My running resolution

New Year resolutions are always tricky to maintain. You start off strong, e.g., giving up diet coke or creating a food journal to show the personal trainer you just hired, but old habits quickly fall back into place.

I wanted my NY resolution to be something more concrete than not doing A, giving up B, being more C... I wanted to accomplish a real, tangible goal and allow it to become something that would carry me through the entire year! That way, my resolution becomes habit, and habit becomes a lifestyle.

My NY resolution for 2011 is to run a 10k race.

Of course, no NY resolution will stick without help and motivation from friends and family. My best friend, Melissa D. offered to run the race with me later this year. Her goal in 2010 was to successfully finish a half-marathon... she finished TWO! Plus, we are each other's biggest fan's, so it just seemed natural to train together.

My second form of motivation came from an iPhone app called Nike+ GPS.

Not only does it track your run's pace, distance, and elevation, if you tell your friends on FB or Twitter that you are starting a new run, they can Like or post a Comment and the app will CHEER for you while you're running! Not to brag, but I average 4-5 cheers from my friends per-run.

In fact, I decided to post this blog today on the recommendation by my friend Drew D., who is also a runner!

The first race Melissa and I will run is called the Piedmont Park 5K on March 26th. This particular 5K occurs every month, but we figure 3 months is enough time to train for a 5K properly.

In April, we're going to tackle The Great Urban Race: Atlanta! I did something similar a few years ago with CityChase (think Amazing Race), but my team didn't actually finish the race in the time alloted, so this year I'm back for revenge! Exciting, right?

Anyhoo, with any luck, my NY resolutions will stick this year so my 2012 resolution can be to run a half-marathon! Maybe...