11 days into the new year and goals are being attacked like the monastery of Lindisfarne, England at the hands of Ragnar and his group of pillaging Norseman (we just finished season 1 of the History Channel show Vikings last night). Only, very much unlike Ragnar’s crew, my viking actions only include boxing, running, and eating sensibly with very little feasting, raping, or pillaging (or none at all, actually).

Two Sundays ago was the first day since the beginning of the holiday season I had the opportunity to put any effort into dinner and so I went into the kitchen and did one of the things that makes me happiest by knocking out some homemade meatballs and tomato sauce for a fun spaghetti dinner. In the last week I’ve also whipped up some homemade chicken tikka masala, turkey taco salad, and some seared sirloin steak made with fresh basil and butter with mashed potatoes with spinach and bacon. What kind of diet are YOU on, may I ask?

For real, though – what kind of diet? I’ve lost my holiday weight already and then some. Back on the downhill toward my goal weight of 215lbs, though I don’t know why that’s a goal weight. About two weeks ago I spoke with my health coach (a practice I despise) and they said there was no reason for me to even get back on the scales at this point. Not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but what an odd thing for a health professional to suggest. Aren’t we supposed to be obsessing over our weight and measurements? Is this not a superficial world we live in? Either way – 215 will be here very soon, and so will my 15% body fat measurement I’m longing for.

Mondays have been workout hell for me lately but only in the best way possible. Last Monday, and the Monday before that, and today, even, consisted of attending a 5:45 am boxing class at Title Boxing Club, following it up with a 20 minute weight-lifting routine, “cooling down” with a 1 mile run around the building and then a short stretching session all before work. I’ll come in, flirt with my girlfriend at the Food Network Kitchen at the office while paying for my bacon and biscuit and then get ready to teach a class at Title at noon. I’ll tell you that it’s probably not encouraged to play favorites as a trainer but the small group of ladies that attend my noon class on Monday are quickly becoming my favorites – their numbers may be small but they’re all hard workers and there’s no doubting when they put the gloves on they’re there to WORK! After my shower and return back to work I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished for the day but also looking forward to a much-deserved Tuesday rest day.

So as stated above, I’ve definitely been running a mile after the gym every time I go and I’ve noticed my mile time has gone down considerably since the last time I was running regularly. I got in three 1-mile runs last week, each one clocking in at 9:29 (Monday), 9:13 (Wednesday), and 9:50 (Saturday with a short interruption to pet a dog). When did I start running sub-10 minute miles? A friend of mine and former manager at O’Charley’s once famously said “You don’t ask questions; you haul ass!” and in this case I’d like to take that approach.

So in addition to 5 Title Boxing power hours last week and three one-mile runs, I also started back on my half marathon training. Bit of a bummer, but since I didn’t train at all in December, due largely to my hurt foot, I’m starting back at zero, basically, and building up every week until race day, April 3. I went out to the greenway on Sunday morning for a slow 5K whose pace I’m justifying by calling it my “Half marathon pace”. It wasn’t early in the morning or anything – 9:45am – but there was no one out. It may have been because it was so cold and, in fact, snowing just a tad, but I still set out hoping to relearn why I love this path so much.

On my path I saw two mismatched children’s socks in a puddle that seemed to have been laid out and arranged in perfect alignment, two shopping carts that had been shoved down a steep bank behind a fence, a sunken-in pumpkin, an empty prescription pill bottle in the middle of the path and a bottle of cough syrup with about a tiny gulp of syrup left in the bottle. Not really that interesting in itself but it does make you wonder what goes on here after dark. All of the graffiti had been painted over, which was a bummer, but I did get to watch a squirrel, who was trying to run away from me, fall into a puddle that I’m pretty sure he thought was sidewalk.

I also spent some time thinking about important stuff that typical runners think about like “Is it possible to cross-breed chipmunks and birds? Could a bird be birthed like a mammal? Could a bird lay an egg that would hatch a baby chipmunk?” All pressing questions I never got definitive answers to.

I ended up finishing my run with three brief pauses due to a crosswalk and a few puddles I didn’t want to run through (and after watching the squirrel, I’m glad I didn’t take anything for granted) with a time of 34:37, which at a slow-pace with stops is still 2 minutes better than my first-ever 5K which pleased me. We’ve certainly come a long way since those early days.

Anyway, to end it, here’s how my first full-week of running in January looked:

This week:
This Week’s Milage	6.18 Miles (9.95km)
This Week’s Avg. Pace:	9:39/Mile (5:59/km)
2016 Running
Time Period	Total Distance
Runtastic Runs (1/1-Present)	8.19 Miles
Total Yearly Miles	8.19
Miles Left Until 2016 Goal (350 Miles):	341.81