My 50th birthday is coming up in November 2021, so I’m already in my 50th year of life. I’ve been thinking about how to celebrate this milestone for a while now. Pre-COVID we were planning a trip to the UK to explore some family roots and the English countryside. That’ll happen eventually, but not this year.
I started 2021 without any real concrete goals or plans for this milestone. By late February, two had emerged as top contenders, achievable (with effort) and generally positive for my well-being. They are:
- Shed 50 pounds by Thanksgiving
- Run in 50K of organized trail and road races by December 31st
Starting March 1st, I changed my diet and added a bit more running into my life. Up to that point, I had been using food as a coping mechanism for COVID, political anxiety, and pretty much every other stressor in my life. My weight had topped out at 209 lbs, and I’m about 6’1″ tall. Not a major crisis, but I was feeling pretty lousy. I got winded just carrying stuff around the house or tying my shoes. Everything was getting harder, and I could feel it draining away my desire to do physically active things.
So, time for a change. Thanks to my very-supportive friends and family for helping me stay on track. While we won’t get our UK trip this year, achieving these two goals will serve me well for the rest of my life.