Greetings, and thanks for taking the time to check out our new blog.
The year 2011 has been a pretty decent year for me and my family. The year started with a week long cruise vacation with my wife, given as a gift from my parents. In April, my wife (Andi) and I made some financial decisions and sacrifices that have revitalized our bank account. In August, I received a promotion at work that has given me a renewed sense of purpose in my career path. In between, we made some great memories with the kids.
The year 2012 brings with it a new set of challenges. Some of them are known, such as maintaining momentum from last year and my Dad's on-going battle with cancer. Some are yet to be known to us. In years past, I've made some resolutions. I've never really kept up with them. Something always seems to get in the way.
Fitness Quest 2012, not surprisingly, is aimed towards getting fit in the upcoming year. This isn't just my quest. It is my wife's too. That's why i've asked her to contribute to this blog as well. My posts will undoubtedly differ from Andi's. We both have different ideas about where we want to be individually at the end of the year. For Andi, she basically wants to lose weight. Its a path she's been down before. I think to do this, she's going to have to balance her role as a professional woman with that of a mother of two children and wife to me, all while finding time to exercise and diet. Her biggest challenge is likely to be putting herself ahead of me and the kids and carving out "mommy" time to exercise and do the things she wants to do or needs to do for her own happiness. She's an amazing woman in all of her roles. I only hope I can help her find the balance she needs.
For me, my quest is going to be a bit different. I don't have the six-pack abs or bulging biceps but I already feel relatively physically fit. I'm not overweight (though I am on the higher side of healthy weight for my height). While I don't necessarily want to be a Men's Health cover model, I'd definitely like to have a more toned physique. Let's take it a bit further. Webster's New World Dictionary defines "fitness" as simply, "health". That's pretty vague when you think about it. When you do think about it in those vague terms, its then easy to parlay that definition to other areas of your life. Do I have mental fitness? Do I have financial fitness? Do I have fit relationships with my spouse and children? My parents, siblings, co-workers, or neighbors down the street? It is with this vagueness of definition that I am pursuing fitness for the year 2012. With that in mind, my pursuit of fitness will try to cover all of these things.
So why a blog? As with most things I do, I don't usually fully embrace something unless there is some level of accountability. I have to answer to someone. My parents, my spouse, my kids, my boss, my co-workers, my God. With this blog, I open myself up to answering to you. My goal is to post something at least once a week. So at the end of the year, I plan to have at least 52 entries. These may run the gamut of exercise breakthroughs to financial issues to relationship health, etc.
"Why should I read?" you may ask. Great question. There's a myriad of places to get information on healthful living for men. "Men's Health Magazine", "Mens' Fitness", or even "GQ" come to mind. There's even more places to find information on healthful living for women, such as "Women's Health", "Redbook", "Weight Watchers Magazine", and "Shape", just to name a few. But I have yet find a place that offers tips, advice, insight, etc. for a couple, let alone a family. I'm not claiming to be an expert in healthful living by any stretch. But hopefully you'll find that between my and Andi's posts, there will be something that you can relate to that my help you on your own personal journey to whatever fitness level you desire. With her perspective and mine, you're sure to find something you can connect with.
So what is my quest? I want to acheive the highest level of fitness I possibly can in all areas of my life. I want that toned body, for sure. But also, I want strong healthy relationships with my family and friends. I want to be financially healthy. I want to be as mentally sharp as I can be. How does one acheive that? I believe it starts with a healthy body. To me, that means eating better foods and exercising a hell of lot more than I have in the past 20 years. If I can get the body healthy, the mind will follow. Once the mind is on board with this lifestyle change, the relationships and finances will take care of themselves. At least that's my hope.
So here's my plan for this year, laid out on a blog for the world to see. First, I plan on waking up an hour earlier every day and working out with free-weights and resistance exercises to help get the toned body. Second, I want to ride a bicycle race of at least 50 miles this year. This will entail getting back in the saddle and going for my weekly rides (a challenge in and of itself right now with weather). Third, I am going to start running and plan on completing a 10-K by the end of the year. This will be my biggest challenge because I HATE running. Fourth, I want to recruit some buddies and do one of those crazy Muddy Buddy or Warrior Dash races this summer or fall. Fifth, I will climb at least one fourteener this summer (and hopefully more). Along the way, Andi and I will be building a lot of great memories with the kids through camping, sports and family game nights. And hopefully we'll be building a stronger spousal relationship as well.
With no further ado, we both invite you to follow along with all of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs that are sure to come. Feel free to share any comments or feedback or simply cheer us on. We know this will be our best year ever. Hopefully yours will be too.
Thanks again for reading!
