Jennerosity

So, I’ve decided to run another reading challenge to finish of 2010. I’m keeping it really simple. The only thing I need to do is read as many dystopian books as I can before the end of the year. And then I see how it went. Here’s the list I’ve started of potential books to read.¹

• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• 1984 by George Orwell
• V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

I’m open to more suggestions for the list, so if you have any, leave a comment.  Also, if you have any of the books to lend to me, I’m open to that as well².

1. I’ve got a list going over at listography.com too. [↩]
2. though the first two list items I’ve got covered already [↩]

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it here before, but I’ve been doing the 100 push ups challenge since about July.  Today was the day where I took my final test and did as many push ups as I could.  While I only managed to do 30 push ups, I’m still really freaking proud of my progress.  First of all, here’s my training graph:¹

Look at how much progress I made!  Seeing all those high yellow bars makes me so happy!  Sure, some days I dropped down, but the end result was still pretty awesome.

Second, I made sure I had really good form.  Even though I am a girl, I didn’t let myself get away with knee push ups.  Each and every one that got recorded, was a good form military style push up.  If I couldn’t complete a set with the military style push ups, then I’d switch to my knees and do as many as I could.  So, for some of those numbers above, not only did I do 50 or 60 military style push ups, I also did around 30 or 40 push ups on my knees too.

Now that the challenge is done, I’m going to take a break and focus on some other fitness and training.  Women’s Health Magazine has an ab workout that I’d like to try.  And I’d like to add a little more structure to my running as well, so I might just start the couch to 5k program.²  And after my break, I’m going to do the entire challenge over again.  And this time, we’ll see if I can make even more progress.  I’ll probably try to shake it up and do some different styles of push up too.  Thanks to the P90X program, I know a few variations I can try.

Once I’m really comfortable with the push ups several times a week, I’m seriously thinking about adding in the two hundred squats challenge and/or the two hundred sit-ups challenge and/or the twenty five pull ups challenge.

Also on a fitness related note, I just discovered the +5 Charisma group and am thinking about joining the forums there to have some online geek fitness buddies.  But, not sure how much time I’ve got to spare to really get involved.

1. apologies for the crappy photo [↩]
2. I picked the c25k mostly because their app looks cool! [↩]

Before reading this article, please close your eyes and envision me doing a fitness activity.  It can be running, kick boxing, lifting weights, the exact activity doesn’t really matter.  Got a clear picture in your head?  Good.

Now why did I ask you to do this?  Well, I try to include visuals with my blog, but despite searching through all my uploaded Flickr images, I couldn’t find any of me at any fitness event or doing anything particularly fitness-y.  Which is weird because both Benevolance and I have done all sorts of fitness stuff in the past.  The closest thing I could find to a fitness related picture was one of me posing in a lightish-red hip scarf and my lightish-red shirt¹ that I wore to belly dancing class.  And this is someone who has supposedly done the Vancouver Sun Run 4 times!²

On the bright side of things, this inability to find any pictoral evidence of my fitness abilities has given birth to a new fitness goal – start documenting fitness accomplishments with photos!  Now, part of me resists this because my fitness clothing is not really flattering.  I don’t shop at Lululemon and I don’t usually concern myself with style when I’m doing a workout.  Yes, I’ve even been known to mix peach and red together, which is not a flattering combination.  Plus, there’s the fact that I don’t wear makeup to workout and am quite often covered in sweat.  This is a good thing when you’re concerned with fitness, but doesn’t make me look particularly photogenic.  And then there’s the red-face issue.  I get very bright red in the face when I work out.  I always have, and probably always will.  But, it’s a little shocking to see a person who is normally so pale, go bright red.  It looks a little clown-ish.

But, I really should get past all of that, and start taking pictures.  Or rather, start getting other people to take pictures of me doing things.  And, by logical extension, this means I’ve got to start getting out and doing fitness things (again).  I’ve devolved into a bit of a couch potato, but my health and fitness is something that is really important to me.  Despite that, I haven’t been able to set any really concrete fitness goals for myself this year.  Last year I had a similar problem and didn’t feel like I progressed much at all.  This year, I’m tossing a few options around in my head, but a lot of the fitness programs out there, don’t last an entire year.  I had started working on my running last year just before switching to the P90X program, but we’ve just discovered that our treadmill may be on its last treads. ³  Probably won’t get around to repairing or replacing it until March when we’re back from Japan.  And though I know I could run outside, I’m a really big wimp and have a lot of reasons why I’d rather not. ⁴ So, in the mean time, I’ve got to figure out what I want to do and here are my thoughts so far:⁵

• Start working on the Lifetime Fitness Ladder⁶
• Complete a 90 day Peak Condition Project⁷
• Complete another 90 day P90X program⁸
• Get rid of soda & pop from my diet (again)
• Prepare more meals at home (including lunches)
• Eat less, but more frequently
• Integrate more yoga
• Begin meditating
• Do some sort of push-up/sit-up/squat/chin-up challenge

So, my dear readers, care to share your fitness goals?  Thoughts?  Advice?  Any and all are welcome in the comments!

1. I really need to add the Bow-Chicka-Wow-Wow! shirt to my collection too! [↩]
2. And the last two times I even tried to look for the official event photographers who take pictures to sell to you online after the race, and despite looking for them and trying to ‘look good’ for the camera while I ran, I didn’t have a single clear shot taken of me.  Which is a shame for them too, because I probably would have bought one. [↩]
3. We’ve had it for at least 5 years, if not more.  Benevolance and I have trained for two Sun Run’s using it, and it doesn’t owe us anything of the $1,000 that it cost us at the time. [↩]
4. And let me list them all for you: I know right now that I’d let the cold and rain be an excuse not to work out at all.  Plus, I don’t like running by traffic and having to figure out where I’m going and how far to go and whether I can get back or not, or having to calculate the route ahead of time – It’s just too much work.  And, I know it’ll be harder on my joints than running on a treadmill would be.  Don’t really have any cold weather clothing either, so it would mean investing even more $$ so that I could get an outfit together that would allow me to run and not freeze. [↩]
5. Though my husband just remembered that we do have an amenity room at the condo where we live and they do have a gym that probably has a working treadmill in it that we could see about using – hm [↩]
6. I really like this one because it’s so portable and easy to follow.  Will I get huge results?  Probably not.  Will I feel healthier?  Probably [↩]
7. after getting back from Japan [↩]
8. you know, one where I don’t skip a bunch of workouts at the end, and maybe actually see some results? [↩]

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More old books... by guldfisken via Flickr. Image is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution licence

This year I decided to do a reading challenge.  The challenge is to read a number of books in a few areas of interest to me.  It gets me going in several areas that I think are important for my personal growth and will hopefully get a few books off my ‘to-read’ list at Goodreads.

I’ve decided the four areas that I want to do my reading in, but I haven’t figured out which books in each category I’m going to read.  So, if you are familiar with the genre/category, please feel free to give me recommendations on what to read in the comments.

I like to read a wide variety of stuff with both fiction and non-fiction. For the non-fiction end of things, I’d like to do some reading about Buddhism and Leadership this year.  For the fiction side of things, I’d like to read some Steam Punk fiction and a couple of graphic novels as well. ¹

I’m keeping it small and manageable and will pick 2 books per category to read during the year.  That’s only 8 books, less than 1 per month!²

1. Ok, I know graphic novels aren’t a genre per se, but it’s a form of media that I’m getting increasingly interested in personally and professionally. [↩]
2. Which is good since I will be doing more writing than reading during November. [↩]

This is going to be the first on a series of short posts outlining my goals for 2010.  My process for setting goals is always evolving and this year I’m trying something entirely new and using a spreadsheet to track my progress.¹

My biggest goal is definitely writing related, so I figure I’ll start with that one . . .

Volunteer again as a Municipal Liaison for NaNoWriMo2010
I had such a good time as a volunteer last year and my  head is already bursting with ideas for next year.  I think it’s one way that I connect to the teacher part of myself and it feels so good to bring out those skills and flex those muscles again.²

Participate in NaNoWriMo2010
This kind of goes without saying, but I’ll need to participate again in order to be a municipal liaison.  Not sure what I’ll be working on, though I have a few story ideas that could be developed.  Alternately, I could work on the sequel to my first NaNo manuscript.  And, I’m sure a few new ideas will pop up between now and November that I could use too.

Get a manuscript finished and ready to submit
And get it done by September 4th of next year.  This is going to involve several sub-tasks.  First, I have to finish a first draft.  Then, I’ll have to sit down with the manuscript and do several rounds of revisions until I feel brave enough to let it go out to the world and be read by other people.  I’m sure there will also be some research and my poor husband will have to spend countless hours having ideas bounced off him to make sure it all makes sense.  And, I’ll also have to have figured out who I’m submitting to, which will involve some market research as well.

These are goals that I consider my ‘career goals’ because I want my career to be as a writer.  However, I still have a day job and so I also have an entire set of ‘job goals’ too.

If you want to read about another writer’s journey to getting published, check out Shannon’s blog Daily Pie where she shares updates on her journey as a writer along with lots of other good stuff too.³

Anyone else have any career goals that they want to share?  How about a writing goal that isn’t career related?  Feel free to share in the comments!

1. We’ll see how long it lasts. [↩]
2. And luckily, unlike my actual teaching career, it’s very doubtful that I’ll have to deal with any bathroom emergencies. [↩]
3. like updates on her fitness goals, pictures of her home improvements, an awesomely fun treasure hunt she devised for a little girl, and even more stuff too [↩]