jackets, grew a beard and basically became the fashion plate for every hipster in 2013. He’d head to the track, run to work a couple days a week, and enter every race in the area. He actually proposed to my stepmom during one of those races. And, probably coolest of all, he started a race at the school where he taught to raise funds for their gym and playground equipment. That race has been going on for well over 30 years now, and the top elementary school boy and girl finisher now receive the Jim Hoyer memorial trophy.

My dad would have been 73 today. His birthday always makes me think about him, of course. But it also causes me to think a lot about health, fitness and diet. My dad died at age 58, on the track at the same school he started that race at years earlier. He never stopped exercising and always looked really fit and healthy. But my dad also had diabetes, which, by even his own account, he was pretty inconsistent at managing. He’d get wrapped up in a project in the garage for hours and forget to eat or check his blood sugar, and he always did have a sweet tooth. Most of us have bodies that can handle that, but those habits resulted in complications that ultimately lead to his heart attack.

I miss my dad a lot, even now. And on this day more than any other, I think back on things he said, things we did, and the way he lived his life. In the spirit of this blog, this year I’ve decided to look for some lessons in those memories that might help me find that healthy balance I’m looking for. Here are five strong lessons that I’ve learned from my dad and the amazing, fun, dynamic, active person he was:

1. Physical activity feels like play if it is part of your life, instead of a fitness plan. I need to channel 10 year old me more.
2. Infuse passion into daily life. Work is such a large part of life that we all need to build moments into it that we love.
3. Encouraging others to be active reinforces the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and adds to the fun of staying fit.
4. Other people care a lot about our health, so we should too.
5. Worrying about a balance between health and indulgence is a luxury. I’m lucky that I can have that glass of wine or that dessert, and know my body can handle it. I need to enjoy those moments of indulgence.

I plan to revisit this list a lot in the next few weeks. I’d love to hear any thoughts you all have, or any things you’ve learned from those who’ve inspired you to be fit, fun and fabulous (if you’re shy, please reread #3, above).

And remember to say thanks to those people who inspire you.

I took a fitness class yesterday at OrangeTheory. I’ve been to a few classes there now, and like the blend of cardio and strength training because strength training isn’t something I generally do on my own. Now I’m so sore that, although I’m too warm, I can’t bring myself to take off the hoody I threw on this morning because the thought of moving my arms that way is unbearable.

But this day of relative inactivity and immersing myself in the last regular season NFL games (nice job, Seahawks!) has given me the chance to ponder my reasons for doing this workout. Last night I was going to a holiday party, where I knew there would be lots of wine and things wrapped in bacon. I wanted those things. So, I reasoned that I would somehow earn those by putting myself through a good workout in the morning.

It’s probably the case that any motivation to make me workout is good, on some very basic level. But I dislike the fact that I, and so many other people I know, think of exercise as some sort of price that must be paid or time served as punishment for doing things I enjoy more. I’m pretty sure that this mentality is part of why I have such a love/hate relationship with fitness, and why my motivation to exercise can be wildly inconsistent.

I don’t have a good answer to this problem right now. But, for the next few weeks, I’ve vowed to try to look at physical activity as a reward. I’m going to mix up my activities a bit, do some things I like but haven’t done in a while, meet up with friends for some social fitness time, and ask other people what works for them.

This starts tomorrow, with a hip-hop dance class I’m taking with three of my favorite people. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be awful at it, but I’m looking forward to it. Dancing never feels like exercise to me, so I’m excited to try it and hang out with friends. We’ll probably grab a cocktail after, but it won’t be because I earned it with all those whip and nae nae reps. It will be because that’s what we want to do next and we’re having a good night. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for. I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, if anyone has any tips on this topic, please share. I’m excited to try new things and figure this piece out.

Welcome to SWIM BIKE bRUNch, a site that will chronicle my attempts to find a way to be fit and healthy while still enjoying life’s great culinary indulgences. I love wine, cheese and chocolate mousse. I also love feeling fit. I even enjoy exercise…some days. But for some reason, I’ve found it hard to find a good balance between the two. It seems like that should be easy, but it isn’t. And chatting with many of my friends, family, coworkers and other folks, I know I’m not alone.

So, this is my year to dive into this issue, and hopefully figure it out. I’m going to dig into patterns, try strategies, find better motivation and share it all here. But I’m also going to eat—things with butter and sugar and flavors that I crave. And I’m going to have my fair share of mimosas and wine flights and Moscow mules made with locally crafted ginger beer. I don’t want to give those up, and I shouldn’t have to. It’s not like I’m training for the Olympics. I just want to make all these things part of my life in a way that feels healthy and balanced and doesn’t somehow wind up with me avoiding my fitness routine every couple of months.

If you can relate to this on any level, I hope you check in every once in a while. Comment on posts, share ideas, and if you are in the Seattle area, maybe meet up for a workout…possibly followed by some tasty tapas. One thing I do know is that sharing and friends definitely help keep my fitness on track. And they certainly make the indulgent moments better too.

You can also follow along on facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Swimbikebrunch) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/SBB_Seattle).

Here’s to a fit, fun and fabulous 2016!