I am not the type that sets goals as the new year begins. I remember when I started letting people know that I was first trying to lose weight, countless people wished me luck and named themselves faithful Monday dieters. I just think it's silly to put off your ambitions until a set date.

I signed up with a program through my HMO wherein I can get credit for working out at least 30 minutes a day. I did not realize that this program existed—I knew of programs where you get credit every time you sign in at your gym, but I was not aware of the options for people with home gyms. The program starts on the first day of the month after you sign up. Upon January first's arrival, I was poking around the Nike Plus site, looking for challenges to enter. I want to get my running feet back again.

I did what I consider a fantastic job with running in September and October last year. I will never be a fast runner, but I got to a point where any run less than six miles felt like I was slacking off. One Saturday at the beginning of October, I hopped on the treadmill and up and ran 10 miles. 10 miles, after just one month of training! With medical procedures in November and December, recovery time has stolen whatever stamina and strength I had built in those two months. I just keep telling myself that this is the love part of the love/hate relationship I have with my legs. In relatively little time, my strength will return.

I came across a challenge to run 1,000 miles in 2010. Now, I've always hated (as in, "with a passion") long-term assignments. However, the Nike Plus Challenges are a weird, binding contract with me. If I sign up, I have to perform. I knew that this would be a way for me to continue running throughout the year (instead of a random 5K here and there), as I will have to average just over 19 miles a week to meet my goal.

2009 was a year of fairly constant procedures. I was pretty open to whatever the doctors wanted to try, but this year I need to step back and just let my body fully heal. I don't know that many people can understand how liberating this decision feels. Last year, knowing all of the recovery that would be ahead of me, I could not have set such a lofty goal as to run 1,000 over the next 12 months.

Now, running inside for long distances is a drag—I should know, I ran 10 miles in a dingy basement! Plus, being that I was less than a month out from my last procedure and had been inactive for about six weeks, I told myself that the 19ish miles a week goal was an average. During September and October, I had weeks closer to 30 miles, so when the weather was nicer I could make up for these early weeks in a Wisconsin winter. Unfortunately, I am a bit driven when I have a number to fixate upon.

So much so, that I did something on Friday and Saturday that I thought I would never do, considering those who did insane enough to be locked up. I ran outside in 14°F weather, a day after it snowed. The sidewalks were a mess, and it was really a mix of running outside and running on a treadmill because every step I took would slip back as I tried to propel forward. Oh, and it was frickin' cold…but running outdoors again felt so good. During the first week of 2010, I made it 19.38 miles. Yay! Only 51 more to go.

So, I thought I would post my goal here for extra accountability. I can only imagine how thrilled I will feel this time next year when I accomplish this feat. 1,000 in 2010, baby!