Leap Year!

Well, today is the last day of February, and it's been a mixed bag for my resolutions this month. I accomplished the running piece, with the exception of last week because of my sprained knee. I figure that means I get credit for that one. I did learn about four religions (at least at a high-level with an understanding of their differences) - Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Seventh-Day Adventist. I didn't realize the Seventh-Day Adventists were actually a Protestant religion...very interesting.

As for the nail picking, that one was a fail. I did well the first two weeks but just gave up on my ski trip. It is clearly an area I still need to work on for my own improvement. The wine is going to be classified as a 93% achievement. I somehow managed to avoid helping my friends consume about 15 bottles on the ski trip, but invite me to a birthday party with no liquor and I decide it's not worth it. So, last Saturday I caved, and then last night I had two glasses of wine as well. I figured it was the last night of February and I'd already caved once, so what the heck. But, two days out of 29 isn't horrible, so I'm calling it 93%.

I have yet to decide what to do for March, so stay tuned; I still have all day today!

February sprained

Well, February was going strong until the ski part of the month. The first morning I sprained my knee on a blue run after hitting a big patch of powder I was not expecting. I still skied the remaining three days of the trip, but now I am hindered to complete the five days a week of running. I'm going to take a week off and see what I can do next week. This also hindered my tennis playing, which is a bummer for my league, but we'll see what a couple weeks of rest and rehab will do for me.

As for my other resolutions, I did manage to avoid a very large consumption of wine on the ski trip, so while I sat there envying the wine, I did hold firm. Sticking to the non-nail picking was harder, though I did stop myself whenever I realized I was doing it.

Religious learnings needs to happen! I am hoping for some time over the next week and a half to dedicate myself to learning the four new religions. If not, we know what March will have involved! I'm beginning to think four resolutions is a bit much, but perhaps that's just the sprained knee talking.

February Starts off with a bang!

Today is the first day of the month, and the first run for the month has been completed. I had to prevent myself from fiddling with my nails at the red lights this morning, but otherwise we're off to a good start. Four runs in three days so far this week has me feeling good too. My coworker and I added some weights and abs the last couple of days so we come back to work a little more sore than normal.

I'm taking suggestions for religions to research. I'm thinking Buddhist, Islam, Hindu, and Seventh Day Adventist. What do you guys think? I know virtually nothing about those and have always wondered what the differences are. I'll share some of the more interesting points as I find them.

I took a picture of how red my face gets after running. I look like I'm running for my life, but really I'm not. It stays red for an hour or so after I get back to the office so everyone thinks I've had a heart attack or something. Pretty humorous...

As a reminder, here are February's resolutions:

- Running or skiing five days a week (why stop now?) - there is obviously a ski trip planned otherwise skiing wouldn't be an option.
- Stop picking at my nails. This is particularly hard at red lights when I get very bored and therefore pick at my fingers. It's a horrible habit but I never have good motivation to stop.
- No wine. This will be the hardest. ESPECIALLY on a ski trip with friends, but that's precisely why I need to do it. It will be a good cleanse.
- Learn about four religions. I know very little about non-Christian religions, so I think exploring these others to learn about their tenets and beliefs will do a lot to expand what I know.