Saturday, December 31, 2011

My Reflections as 2011 comes to a close

Wow! Did you think I had been totally absent for the past 4 months? I am not surprised. It seems like after the Mission Trip I took down south for Katrina Relief work, and the Chciago Comic Con, I just dropped off the face of the publishing world.

But alas, it is just that with life being so busy, and with so much of my free time being taken up with my training for my upcoming Half Marathon race at Disney World next Saturday, I have only had time to post on my Healthy Living/Running blog. I am afraid this poor blog has paid the price. For this, I truly apologize. I will aim to do better in 2012.

But to keep things in perspective, I really have done pretty well as far as blogging in 2011. In fact, as I look back upon 2011, I think the year has been pretty positive and I have done pretty well on the resolutions I published here at the beginning of the year. So here is my final review of my resolutions.

Lose another 75 pounds

This has been a great year health-wise for me. I lost a total of 55 pounds in 2011, bringing my total weight loss since beginning my journey to 112. In the past two months, my weight has stablized due in part because of gaining more muscle mass while losing fat. I determine this because while my weight is staying the same, i am still losing inches off my waist, hips, and arms. So it is all good. I did not reach my 75 pound goal but I consider 55 a significant achievement and will place this in the "win" column!

Make exercise part of the regular routine

On this score, I have to say "Boo-yaa!" Since the beginning of 2011, I have been walking, running, biking, strength training, and swimming. I have allocated from 3-4 days each week to these activities and to great effect. I took up running in April, and since then I have run over 730 miles, run in 13 different races, logged over 150 'foot' hours, and burned over 108,000 calories in the process. I have over 188 exercise sessions in my logbook for this year! My first week in 2012 will include my first Half Marathon race so I have no intention of slowing down! Yet another resolution in the "win" column!

Post a blog each week

When I posted this resolution, I only had one blog. Now I have two! In 2010, I posted nothing on my blog. In 2011, I have made 25 posts to this blog and 72 postings to my Healthy Living blog. That's a total of 97 posts for 2011 which is far more than one posting per week! Score another in the "win" column!

Improve my spiritual discipline

This is an area where I feel I can always improve. I was very active in the first part of 2011 with my Cursillo Reunion Group, meeting with the group or another Cursillista on a weekly basis. I participated in a Christian Journey study group at church which met monthly to discuss and support one another on our journey towards a better understanding of what God is calling us to do.

In the Fall, I started teaching the high school Christian Formation class at church on Sunday mornings. This has been really rewarding for me, and hopefully the youth who have been attending feel the same. I want to do more with the kids next year, adding activities and other events outside of Sunday morning. And I spent more time this year studying the Bible, and working with the youth of our Diocese on retreats, mission trips, and other church-based activities.

To conclude 2011:

This has been a fun year! Getting more healthy, losing weight, gaining strength and endurance, learning how to 'run' and doing these races (race reports are on my Healthy Living blog), and doing a lot of things with my Youth Ministry work. I also was able to attend the Chicago Comic-Con, the Episcopal Youth Event, and had fun with new techie gadgetry. And let's not forget having the awesome opportunity to play a cameo role -- in full Klingon costume and makeup -- in this year's production of "A Klingon Christmas Carol"!

In the next post, I will share with you my thoughts about goals for 2012!