Around the time I started this journey, I published my thoughts on goal setting, as well as my list of goals for 2011.  Today, I get to cross part of one of these goals off the list.  To recap, here are the goals:

By March 31st, 2011, I want to weigh less than 300 pounds.

By my 36th birthday (August 6th, 2011), I want to weigh less than 275 pounds.

By December 31st, 2011, I want to weigh less than 250 pounds.

Between now and December 31st, 2011, I want to run in five 5k races.

Between now and December 31st, 2011, I want to compete in at least one sprint triathlon.

Between now and December 31st, 2011, I want to participate in at least one long-distance (> 50 miles) bike ride

As I reported yesterday, I completed my first of five 5K races for the year.  Four more to go!  Also, I think I should reach the 275 pound mark well before my birthday, so hopefully I will be posting another check-in out here soon!

First 5K race of the year COMPLETE! I am very happy to report that I ran the entire way, finishing the race with an official time of 40:05. That’s not my fastest 5K (or my slowest) but I ran the whole way. I only finished 1:11 behind my oldest daughter, who probably could have sprinted the whole race, but she wanted to stick with one of her friends, so she walked quite a bit. My younger two kids crossed the finish line exactly 5 minutes behind me after deciding to intermittently walk and run throughout the race. And my wife was right behind them. I am very proud of the whole family! It feels really good to have this one under my belt.

Food-wise, it was a pretty good day, too. Of course, breakfast before the race was a big green smoothie. Lunch was a big salad with spinach, black beans, cucumbers, onions, jalapeños, mushrooms, and guacamole, with a lime squeezed over the top. Dinner was some bok choy and some mixed vegetables. It was all delicious. After dinner, I made some strawberry banana “ice cream” in the blender to celebrate finishing the 5K. Frozen bananas, organic strawberries, and half a cup of unsweetened vanilla soy milk. Throw it in a blender and blend down to ice cream consistency. Absolutely delicious.

Also, today I went back and re-activated my membership at my old gym. I am about two weeks away from incorporating some weight training into my routine, so I have been putting this off too long. I am excited about getting back in there!

Now, it is time to find the next 5K for my family to run! I need to sign up now while we are all still motivated!

Today was a pretty good day, with not much to report. I had a green smoothie for breakfast, some stir-fried mixed vegetables for lunch, and a big salad and a few slices of cheese-less veggie pizza for dinner. It was not a perfect day, as I ended up eating too many grains and not enough beans, but it could have been worse, I guess.

Tomorrow is my first 5K since December of 2008. I am not as prepared as I wanted to be at this point, but I am still feeling good about it. My goal is to run the entire way. I am not concerned with time or placement, I just want to finish without having to walk. I am excited that my wife and children will all be doing the 5K, too. My oldest daughter should finish well ahead of the rest of us, and my wife and younger two kids are planning to walk it. But I am trying hard to instill some good habits in these kids, and this is a good step!

Today was a fun day. My food was all pretty normal. A green smoothie for breakfast, garbanzo beans, zucchini, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, and peas for lunch, and a salad with hummus and a whole wheat pita for dinner.

I also got a fair amount of exercise helping out at my son’s football practice. I even did ten push-ups, which is something I have not done in quite a while. Do not get me wrong, they will not be making exercise videos based upon the beauty of these push-ups, but I did them none the less. Pushing up 285 pounds is not the easiest thing in the world, but I did it.

Speaking of 285 pounds, I finally broke the 60 pound mark this morning, weighing in at 285.0 pounds. That is 60.5 pounds lost, for those of you who are keeping track!

Today was another great day! I am finally starting to feel “normal” again after a few weeks of travel. I started today with an obscenely green smoothie. Since I haven’t been home much the last few weeks, I have a LOT of greens from my local CSA sitting around, and I need to use them up. So I put a full pound of kale and spinach into this morning’s smoothie. It wasn’t the tastiest smoothie I’ve ever had, but boy did I feel great after drinking it!

Lunch was a big salad with romaine lettuce, salsa, black beans, onions, peppers, and a bit of guacamole. Dinner was very similar, without the guacamole and adding cucumbers and mushrooms.

My 5k is only a few days away. My running has not gone as planned, but I am still feeling confident that I will be able to run the entire 5k. I will know soon!