I finished the first month of my 12 months of challenges. In case you’re not caught up, one of my goals this year was to give myself 12 30-day challenges as a way to meet goals or just challenge myself.

In January my goal was to not go back to bed when my kids got on the bus for school.  This challenge only counted on school days, which makes it seem like its not such a challenge at all since the kids only had 17 days of school in January. Until I figured that out, I thought I’d done pretty well. I did have one day in which I lounged on the couch until 8 a.m. and the last day (Friday) I couldn’t get up until 8:30. But all other days I was at my desk by 7:30 am.

Getting up before 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. feels like a real chore to me. But I have to admit that getting to work by 7:30 and being done by 1 p.m. was pretty great. I had time for lunch and a nap. I even had time to run errands. I really like that. But at 7:00 a.m. I’d don’t like it more than I like sleep.

So the question is…do I stick with the early to rise and early to nap or do I go back to my later to rise and no nap?

Its February 1 and time for a new challenge for the month. I was going to go with no TV since February is a short month. But the Olympics are on and there are several events I like to watch. And since its only on every 4 years, I decided to pick another challenge.

This one is equally if not more challenging. In February I will exercise every day. You fitness experts out there are probably saying, “Everyday is too much. Your body needs at least one day of rest a week.”. That is true. I have decided that on the rest days, I’ll take a little walk, stretch or do gentle yoga. Something that involves moving, but isn’t strenuous.

This is a good time for me to take this challenge because its the middle of winter. My instincts tell me to eat and sleep in equal amounts. The result is that I’m gaining a little too much pudge around the middle. My current 3-4 day workout per week isn’t enough to keep the weight in check. This goal will force me to keep moving even if I still eat and sleep too much. And by spring, when I do feel like eating better and getting out of the house again, I should be well on my way getting the weight back off.

Today I think I’ll start with TurboJam. Or maybe P90x plyometrics.

Yesterday as I was running, I looked up the street and saw a stopped car waiting for what I thought was a deer to cross. But as I got closer I realized it was a dog. One of those huge Marmaduke dogs. Not being very tall, I probably would have been able to look in its eyes without bending over, that’s how big it was.

I probably should have turned around. That would have been the smart thing. But I’d run past this dog before (it was usually safely restrained behind invisible fencing), so I thought it should be okay. But as I got closer and the dog got bigger, I wondered about the wisdom of this thinking. He was, after all, playing chicken with a car. Maybe he was hungry. I eat well and would likely be tasty.

Looking behind me, I saw that a car was approaching. I determined that it would get to the dog about the same time I would. If I could run along side the car, with the dog on the other side, maybe I’d be safe. So as the car pulled along side me, I picked up the pace. The driver and passenger looked at me and I waved. I noticed then that the car slowed down a bit and stayed with me until well past the dog. Somehow the driver realized what I was doing or maybe she just realized the situation and acted as my body guard. How nice was that! I waved again when she slowed to pull into her drive and went safely on my way.

But next time though, I think I’ll just turn around.