Tsunayoshi's Journal: New Year's resolution

Get back to the fitness level I was at (or better) when I left the Marine Corps back in 1999.

That means one year to lose 7 years of bad habits and sporadic attempts at getting back into shape. I am by no means an out of shape slob (5'10", ~170 lbs.), but I have been dissatisfied for some time with my conditioning.

Now, we all know people who every year make a similar resolution (get in shape), but I have given myself goals in the form of various events to milestone myself:

March/April 2007:
BackYard Burn Spring series (4 races over 2 months, I am running the 5-mile series)

May 2007:
Rocky Gap Adventure race (trekking, orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking)

July/August 2007:
Cranky Monkey Mountain Bike race series, beginner class.
This one is iffy, depends on how much I improve on my turns and downhills at speed. Last time I tried to go fast on a twisty course I hit a tree, not something I would like to experience again.

Sept 2007:
Venture Quest Adventure race. (trekking, orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking)

Oct/Nov/Dec 2007:
BackYard Burn Fall series (4 races, I will be running the 10-mile series this time)

Note: The 1st link to the calendar has accurate dates, the individual event links have not been updated with 2007 dates

The common feature of all events: All local to me, and all of the ARs have a solo category. The 2 ARs are also "sprint" ARs, not 24-36 hour endurance events, so gear-wise they are a little more affordable since I pretty much have 90% of the required gear for them. There is an AR in April, but no solo category so I will probably volunteer for the event, although I have some friends that might run it with me since they would use the sprint AR as a warmup for an endurance one they have later in the month.

My goals for each event are basically:
1. Not to get a DNF (did not finish)
2. Not to be DFL (dead fookin last)

After using 2007 as a nice warmup year, I will probably repeat all the local events with the intent to seriously compete, and probably enter some endurance ARs to see how I do. The hard part right now is getting the wife to understand that training requires allowing me to take time to go out and run/bike, and that not all of use are as lucky as her and get paid to work out (she is a fitness/aerobics instructor). The plus side of that is that most of the parks/trails systems I would be training in are family friendly so she and the kids would be able to do outdoor things while I workout, she has already agreed to that idea.

Let's see how the After Action Report in 2008 turns out.

Happy New Year fellow Slashdotters!