After brunch with friends and an afternoon at the Knoxville Tattoo Convention, we drove under the overcast, rainy Knoxville sky back home, up my driveway and in through the garage. Laundry is almost finished, I’ve gotten to relax and read and the smell of curried lamb wafts through the house as it simmers in the slow cooker on the kitchen counter. I guess I can call it a day and will continue to rest my tired bones this evening with Erin, the dogs and a movie.

But tomorrow? Back at it. Wake up at 5am, spin at 6am.

This will be a huge week. Going to spin twice this week will mean that I’ve stuck with our short spin schedule for a full month and I will begin week 3 of Active’s Couch-to-5k program. I’m not going to lie, I’m not looking forward to the running this week. Trying to stay motivated and focused on my goals, though, and know that even though I don’t like running and I don’t like not drinking beer and I don’t like not eating pizza and I don’t like not chowing down on greasy cheeseburgers a couple of times per week, I also don’t like being sick and out of shape even more. It’s all going to be worth it in the end – now if I only had something to work toward…

Well now I do!

I make unofficial new year’s resolutions about every year. I stick with them approximately 5% of the time but this year is different. I turn 30 this year and that bugs the hell out of me. I’m doing very well emotionally, mentally, domestically and financially for a guy my age, I realize and appreciate that, but sometimes I feel like I’ve just not done enough – not seen enough, heard enough, experienced enough to be turning 30 already. This isn’t true and I know it but it’s bugging me anyway. Either way I stated earlier this year that I didn’t want to be fat and out of shape on my 30th birthday. Now that I’m taking the steps to fix that problem, I’ve decided to give myself a goal: on Thanksgiving day this November, 11 days before my 30th birthday, I’m going to run my first 5k!

Sort-of a gift for myself but it’s really what I want most for my birthday: to be in well-enough shape to run a 5k. November 27 is a while away, yes, but my couch-to-5k training should be over sometime mid-October at which point I should be able to jog a 5k distance. If I can make it to that point, all that it takes is to maintain and improve. If I can get to that level, I see no reason I wouldn’t be able to keep at that same level and make it official with a number and a cutesy-fun t-shirt to commemorate the event. That will be the highest of highs for me and will be finished before my birthday which means I can celebrate my birthday the way I love celebrating my birthday: low-key, some I Love NY pizza and snug time with my lovely. That’s worth running for if you ask me.

But first I need to make it through week three. Bring it on, I say. My official weigh-in this morning brings me to 19 pounds lost. Erin says it’s okay to round up and say I’ve lost 20 but I want it to be a celebratory morning when I step on those scales, half-groggy, dreading my morning run and see that I’ve officially lost 20 pounds. It will happen this week, just don’t screw it up (note to self).