Slim People in Progress

What's your fitness goal for 2009?

2008 has been an up and down year for me re: weight loss and fitness. Sadly, my eating habits have gone down hill and I've regained almost 20 of the 35 lbs I lost a couple years ago. Even though I run 2-3 times a week and never miss Monday night Pilates and go to the gym at least once a week for weight work, the pounds have crept back.

It just proves that exercise is not enough.

You have to change eating habits too. I think my biggest issue is portion size. And sugar. I love chocolate.

Time to go back to Weight Watchers and get serious again. I pretty much dropped off this past year. I was successful when I followed the plan so I know what I need to do.

My goal for 2009 is to drop those 20 pounds again by June - my 50th birthday! And keep on running even though it is tough. This year I completed my second half marathon. So maybe one long race per year. And a few 10Ks thrown in for good measure.  I'm registered to run the famous Bay to Breakers race in May in San Fransisco. It's a 12K (7 mi) and attracts 10,000 people. I hear it's a run you have to do at least once in your life.

You with me? What's your weight loss or fitness goal for 2009?

Special Offer for It Figures Gym - Sherman Oaks

If you're a woman who lives in the San Fernando Valley, this post is for you.

If you live in or around Sherman Oaks: Encino, Valley Village, North Hollywood etc., I have one coupon good for a new membership at It Figures Gym in Sherman Oaks. This is the gym I go to and I love it. It's a woman-only gym owned by three fabulous women.

I have a coupon good for your first month free and 50% off the registration fee. If you're interested, please leave a comment using the link below this post (don't forget to include your email address in the appropriate field) and I'll be in touch with the details.

Check out the It Figures site and see what they're up to. As I said, I'm a member and have been for over 3 years.  This is the only gym I've ever belonged to (and there have been many) that I've continued to go to after the first 2 weeks!

City of Angels Half Marathon Update

I've been meaning to write this post for a week! Last Sunday I ran my second half-marathon (13.1 miles) - the City of Angels Half Marathon. My training was not up to par, yet I actually did pretty well. My final time was 2:50:17 which is an average 13 minute mile.

It was a great route: from the L.A. Zoo to downtown L.A., through Griffith Park, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Echo Park and down Sunset Blvd. to the Civic Center. It was scenic, had a few hills and the weather was perfect - overcast and cool.

6,000 runners participated and 2,500 of them were students running their first race as part of an organization called Students Run L.A.

My running buddies are a lot faster than me, so I ran on my own listening to an upbeat running mix on my ipod. I also had promised some colleagues that I would report on my progress using a site called Utterli where I could call in short reports and they were automatically posted to my twitter stream. You can listen to my reports here, if you want. I realized that my commitment to do these updates every couple of miles helped keep me moving forward as I looked forward to virtually connecting with my online friends.

Next race? Maybe in Seattle next June to celebrate my 50th birthday!