First post - laying the groundwork

First off - welcome to the blog where I will be detailing my trials and tribulations of getting myself into shape.

Some of you may not know me at all, and have found this blog during a search, whereas others may know me and just want to see what I've been up to fitness-wise. Regardless, feel free to comment, make suggestions, frequently offer words of encouragement, etc. Afterall, part of the reason I'm doing this is to help motivate myself as well as track progress.

Being 'in shape' is a fairly relative thing, so I'm not really sure where this is going to end up. All I know is that I consider myself to have been in shape once - back in high school when I was on the cross country team and the swimming team. Unfortunately, that was about 15-16 years ago, and in that time I've become very adept at sitting on my ass at a computer and earning a paycheck. A few years ago, I decided that things had to change when I got a physical and started showing signs of mildly high BP (around 135/80) and cholesterol levels right around the limit of concern (195 mg/dL). Fortunately neither of those are way out of whack, and I attribute a large part of it to poor nutrition (travelling for work and eating out will do that to you) and lack of exercise. So I started jogging.

However, I found that without a tangible goal, I was wallowing in a grey zone where my main motivation to exercise was just for the sake of exercise. I'm finding that I need to have something to reach for. So, to help keep things on track, I've signed up for the Baystate Half Marathon, on Sunday October 19. Although I'd like to finish in just under two hours, my primary goal is to finish.

As of today, that gives me just over 7 weeks to prepare. It may seem a little aggressive, but I'm not starting completely from scratch. I've gone through periods over the past two to three years where I've averaged 15 miles per week, which is not a lot - but it's a start.

So, here it goes...