12 days to go, and only one goal remains

With 12 days to go, I am down to just one remaining goal - run/walk 1,000 miles before the end of Project David 2.0.  Since I started walking on September 30, 2011, that gave me 9 months, 17 days to complete that goal.  With 12 days to go I have just another 38.12 miles to get there.  Since I carry a Fitbit tracker, people have asked if I was counting the miles that it reflects on a daily basis.  The answer is no.  I've only counted the running and walking miles from my workouts.

The last goal you ask? Yes.  But wasn't there another goal to be completed? When I wrote my last entry there were two remaining goals - 1,000 miles and my revised (upward) weight loss goal of 71.6 pounds.  Well, happy to report that on the morning of June 22, as we were getting ready to leave for our road trip to Oregon, I stepped on the scale and learned that I had lost - drum roll please........ 72.8 pounds!!!  An extra 1.2 pounds!!  10 months, 7 days.  More to come on that as I am preparing my Project David 2.0 "recap" blog entry for July 17, my "go live" date.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

30 days to go!

There are 30 days left in Project David 2.0.  How have we done? There are two key goals remaining - run/walk 1,000 miles, lose 71.6 pounds.  Are we going to make it? Well, we have 100.73 miles and 0.8 pounds to go.  I have no doubts that I will make these two remaining goals.  This nearly year long project has been about success!  And we're not stopping short!

If you've been following along with me, you know these are not goals that I set last August when I started this journey. If you are new to my blog, let met tell you where these goals came from.  The weight goal was 61.6, but I decided along the way to increase it by 10 pounds. Why? Because as I got closer to my original goal, I thought there was room for an extra 10 pounds. The 1,000 miles? Yeah, not in the original plan either. In fact I had no exercise goals when I started. At the end of September I started walking every night.  I logged all of my walking sessions. In January I decided that maybe I would try running. Walking 4 miles a night was taking about an hour. If I could run, I should be able to cut that down. So I started the C25K training program.  This is designed to get a non-runner ready to run a 5k in 9 weeks.  The 1,000 miles? Inspired by my good friend Bob Stanke.  In 2011 he set and achieved a goal to run 1,000 miles. I decided that take that one on - but in a combination of walking and running.  Since I wanted to hit my original goal date, July 17, I only had 9 1/2 months to complete the task.  Kind of aggressive for someone who was not a runner.

So how has the running gone? On Saturday I ran my second race.  This one was a 4 miler.  Beat my goal by 2 minutes, running it in 35:53.  I'm working towards a 10k, and a co-worker is trying to talk me into a 10 miler.  I think I am ready for the 10k.  Tonight was a 5.25 mile run.  It felt good.  It was my longest run to date. Adding another mile shouldn't be an issue.  Up next is a 5 mile race on the 4th of July, a 4 mile race on July 7th, and another 4 mile race later in July.  And I'll be entering the lottery for the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in October.  I have time to get from 5 miles to 10 miles by October. Keep your tigers crossed that I can get in.  It's very popular. Some will say that once I get to 10 miles, I am probably ready for a half marathon since I'm only 3 miles away.  Pretty amazing that a guy who has never been a runner, and 6 months ago just started running, could be working towards running 10+ miles.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Thanks for reading!

Last bag of flour!!

Another accomplishment today.  I reached the 7th and final bag of flour.  70 pounds.  That leaves 1.6 pounds to go to hit my revised goal.  39 days to go and reach that mark.  Pretty sure I won't need that much time!

Additionally, I am 864.37 miles towards my goal of 1,000 miles walking/running.  This was a goal that I added in January, about 5 months into Project David 2.0.  I started with walking on September 30, and then started the C25K program in January because walking 3-4 miles a night was taking too long.  :-)  Since that time I've done a combination of walking and running to get this far.

More goal updates as they occur!  Thanks for following along with me on this journey.

GOOAAAAALLLLLLL!

On August 15th, 2011 I kicked off Project David 2.0. A transformation project with two major goals - personal transformation and professional transformation. My goal was to complete Project David 2.0 by July 17th, my 48th birthday. As I've previously shared, I hit my professional transformation goal when I started a new position with Best Buy on November 28th.

Today I am excited to share that I have reached my personal transformation goal. I set the goal to lose 61.6 pounds, and today, 8 months and 2 days, and 6 bags of flour later, I have achieved that goal!! 3 months early! Unbelievable.

It has been an incredible journey, but I am not done yet. Along the way I added several goals to reach before July 17th. Stay tuned as I continue to prepare for my first 10k run, try to lower my A1C to the point that I can get off of the oral meds, and get one more bag of flour!!

Thank you to my family and friends for all of their support along the way. I couldn't have done it without you all!

You've lost how much?

How much weight have you lost? I hear that question pretty frequently. So how much have I lost? Well, let's just say it's....

more than a 4 yr old, more than a 6 yr old, and more than 6 bags of flour.

As of today I have lost 60.6 pounds. 1 pound away from my original Project David 2.0 weight goal, and three months ahead of my goal date. But I'm not stopping there. I've decided to go for another bag of flour. Why? I still have some work to do to get to where I want to be. And I am still working on bringing down the body fat number as well. That has some room in it.

I am feeling great. I can't remember when I've felt this good. I am enjoying the running. Really enjoying how it feels when I finish up a 4-5 mile run. For me, an amazing accomplishment. Two reasons. I never had the desire to run, and with all of the walking and running that I've been doing since the end of September, I've not had any problems with my knees. Something that has been an issue for 30 years. Maybe it has something to do with dropping 25% of my body weight. Now that I've got my first 5k under my belt I am "training" to do a 10k. I'll keep you posted on how that progresses.

Each day I continue to be amazed at what I've accomplished in the last 7 months. When I started Project David 2.0 I just hoped that I could come close to my goals by July 17th. Today I am celebrating another milestone in a growing list of milestones and accomplished goals. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the support of my family, friends, and the vision I have for myself.

It was about more than just the shirt.

With my wife and kids cheering me on at the finish line, I accomplished something today that I never really thought I'd do. Something that 60 days ago I couldn't believe I would do. Today I became a runner. Today I ran my first 5K race, the St. Patrick's Day Human Race in St Paul. Not bad for a guy that 60 days ago struggled to run for 5 minutes, let alone 3.13 miles. My time, 28:25. I'll take it!! It was an unbelievable feeling as I came down the last few yards to the finish line. Seeing my kids jumping up and down cheering me on, giving me another burst of energy to "sprint" home. What a feeling. It was about more than just the shirt (although I proudly wore my first race shirt).

It was also about another accomplishment in my Project David 2.0 journey. It was an amazing day. I can't wait for the next race, and looking down the road to improving my distance and time and working towards a 10k.

I am 7 months and 3 days into Project David 2.0. An 11 month project. On Saturday I hit the scale, down 57.6 pounds. 4 pounds away from my original goal. So close to a goal that I hoped I could reach by the middle of July. And today I accomplished another goal - I earned the shirt.

3.38 miles - an incredible feeling!

Today marked another milestone in Project David 2.0. This one was did not involve flour. This afternoon I did something that I haven't done in more than 30 years. A road run. I've never been a runner. Now I've run before. Back in 7th grade. My last road run would have been while playing soccer in 7th grade. I went to school at Oak Grove Jr High in Oregon and soccer practice was at North Oak Grove Elementary. Every day we had to run to the other school for practice. A distance of about 3/4 of a mile.

As I've shared before, I decided I wanted to change things. 9 weeks ago I started the Couch to 5K program (C25K). So, over the last 9 weeks I've been working to go from a person that walked 4+ miles a day on the treadmill (since September 30th) to someone who could run 30 minutes three times a week on the treadmill. My goal, to run a 5K (it's about the shirt). Running on the treadmill I reached the 30 minute sustained run mark. And with a combined run/walk I've covered the 3.13 mile distance in 37 minutes. A major accomplishment for me. I had been told that running on a treadmill was different than running on the road. It was easier. Works the muscles differently.

Having accomplished the goal on the treadmill, it was time to take it outside. The weather forecast this week was looking good for today. A high near 60. And amazingly, no kids activities tonight, so I was going to hit the road. Last week I mapped a route that would cover roughly 3.13 miles. My practice 5K. Biggest question - how fast could I run it. At 5:04 this evening I walked out my front door, hit start on the Nike+GPS app on my iPhone headed down the driveway. 36:07 later I had covered 3.38 miles. Wow. Unbelievable rush. I can't wait to get out and do it again.

New goals for Project David 2.0: faster and farther.

Milestone Day: 50.2 pounds!

Today marks another milestone - 50.2 pounds. It's flour time. Took a little longer to get to the fifth bag of flour. I think a number of things need to be taken into consideration on why it took a little longer to hit the next milestone. But considering we went through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Holidays, and during the holiday window, I only gained 0.6 pounds. I have to consider that a win. To have enjoyed the feasts of the holidays, in moderation, and basically come out at the weight I went into them, that's a win.

During the past month I also made a couple of other changes. First one is that I started the C25K - Couch to 5K - program in an attempt to become a "runner". My goal, to run my first 5K in mid March. The second is that I started strength training on January 3rd. Don't know if that has had any impact on the slow down in my progress, but I do know it is making a big difference in how my clothes fit. So while the pounds aren't coming off as quick as they did during the first 40 pounds, the inches are. The Wellness Zone on the Best Buy campus has a fitness contest called Drop it Like it's hot. I signed up for it. It's a 12 week contest. Next week is the 6 week check in and I am very curious to see how things have changed in 6 weeks.

Next week marks 6 months of Project David 2.0. It's been an amazing journey so far. Hard to imagine what can happen during the remaining 5 months of this project. I know I can't wait to find out!

402.97 miles down, 597.03 to go.

I am 22 1/2 weeks into Project David 2.0. 6 weeks after I started I added cardio to my plan. For me, someone who was not a runner, that meant walking on the treadmill. Tonight I went over 400 miles. I don't count all of the walking that I do during my work day, just the miles from my focused treadmill sessions. As of tonight I have walked 402.97 miles. That's the equivalent of running from Minneapolis to Kansas City.

I didn't not set a mileage goal when I started this project but having watched my friend Bob Stanke set and achieve a goal of running 1,000 miles last year, and now setting a goal of 1,200 miles for 2012, I thought maybe I should consider a goal. So tonight I am announcing my goal of walking/running 1,000 miles by the end of Project David 2.0 on July 17, 2012.

Can't remember the last time I saw that.

This morning was a major milestone in Project David 2.0. This morning the scale showed 199.6. Yes! No leading "2" on the scale. It's probably been 20 years since that has happened.

This project, as those that have followed me in this journey know, has been about milestones. A bag of flour at every 10 pound increment, 25 pounds by Christmas, getting my weight to match what my driver's license has shown for the last 15 years, and removing the 2 that was at the front of the scale. There are several other goals, and I'll do a "project status update" soon, but this was a major one for me. So much so that I left a message for my wife this morning announcing it - wrote "199.6" in big numbers in lipstick on the bathroom mirror!

Happy to arrive at the new century!!