The Key to Life

Will Smith on how to succeed:

Fitness Update

It's going to be a while before I cross of numbers 2 and 44...

As of this weekend, I can run for just over half an hour, do 11 push-ups (real ones), and about 2.3 sit-ups. Uh-huh.

New Shoes!

For my birthday I got a sweet pair of rock climbing shoes. (Thanks, Cornelia!) Can't wait to try them out. They're crazy tight and make my toes cry a little bit when I put them on, but this is supposedly how they should fit. So now I have no excuse for fumbling around trying to boulder on the more difficult routes.

Last time I went to the gym I made a point of hanging out near the ceiling to check out the view. I think I can officially say that I no longer fear heights as I once did. (Just the regular sort of human reaction to not wanting to fall and die, which I'm guessing will never go away entirely unless I fall on my head and, in a twist of irony, lose the brain cells needed for self-preservation, causing me to no longer fear falling under any circumstances at all.)

Running Inspiration

My mom is training for her second half-marathon. She is 65. If she can do it, I can surely do it too.

At Chapters today I was looking for a magazine article to discuss in my feature writing class. I was immediately drawn to Runner's World and Canadian Running magazines, both of which I ended up buying.

Despite the stale headlines ("Great abs in 15 minutes!" or "10 tips to run your best, EVER!") I am still inspired every time I flip through any of these magazines. Just looking at the glossy cover pictures of the uber fit models looking serious and disdainful in their skin-tight shorts and sports bras makes me want to get back into the running business.

Snowboarding

Nice powder on Hemlock mountain on Saturday. Hadn't been boarding in ages and, although I think it's like riding a bicycle, I'm pretty rusty. Barely able to do a 180 turn, so it's going to take a few more tries before I can do a 360. I think I'm going to have to learn to do jumps to do that, actually. Still a long way off. But holy Christmas, is it fun! I can't decide if it's rock climbing or snowboarding I like best now.

Climbing

Went to the climbing gym again today for the first time in months. Felt awesome to get back into it. I have my own chalk bag now, and a pass card, so now I just need a harness and shoes of my own. I didn't do any bouldering, just climbing, and managed a 5.8 no problem, but couldn't do the 5.10 route. I'm still shaky when I get to the top, but my fear of heights seems to be keeping me back less each time I go to the gym.

Marathon Plan

Since all marathons, as far as I know, are held on Sunday mornings, it just so happens that I could run a marathon on my 30th birthday, which will be on Sunday, January 29, 2012. So that's the plan. I found out there's a race in Miami that day. There will likely be others, but I like the idea that there is definitely the option of running somewhere without snow in January. I'm going to have to start training today. Ok, tomorrow. Sometime soon anyway.