2010 New Years Resolutions

Welcome to my new blog! The subject matter of this blog will just be my life, so if you are not related to me then there is a good chance that you won't care about anything I write here (actually, I guess that might hold even if you are related to me!). Most of the posts will probably be about cycling, skiing, or climbing (depending on what time of year it is), but some posts about trivialities such as careers, home improvements, and our ten kids might also find their way in here. Anyways, I thought that a good way to start would be with a post about my new years resolutions (there are quite a few of them), so here we go. I have subdivided them into sport resolutions and life resolutions.

Sport Resolutions

1. Redpoint a 5.13 sport climb. This is a long term goal of mine, so it will most likely happen in the fall. I have sent a few 5.12d's so if I can get into climbing shape then this will take a bunch of work but it shouldn't be that much of a stretch. My climb of choice would probably be Chronic, a classic 5.13b out at Little Si.
2. Onsight a 5.11 trad climb. I would like to get better at trad climbing so that I can do some more classic multi-pitch routes.
3. Upgrade my road racing license to Category 3. I really like road racing, but for some reason I am terrible at it. I would like to say it is because I am tall and have poor aerodynamics, but Tom "Boom Boom" Boonen is 6'4" and he doesn't seem to have problems winning races.
4. Do the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. This is mostly dependent on gaining admission through the lottery system which seems like it might be difficult, especially with the publicity the race has received recently with Lance Armstrong's participation and the movie "Race Across the Sky".
5. Do a 50km nordic ski race. My first race of this length was the American Birkebeiner last year, and while it doesn't look like I will be able to do that one again (we have tickets for the marathon nordic ski at the Winter Olympics, held on the same weekend as the Birkie) there are a couple of other options including the Gatineau Loppet in Quebec and the Ozbaldy held at our local ski area of Cabin Creek.
6. Do the Spearhead Traverse ski tour in Whistler. This is a backcountry ski tour that I would like to do with my brother Fras, it is 35km long with about 5000 feet of climbing. Our plan would be to try and do it in one long day to avoid carrying camping gear.

Life Resolutions

1. Weigh 160 lbs. This resolution is largely motivated by sporting considerations, performance in most of the things I do in my free time (which I have a lot of right now, see resolution #5 below) is improved by being lighter. Right now I am about 165 lbs, so I would like to lose 5 lbs and stay that way. I think 160 lbs is my ideal weight, but for reasons such as #2 below I am usually closer to 165 lbs.
   
2. Only eat dessert on special occasions. I really like dessert, and I quite often get stuck in a pattern where I want to eat a lot of it every day. I think #1 above will be easier to achieve if I can discipline myself to only eat it occasionally. Special occasions can include birthday parties, dinner at a restaurant, and vacations.
   
3. Shop at the local farmers market. This is something that I have always meant to do, but have never quite gotten around to. I think there are a lot of benefits to eating locally grown, organic produce, and farmers markets seem like a good way to do this. The only difficulty is that they are usually held smack in the middle of prime leisure time, from 10am-2pm on weekends. This makes it hard to get there if you want to spend the day at a bike race or skiing.
   
4. Only eat meat once a week. Roanne and I just watched the movie Food Inc, and it reinforced a lot of things I had read previously about the damaging effects on the environment of raising meat. Most things I have read also indicate that eating less meat is better for your health, so this seems like an easy choice. I do like meat and don't want to stop eating it entirely (e.g. I still want turkey at Christmas), but I think a good way to start will be by eating meat no more than once per week.
   
5. Get a job. I haven't had a job since I left my position at the University of Utah to move to Seattle, and while I have kept busy with working on renovating our new house and various leisure activities (climbing, skiing, and cycling), I feel like it is time for me to once again be a contributing member of society.
   
6. Read one book per month. Normally I am pretty good about reading books, but during the last year we had a lot of things going on and for some reason I didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked.

So, those are all of my resolutions. This posting is as much for my own benefit as it will give me something to refer back to throughout the year and see how I am doing. Hopefully by the end of 2010 I will have fulfilled all of them, and throughout the year I can write updates on my progress. For the weight goal, I will post my morning weight here every time I write a post so that I can keep myself honest. We have a Tanita scale that also measures body fat, and even though I have read that they are not every accurate, I will post that figure as well and see how well it correlates with my weight. So, thanks for reading (if anyone got this far) and have a great 2010!

Weight: 164.2
Body Fat: 5.8%