40 Is The New... Well, 40

I was at the local YMCA yesterday, January 2nd. Yep, you guessed it. Crowded. Everybody and his brother was there, making a valiant first attempt at transforming Pizza the Hutt into Jack LaLanne (even the current version would be fine). My wife and I did our typical weight and interval run routine six weeks after we fell off the wagon. It was not easy, but we were committed. I wanted to make sure that we started off the new year right, but mostly I didn't want to spend some of my Christmas cash on new, elastic waistband pants. We felt so good after our workout that we went home, ravenous and had pulled pork sandwiches and ice cream. Okay, so maybe we're not that committed.

I make us sound like candidates for Jenny Craig. Not so, but just like everyone else, we've packed on a few pounds during the Christmas season. The good thing is, we are both determined not to balloon before we have kids. We made an effort when we got married to always try to fit in regular exercise and to stay away from fast food. It has, for the most part, worked. But we still have our cravings. We are regularly beckoned by red wine, good beer and scotch (my elixir of choice), and moderately sized steak dinners are always welcomed in the Kwon household. But here's the catch. We refuse to be health care nightmares and burdens to our kids in the future. Plus, we're going to embarrass our kids enough with our corny sense of humor (that is my goal, at least). We don't need to further distance them due to our sheer land mass. I refuse to hear the words,"Keep him wet! He's not dead yet!!"

Okay, so I'm not going to be able to knock out 30 pullups without significant assistance or cast rippling shadows with my six pack abs at the age of 40. But, if I stay on track, which I am going to do if it takes me until December 31, 2011, I hope to stem one small portion of the tide of corpulent America in my own household. I will extricate that second chin that magically shows up in vacation photos, because I want my kids to look at me and see their own personal version of Superman, without the stupid tights.

Resolution #4: In 2011, I will A) reduce my weight from 205 lbs to 195 lbs; B) Run a half marathon; C) do 100 pushups without stopping; D) reduce my waist size to 32 inches; and E) learn how to fly.