The first day

Ok so do you all remember wayyyy back to my last post when I was talking about my trip to Rome? Well, it's cancelled. As much as I REALLY want to go, my employment is very week to week at this point and I don't know what the future holds. So I decided to postpone that trip for now. Who knows, maybe if things look more secure in the coming months I'll re-book it.

In other news, after tomorrow I'll have officially gone one full month as a vegetarian. A vegetarian you say? Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why?? Well, it wasn't a moral objection, nor do I intend in staying a vegetarian, far from it. In fact I've already talked with some friends and we're going out for steak on Thursday night in celebration. For me, this experience was a simple test of willpower. I'll admit it wasn't always easy, but it was much easier accomplished than I figured it would be. Really, to be a vegetarian you don't always have to eat a salad or even vegetables for that fact. Hell, you don't even need to be healthy. Pasta! Beans! Fruit! Cheese! (I didn't go vegan) There are plenty of options out there. And let me tell you a little secret, those Boca spicy chicken patties are amazing!!

And now for the biggest news item of this update, in a rather impulsive decision (much like buying a Wii a couple weeks ago) I signed up for the Twin Cities marathon. A marathon??!! Yeah I know. For someone who's only run a few 5k's, a marathon is a HUGE step. But I'm committed to this. As a result of this, this blog is going to turn into my workout / weight loss blog. I'll be updating weekly with how much I've run and how muchweight I've lost. I figure if I make everything public it will assist in the motivation. Because really, who wants to be seen a failure in the public eye? Besides, it worked really well for me last time I blogged my weight loss journey and helped me acheive some fantastic results.

So here are my main goals in this realm over the next 5 months:
Finish marathon (mini goal - in under 4 hours)
Weight down to the ~200 range (10lbs a month)

I need to figure out a nice prize to myself for completing those goals. Any ideas? When I was able to accomplish dropping from 265 to 205 a couple years ago I congratulated myself with a nice big HDTV...which probably helped me gain most of the weight back, but still. It's a damn nice present to myself. Any ideas? (not a trip to Rome. Be more original than that!)

First weight in
-------------------
256.5
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=training,1757377386