This year is quickly coming to a close, and with a huge gap in my blogging, I wanted to tidy up a bit and let you know what has happened to me over the past year.

In January,
I made some goals for the year. I was able to reach four of them: run a 5K every month, exercise 4 times a week, read one book every month, and lose weight. I also started to take a class as a requirement to get into Physical Therapy School which I kept quiet. After a few months of studying, reading, and experimenting, I realized physical therapy was not for me. I’m a creative at heart, always have been and always will be!

In February,
I got my skin checked out and the doctor removed a small cancerous growth on my nose. It healed well and you can barely see the scar. No more visits to the doctor since, but I plan on making it a yearly thing, so I’ll go back in a few months.

In March,
I thought about getting braces again to fix my top teeth. I decided to push that off until next year because the timing wasn’t right.

In April,
I got a spin bike, which I used almost every day until we started construction on the house. Unfortunately, it’s still packed away but I hope to get it out soon.

In May
I attended and spoke at FitBloggin, which was so much fun and I hope to attend again next year!

In June,
We started construction on our house. It was an extremely long month because we were living between two houses and my commute was longer than it had been in over a year. The outcome though was definitely worth the wait! We’re still working on painting and finishing the rooms, so I hope to have a post or two next year about what we did. I also deferred my entry for the Baltimore Ten Miler, so I’ll be running it next June!

In July,
We lived at our old house while we patiently waited for construction to end. I didn’t post at all that month so that showed how busy we were. I also started Boot Camp classes, which have been the motivation I’ve been looking for over the past year to get healthier.

In August,
I celebrated my 27th birthday!

In September,
I got tested for allergies because I was having some asthma attacks in the middle of the night. Now I have an inhaler on my nightstand just in case. It was also the last time I blogged.

October and November were probably the most surprising and craziest months out of the year.

In October,
I was let go from my job of five years. It was a complete surprise and I was upset, but I knew it was time to move on. I wasn’t planning on staying there forever, so I considered this my final push to find a new job that would be fun, challenging, and made my creative brain design some great things.

In November,
Todd and I traveled to England with a day trip to Paris. I won’t go into details, but it was absolutely amazing. We definitely want to go back in the future!

I was also extremely lucky to find a new job that I absolutely love. More design, more work, more challenges, and more fulfilling that I ever thought it would be.

In December,
I realized I had been maintaining my weight loss for two months, but I’m only halfway done. So I’ll be continuing my efforts and making some changes so I reach my goal weight in the spring. I also got an entry in the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run in April, so I guess I’ll need to start running again!

2011 was a year of many changes for me, and it turned out a lot better than I originally thought it would. I can only hope that the new year will bring about more great things.

Wishing you all a happy 2012!

Back in 2009, I signed up for 20 classes at my local CrossFit. My friend had joined and he said it was great, so I thought, why not? The first class was a freebie and I remember we did some sit-ups, running, kettlebells and rowing. It was fun, it was fast, and I was completely exhausted by the end of the 20 minutes it took to complete the “Workout of the Day (WOD).”

The next day, I was incredibly sore. I was actually more sore that day than the day after my first (and only) marathon. Who knew 20 minutes of exercise could do that to your body?

But, I wanted to improve. I wanted to lift the heavier weights, do more push-ups, and run faster. Unfortunately there were also a few things holding me back. The first was money. I was already a member at a local gym for about $30 a month. One month of CrossFit was 5X that.

I’m the kind of person that always wants to make sure that I get the most out of my money, and based on the fact that I would only be going to CrossFit three or four times a week, it equalled to about $10 per class. That’s not too bad considering many drop in yoga classes are $12-$15, and a drop in CrossFit class was $20. But when you factor in that many of the classes only last around 10 minutes, it’s pretty pricey.

Another thing I had problems with was being sore all of the time. I remember I couldn’t go for a short run the day after because my legs just couldn’t do it. I wasn’t really able to do anything besides CrossFit. Although they were great workouts, 10-15 minutes 3-4 days a week just wasn’t enough physical activity to lose weight.

There was also the minor problem that since you work your body to great extremes in such a short amount of time, sometimes your stomach just couldn’t take it. I don’t think there wasn’t one class that I went to where someone didn’t get sick because of how much they pushed themselves.

Pushing yourself it great! But when you make yourself sick? Well, I think that’s going a little too far.

I remember the few times I sprinted towards the finish line at the end of the race and felt sick afterward. Ick. It’s just not a good feeling!

When I used up all my classes, I never went back. Maybe someday I would return, but back then, I knew I needed to find a form of exercise that I enjoyed doing, not dreading.

Two years later, I think I found the exercise that works for me… (to be continued)