I worked out 111 times in 2018!

The new year is upon us again, and so I wanted to look back at my accomplishments in 2018. As you can see, my new year's resolution last year kept me going to the gym fairly regularly... for at least the first few months! My strength training workouts gradually tapered off until they became almost nonexistent during the summer. I have no idea what caused this gradual disinterest in growing my muscles. Luckily, in June and July I was on the bike a LOT... maybe too much, as in August I didn't do ANYTHING. Was it just too hot? Was I working too much and had no time for exercise? I have no idea what happened; all I know is that I managed a measly two bike rides the whole month (both on the same day -- a there-and-back sort of thing, no doubt). And NOTHING else! (Other than a strenuous tennis match halfway through the month, which admittedly did burn a ton of calories, but I only did it because my dad begged me to get out there.)

In September, I clearly took stock of my inactivity, and vowed to get back to work. I went to the gym regularly that month, and even started jogging! In fact, it turns out I actually don't hate jogging, especially when I do it with friends. So throughout the fall, I jogged regularly with my buddies.

I can't tell you how encouraging it is to go jogging with friends, especially when you are all equally bad. We joked about how bad we were as we lumbered around the track, and we sang songs of motivation, and we stretched together and laughed together and collapsed together. It was delightful. And it built up my endurance to the point where I can actually try to attempt jogging for real, on my own, with an eye toward something I haven't done in 10 years. (More on that soon.)

December was a tough month, because I'm a singer and December is always incredibly busy. But as I mentioned last time, I actually managed to jog 20 minutes without stopping last week, and I am NOT resting on my laurels. Later this week I will attempt a 25 minute jog. With luck, I am finally close to being able to jog for 30 minutes without walking. And when that happens, it's a whole new world. (Insert Aladdin music.)

All in all, I am happy with my track record (ha!) this year, but there is clear room for improvement next year. My goal is to become Somebody Who Runs (note the title of this blog), and I'm also going to try to ensure that I don't hit the springtime slump again.

To fitness! :-)