Monday, January 13, 2014

Ten Year Blogiversary Boot Camp

Exactly one day plus one decade ago we started one of these newfangled things called an online weblog. We were reading quite a few famous and not-so-famous blogs at the time, so we decided to join in the fun. The whole thing slowed down significantly once we had kids and sadly has been going in fits and starts ever since. If nothing else, you can expect a year-end list of books we've read over the past twelve months. Exciting, I know. But I just can't kill it yet...

Exactly a year ago, on this date in January  2013, I got myself out of bed at 5:30 am on a morning so cold I could see my breath but couldn't feel my fingers, and I gathered my new mat and dumbbells and a bottle of water and drove to a parking lot across from a large church. There was a lighted pavilion and two trainers barking orders for a warm-up. "THAT was just the warm-up?!" That morning, I attempted to run a mile for the first time in 20 years. I failed.

I had won a month of free boot camp sessions and was determined to make a change in my lifestyle. By the end of January, I was hooked. I began working out three times a week, and the combination of varied workouts, personal training, and a collection of people who missed me when I slept in has kept me going steady all year. Sometime this fall, I beat my personal best and ran a mile in under 9 minutes (don't ask me to do it this week, though!). I'm in much better shape now, less tired, stronger, faster, tougher -- all those things I never thought I'd be if you'd asked me in December of 2012 about my new year's resolutions. I still get up willingly at 5:30am while it is still dark, dress in as many layers as I can and brave freezing temperatures for someone to force me to do "just one more minute" of burpees or squats or whatever exercise is currently kicking my behind.

Well, this year, in 2014, I want to exercise my writing muscles right here on this blog. Like boot camp, you will never know what to expect. Also like boot camp, I plan to post something at least three times a week (M, W, F) with an occasional extra day thrown in for kicks. I have quite a few things waiting in the wings -- half a dozen book and album reviews, some "catch up on our family posts" and thoughts on whatever latest hot topic is traveling around the internet these days. It is quite funny to look at our archives and see how far we've come. Some things never change, though, so always expect a list of what we're currently reading on the right sidebar (I usually have at least three books going at once).

Welcome to Team Redd's writing boot camp. This was just the warm-up!

(Update July 2015: Hahahahaha! I laugh at myself. I have no discipline. I haven't even written a "books I read" post and it's already July a year and a half later!)