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2013-52 Week 13

I do not do April Fool’s. Heh, I just looked back at last year and noticed I didn’t even mention it in the blog post for that day. I do do (not gonna say it) resolution updates, and since it’s the beginning of April it is time for round four.

1) One blog post (longer) every week this year – Been getting lazy on putting these up on time, but this is an effort to get these back on track. Had yesterday off for Cesar Chavez day (only in California), which has been a nice addition to the Holiday lineup especially since, even though we work at a college, we do not get Spring Break like the students do. Every full-time worker hates the question, “How was your Spring Break?” I digress though, I only brought it up to mention that I was slacking off, er. . . resting, yesterday and thus decided to wait a day to write this. Anyhow, regardless of digressions, this resolution remains . . . – On Track.

2) Lose at least 20 pounds – I’m a little mystified here because, for reasons I’ll mention in the next resolution, I did little exercise this weekend but still maintained my weight pretty well with a weekend of big meals. Granted, bigger meals meant fewer meals, but I was pleasantly surprised when I stepped on the scale. And we all know that doesn’t happen too often. I’m still behind on this one, but, considering the big revelation that I have a (still) undiagnosed food allergy (I have an appointment with the doctor on Thursday) and the attendant diet changes that will bring, I anticipate a big drop here over the rest of the year. It also seems that food allergies are theorized to be a contributor to belly fat, so hopefully that will go away too. – Behind.
Current Loss: 3 lbs – On pace loss: 5 lbs

3) Run 400 miles – Thankfully I built up a large cushion, because my run of good fortune finally came to an end. Despite running long distances while being overweight, I was largely able to avoid the injury bug outside of a decent case of plantar fascitis for a few months. I was running intervals (a couple of slower laps followed by a fast lap, then back to slow, repeat) on the indoor track last Thursday, however, and in the middle of my third fast lap my knee twinged and then stopped responding really well. If I had thought about it harder, I would have realized that I shouldn’t have been doing intervals that day, as the conditions weren’t right for it. But I felt good because I had to take Wednesday off to get the flat tire fixed and wanted to push it. See, usually I run the indoor track Monday and Wednesday, and then wait until I get home Thursday to do a longer run, as I can only fit about three miles in on lunch breaks. Monday through Wednesday traffic on the track is required to go in a clockwise direction. Thursday through Saturday (I forget which end Sunday falls on, since I’m never there on Sunday) the traffic is required to go in a counter-clockwise direction. Naturally it was my right knee that gave out, the one that is usually on the outside but this time was taking the force of the turns on the inside. I’d heard of this kind of thing before, but didn’t pay it much mind. Lesson learned. I bought a knee brace and stayed off it for the long weekend (outside of karate, where it was uncomfortable to put weight on), and then played Frisbee today with the brace, though I certainly wasn’t at one hundred percent. Going to take it slow but get back out there tomorrow and see what some light running will do. – Ahead.
Current Mileage (Through February): 174.2 – On pace mileage: 100

4) Write an average of 500 words a day – I’m realizing that, much like my running resolution from last year, I probably overestimated the time commitment for this one at the beginning of the year. If I was doing the daily blog like I did last year, things would probably be much closer, but, as it is, it will be a challenge to get all the way there. In actuality, though, I’m going to be happy if I generate an average of 250 words per day, something for which I am on track. It hasn’t helped that I have been profoundly unhappy with my English class and thus haven’t been putting in a full effort. I’m looking forward to it being over so I can erase the experience from my memory. Perhaps inspiration will strike and I can have a large jump one month, so I will keep track of both the original resolution and the modified one below. – Behind.
Current Word Count (Through February): 23522 – On pace word count: 44500 – Modified on pace word count: 22250

5) Read a book a month – Just about wrapping up book three, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which I will admit that, while I am enjoying it, I have been slacking on recently. I only have sixty pages left, which I can knock out in an evening. I have yet to decide on book four, which I should probably do soon since the clock is ticking. I’ll do a short review on Outliers once I have it officially finished. – On Track.

A third of the way through the year and the resolutions are shaping up pretty well. I just have to keep working on them and hope that my knee injury isn’t too serious, especially since Ragnar is coming up in just over two weeks.

Another thing I realized I had to do since we’re already a third of the way through the year, I needed to catch up on my . . . blog-ren? Blog childs? Chi-logs? Blogs I spawned? Despite having the least pleasing sound to it, the last one is probably most accurate. With my daily blog experiment last year, several people actually read everyone, and, of those, three decided to try their hand this year (though not at my insane blog-a-day pace because, notice, not even I did that again). Jess has been posting here 100 New Recipe posts here and I have been woefully behind on those until today. My parents (Dad/Mom in no particular order), appropriate since their technological advancement running a typesetting business when I was a kid gave me a great foundation for my technical career, also both started a blog for the year, which I finally managed to catch up on as well. It’s pretty cool to see something grow in such an organic way, and it’s interesting to see where our writing styles are similar and different.

I am also planning special blog post out of the regular weekly band as soon as I get around to actually writing it, so be on the look out for that. For now, however, I’m going to hang it up for this week. Hope you had a great Easter regardless of which aspects you celebrate, and, as for me, I am grateful that He is risen!

Weight: 227 Loss: 3 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 174.2 miles (+0 miles) Last year-to-date: 78.7 miles – Words-to-date: 24737 (+1185)

Posted in Matt 2013-52, Matt General. Tagged with , , , , , .

One Response

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  1. Mom said

    I like “blog-ren” best!
    Take it easy with that knee. I’d hate to hear you had to skip Ragnar (or have trouble during). I know it is your favorite.

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